ABSTRACT
This chapter considers issues of data and methods and broader issues of the researcher's proper role, that is, special issues created in part by social impact assessment's (SIA) hybrid heritage. Rural sociologists have performed SIAs of one variety or another for as long as the profession has existed, but SIA did not exist as a self-conscious field before the 1970s. SIAs are meant to provide a means for anticipating potentially adverse impacts of decisions. In the 1970s, SIAs showed a tendency to use existing, census-type data. Perhaps no characteristic distinguishes SIA from "academic" social science as clearly as the fact that SIA practitioners are often employed by agencies that have authority over the content of the assessment. An equitable treatment of all members of society may be the procedure that has the greatest rationality of all. Scientifically sound SIA research can help to reduce the inequities and other distortions inherent in political processes.
