ABSTRACT
One objective of a basic data survey would be to strengthen the teaching effectiveness of political science, particularly at the college level. This chapter considers how the political science profession can organize its own intelligence function in ways that enable the political scientist to be knowledgeable about the nature and extent of political events. Unofficial local sources of politically significant intelligence in the United States include the mass media, which often maintain correspondents at the state or national capital, and the reports of party, civic, or other private associations. The particular problem of the survey when conducted at the local level would be to discover to what extent members of the community are committed to these objectives in the immediate process of decision. The survey would regularly record the sheer volume of words put out by authoritative agencies of prescription and classify according to the aspect of the social process to which they refer.
