On the Time and Place of Crises

The time and place of occurrence of that social phenomenon which we call a crisis situation is the focal point in this study of a rehabilitation center. Special attention is given to the factors associated with the occurrence of such crises. The method of participant observation, as delineated by Becker and Geer, was used to gather both qualitative data on the social processes associated with individual crises and quantitative data on the number of crises recorded. The analysis of the quantitative data utilized a time-and-place analytical technique roughly analogous to that of early medical epidemiology. The overall aim is to present a partially "controlled" set of crisis situations and to analyze these in terms of three possible points of view. This kind of ex post facto analysis has admitted disadvantages, but as essentially exploratory research in an unusual setting, this type of approach does offer some advantages.