ABSTRACT
Political science is rich in theoretical propositions capable of guiding the choice of survey data. Mechanism distinctions are valuable in the comparison of political and social styles, since they enable externalized or internalized patterns to be readily designated and provide ways of describing symbolic and nonsymbolic characteristics. Contemplated strategies of future action also raise questions about past and current events that would influence the survey. The decision process occurs in the context of a larger social process which can also be characterized in preoutcome, outcome, and postoutcome terms. Aggregate effects are ultimately to be summed up in terms of value shaping and sharing and institutional stability or change. It is possible to describe the whole decision process in terms of value indulgence and deprivation and of institutional stability or change. The basic data survey could supply indispensable information of trend toward or away from the goal of broad, rather than narrow, participation in value shaping and sharing.
