STUDYING THE CHANGING CONDITIONS OF JEWISH LIFE IN A MIDDLE-SIZED AMERICAN CITY

This article describes an applied research project that was conducted by the Augustana Research Foundation for the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities. As an example of contract research in religion, we emphasize the process of doing such a study. Quad City Jews have experienced many of the changes that Jews in other middle-sized cities in the United States have undergone. However, historical and structural conditions, which vary substantially from community to community, played an important role in this study. Adjustment of the study process to these conditions is reviewed. Unique to the study was the contracting of research between a Jewish federation and a research foundation on a Lutheran liberal arts college campus. © 1990 by the Ohio Valley Sociological Society.