The Annals of Research: A Case of Collaboration in Comparative Study of Legislative Behavior

Abstract

This recounting of the experience of the State Legislative Research Project demonstrates that it is possible to weld together a research team whose individual members come to the common task with different theoretical orientations, different substantive concerns, different approaches, and without even prior mutual acquaintance. It points to the benefits accruing from joint effort, and suggests some of the difficulties and costs of collaborative research. It also offers strong evidence that direct interviews with the total populations of many institutionalized political groups are not only feasible but promise to be a powerful weapon in the arsenal of social research. The authors are presently associated, respectively, with Vanderbilt University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, and Michigan State University.