A titrimetric method, involving the determination of the periodate consumption by means of iodine and arsenious oxide, was applied to the determination of 1,2‐glycol units in polyvinyl alcohol by periodate cleavage. The method gave consistent results regardless of the molecular weight of the sample, and is believed to be accurate to ±0.05% glycol units. In contrast, it was shown that the well‐known Flory‐Leutner viscometric method gave results which were about 20% lower than those obtained by the first method for samples of molecular weight greater than about 40,000, and gave grossly unrealistic results for samples of much lower molecular weight. Details of the methods and sources of error are discussed.