Foreword<br > In this book Jim McAuley and his colleagues have made an important and<br >welcome contribution to the field of academic gerontology. For too long we<br >have had to try to adopt an introductory research course for gerontology<br >students using texts from other fields. These texts were inadequate on two<br >counts: the interdisciplinary field of gerontology uses methods from several<br >disciplines and few texts address this problem; and second， the illustrations<br >are foreign to the subject matter of gerontology students. This text fills a<br >long-felt void and will be greeted by both students and teachers with enthusi-<br >asm. Its clearly presented material should take the fear that has inhibited<br >generations of students out of research.<br > The appearance of a text for gerontology research is an important mile-<br >stone in the development of this still new discipline.<br > CORA A. MARTIN<br >