The setting, the research population, and the research procedure.

Abstract

The setting, the research population, and the research procedureThe community caUed Prairie City was selected because it is small enough to be studied intensively, and at the same time it is typical in size and complexity of the many small cities of the Middle West.According to the U.S. census there are about 250 small cities with population between five and ten thousand located in the twelve North Cential states, from Ohio to Missouri and from North Dakota to Kansas. One hundred and eight of these cities are the largest centers in counties which are agricultural-industrial. This type of county has between 25 and 50 per cent of its gainfully employed males in agriculture, and the remainder in industry, business, and other occupations.Prairie City, the county seat of Prairie County, is one of these 108 cities. There are communities of twenty to thirty thousand population in the adjacent counties, and there is a metropohtan area within a hundred miles. The total population of this community is about ten 22