Research among Racial and Cultural Minorities: An Overview

This paper has three objectives: (a) to provide a brief review of the status of research among racial and cultural minorities, (b) to present an overview of the volume's contributed papers, and (c) to discuss certain recurring themes in the articles of this issue. Several themes have important implications for conducting research — techniques of gaining entree to the minority community, theoretical concerns, the use of field methods, the use of the survey method, and ethical, political, and ideological concerns. This paper suggests ways in which social scientists, while being sensitive to and meeting the needs of the community under study, can contribute to our fund of knowledge regarding racial and cultural minorities.