Article,
A Conversation with Paul F. Lazarsfeld
American Sociologist, (1982)
Abstract
This article presents an interview with sociologist Paul F. Lazarsfeld about his occupation. He was born in Vienna, Austria and was interested in empirical research because he was trained as a mathematician and partly because empirical social research was of considerable political interest in that time of a rapidly rising Labor party in Austria. He states that in Austria, doing empirical research on the situation of the working class was of very great political importance because it clarified the importance of social stratification. In empirical research, he asserts that one has to distinguish between university organizations, university institutes and the increasing number of commercial research organizations. He claims that the structural elements of a good research bureau have two educational advantages. First, the relation between the project director and his assistant is much more intimate than between a graduate assistant and his graduate student. Second, it forces a much greater clarification of elements involved in research. He claims that there is a simple distinction between the department and the bureau. A full professor cannot tell an assistant professor or even an instructor what to do, that guarantees a famous academic freedom. In a bureau, the director hands to certain staff members certain tasks.
