To Frank Stanton and Sam Stouffer Expert Consultants and Generous Friends
— P. F. L
Preface to the Third Edition
Copyright 1944, 1948, 1968 Columbia University Press
First Edition, 1944, Duell, Sloan and Pearce Second Edition, 1948, Columbia University Press Columbia Paperback Edition 1968
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-20443 Printed in the United States of America
/Wore than twenty-five years have passed since the first study of the people's choosing. During this period, some of the ideas originating in that study have been slowly nurtured by a group of sociologists at Columbia University; some themes have been taken over and enlarged by colleagues in other research centers. Members of related social sciences disciplines have touched upon our work, sometimes in a critical way. It is our intent to comment upon certain of these developments in the Preface to this new edition.
In the Preface to the Second Edition, too, we intended to stress this idea of continuity. At that time, it seemed essential to clarify the nature of panel studies. Now that panels are an established part of social research procedures, a broader range of developments can be reviewed. For one, certain ideas which are expressed only tentatively in the first report have now been empirically tested. In addition, much of the original data, un-analyzed at the time of the study, has now been mined. We had not the time or money to explore two important topics then: the mutual interaction between several variables and the possible effects of reinterviewing the same respondents. In Columbia's tradition of secondary analysis, the necessary work has been carried out since the original study. We now take this occasion to present it for discussion. At the end of the introduction, we shall try to trace the outcome of some of the promises offered early in the research. We shall see how much of the proverbial "further research needed" as outlined in the Preface to the Second Edition has materialized thus far.