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 272 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

(p. 30). Under such circumstances accuracy is difficult to secure. Indeed the author says : "In addition to indifference and suspicious- ness on the part of those interviewed, ignorance, misunderstanding of the meaning of the questions asked, forgetfulness, and im- patience gave rise to inaccuracies" (p. 32). The spirit of the situa- tion was hardly conducive to statistically accurate statements.

Closely related to the difficulty just described is another one, that of stating and estimating the expenditures and the income. The schedules were filled between "the middle of June and the end of August." It is evident that at this season it would be most difficult for a housewife to recall the amount of money spent for fuel, Hght, winter clothing, and schooling. Nor can these be estimated from the cost of these same things during the week of the interview. Furthermore, it is certain that the householder could never recall exactly or estimate with any degree of accuracy the amount of unemployment during a year, whether on the part of the father or the others. Added to this is the difficulty of remem- bering or estimating the different rates of pay received, or how long any rate continued. Nor can the housewife be certain how much money she received from lodgers during a year.

There is less probability of error in arriving at the cost of the staple articles of food, rent, and insurance. There is, however, a considerable doubt as to whether these can be very accurately determined by the schedule method. For example, it is not at all evident that the total annual expenditure for food is equal to fifty- two tim.es what it was for one week in July. This uncertainty is more manifest if we consider the variation in use of such articles as meat, fresh vegetables, and canned goods. If removals are frequent even the amount of rent is hard to determine with sufficient accuracy to justify fractional percentages in the distribution of ex- penditures. An estimate of the amount annually spent for insurance made upon a weekly payment in July may easily miss the mark on account of the buying of new policies, or the lapses of old ones within the year.

It should be noted especially that all these difficulties are greater the lower the standard of living is ; the less regular the employment, or the more variable and numerous the wage-earners in the family, the greater the ignorance and lax methods of keeping any record, the greater becomes the liability to error. Yet it is such families whose standards of living need most to be determined and elevated.