Critique

Extract

I have a terrible habit when I read fiction, especially murder mysteries, of reading the last chapter before I would normally reach it and consequently obtain the outcome to the problem being developed step by step by the author. I began reading Professor Cicourel's paper early this week when it arrived, and I should have gone to the last few paragraphs in which he states clearly the objectives of this scholarly effort, namely, that researchers undertaking any kind of investigation should shake off the use of a priori schemes, typologies, structural elements, and the like and turn their attention to how individuals go about solving the problems of day-to-day living. One should pay more attention to the respondent's solution to a social problem and thus use the respondent's replies as categories of analysis rather than using a researcher's set of categories which are based upon a presumed and articulated set of meanings. This is the major thrust of this paper to which I want to return shortly.