Some Observations on Election Behavior Research.

This article is based on a paper delivered by the author at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in Boulder, Colorado in September 1955. In the article, the author describes the three current forms of election behavior research: historical, ecological and survey. He recommends the conscious merging of these three, suggests other methodological cross fertilizations and outlines four areas of research which he thinks are especially fruitful. The author, formerly a partner in Elmo Roper and Associates, recently started his own organization, Louis Harris and Associates. To the best of the author's knowledge, a truly comprehensive analysis of election behavior research in the Western world has not been done in detailed, inventory terms. The paper represents only selective observations about some of the places people have been in this area of analyzing voting. It discusses those avenues which in the author's view are some of the promising areas for further research and finally some concrete suggestions on the care and feeding of those who plan to engage in future research efforts.