DISCUSSION.

The article author comments on the views expressed by sociologist George A. Lundberg on the doctrine of operationalism as applied to the field of sociology. The principal concern of operationalism is with measurement. The operationalist procedure is useful, but one should not think that it excludes all other procedures. Disputes resting upon the assumption of perfect knowledge are less important than the question what we should do with imperfect knowledge, and in the present stage of sociologists' knowledge the quality-quantity antithesis still retains some significance. Lundberg's use of this contribution from the field of physics raises the question of the advisability of importing the methodology of the physical sciences into social science. The physical scientists have progressed further than sociologists have, and these sociologists are in a position to learn from them. One of the most important lessons the physical scientists can teach is that method must always be flexibly adapted to subject matter. As data change, procedures and assumptions must change.