The following quote is from Earl Babbie (1992), _The Practice of Social
Research_, 6th ed. (Wadsworth), p. 261:
A little-known survey was attempted among French workers in 1880. A
German political sociologist mailed some 25,000 questionnaires to workers
to determine the extent of their exploitation by employers. The rather
lengthy questionnaire included items such as these:
Does your employer or his representative resort to trickery in order
to defraud you of a part of your earnings?
If you are paid piece rates, is the quality of the article made a
pretext for fraudulent deductions from your wages?
The survey researcher in this case was not George Gallup but Karl Marx
(1880: 208). Though 25,000 questionnaires were mailed out, there is no
record of any being returned.
-------------------------------------End of Quote------------------------
Does anyone have information about the survey (were any of the instruments
returned?). What do people think of the gratuitous swipe at the end of
Babbie's mention of the survey? It might be instructive to have students
rewrite Marx's questions to be less "biased" and to discuss Babbie's
presentation as a more subtle, sophisticated form of bias.
Marsh Feldman
Community Planning Phone: 401/792-2248
204 Rodman Hall FAX: 401/792-4395
University of Rhode Island Internet: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kingston, RI 02881-0815
