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Sociological research on what people think has been hampered by inadequate methods. These inadequacies are illustrated by Coleman's survey research and Bittner's participant observation study. The ethnoscience approach in anthropology is developing improved methods for studying cognitive content, and the usefulness of these methods is illustrated by research on (1) wedding ceremonies, (2) kinship terminology and (3) norms and social change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the boundaries and development of sociology. It probes into some problems of cross-national sociology. As a young science and a new profession, sociology has been approached in different ways by different nations. In the United States where social changes have taken place more rapidly than in other nations, its existence has largely been limited to the university campuses. Sociologists are only now beginning to play their part in all branches of national life. A national boundary, as the term is used in the article, does not merely refer to the demarcation lines established by international commissions as a result of political negotiations or a war between two or more states. National boundaries constitute barriers of three major types, namely: semiotic, political, and cultural. It is possible that the diversity of arguments about what should constitute the subject matter of sociology stemmed from the fact that the early American sociologists represented a variety of backgrounds ranging from the ministry to paleontology.