ABSTRACT

In sociological theory and practice there is a constant controversy and discrepancy between the exigencies of formalized research techniques and the complexity of the subject matter under study. This suggests the need for a multiple strategy resorting to methods more subtle but also inherently less amenable to strict empirical control. This dilemma was presented most clearly by Robert Merton (1957) in his consideration of the sociology of knowledge. The same tension between exact findings on trivial problems and less precise knowledge concerning important ones obtains in the domain of nation and ethnicity studies. The use of a multi-method approach or “triangulation” would appear, therefore, indispensable in view of the factual and axiological complexity of the subject matter.