DEFINITION AND DIMENSIONS OF ETHNICITY: A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

To research any phenomenon one has to find empirical indicators of it. If the research is to be thorough, the indicators must be such as to test as many aspects as possible of the phenomenon studied. This does not mean that maximum number of indicators is necessary for a full study of the phenomenon. On the contrary, it is usually desirable to have a minimum number of indicators. However, it is imperative that the minimum number of indicators be such that they do not exclude any of the essential aspects of the phenomenon. If one or a few indicators are unable to capture the nature of the phenomenon, then it is logically imperative that more indicators be used. Sometimes a battery of indicators may be necessary. The exact number of indicators should not be chosen either arbitrarily or on purely theoretical grounds, but should be selected as a conclusion of a thorough empirical study. The study should include a great variety of indicators and reduce the number to the minimum only as a consequence of empirical testing (Lazarsfeld and Henry, 1968). Ethnicity is a complex phenomenon. The task of the theoretician is to outline at least what can be said to be the essential dimensions of this phenomenon and to indicate the directions of their possible variations. If researchers choose to study in-depth only one or a few aspects of the phenomenon, it is logically incumbent upon them to point out how these selected aspects may relate to the other aspects of the phenomenon

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