"The Xhosa ntsomi (sing. intsomi; pl. iintsomi) is a performing art which has, as its dynamic mainspring, a core-cliché (a song, chant, or saying) which is, during a performance, developed, expanded, detailed, and dramatized before an audience which is itself composed of performers, everyone in a Xhosa society being a potential performer."--Introduction.

This book consists of three major sections. In the first, which includes chapters 1 to 7, the basic concepts of the methodology of the social social sciences are discussed. In the second, chapters 8 and 9, the most important concepts of part one are integrated in discussions on the writing of research proposals and research reports. The third section (appendices) consists of three "case studies" in which the most important methodological principles which were discussed in the preceding sections are illustrated.