ABSTRACT
An outcome of my experience with survey research and partici pant observation was my private discovery that the reflexive attitude could illuminate the dual problems of seeking a socio logical research method and developing a personal identity as a researcher. Solutions to these problems would emerge from honest and careful examination of my experience as a re searcher. A crucial component of an alternative direction for sociology, therefore, was precisely the concept of self, particu larly the researcher's self, which is suppressed in mainstream methods. The use of the reflexive researching stance is the first step in uncovering the basic assumptions in sociology. In addi tion, this stance reduces the self-imposed alienation of sup posedly objective methods. "The academic social sciences are the social sciences of an alienated age and alienated man. . . .
