example, studies show that the ethnic aged tend to underuse available community and social services (Guttmann, 1979). White-Means and Thornton (1990b) looked at the influence of ethnic group on family decisions about providing informal home health care for the elderly. They found ethnic group did have an impact, but they suggested more research on who specifically is involved and how. They especially wanted "national survey data of caregivers who are ethnically distinguished" (p. 775). However, the "state of the art" on these subjects may be characterized by particularism. In other words, research on these topics is not sophisticated enough to provide a general knowledge of ethnicity and aging.
A number of basic research problems have prevented understanding ethnicity and aging. Cantor (1987) and Gibson (1987) have argued that a major obstacle is sample quality. They have indicated that the available large national population samples tend to under-represent minority groups and poorly define ethnic status. Cantor (1987) argues that this basic data problem has limited the kinds of macro-social questions which researchers may ask. Furthermore, she states, the absence of large, well-defined, representative national samples has reduced the possibility of subjecting data to secondary analysis. Bastida (1987) has complained about "the slow development of conceptual terminology to denote empirical phenomena" (p. 55). She has pointed out the importance of using precisely defined terms in cross-cultural studies.
In the absence of strong national samples, data used in ethnic and minority research are often small-community samples. Although interesting and important conclusions may be drawn from these samples, it is uncertain to what extent they are representative of wider trends. Thus, wider generalization based on small-community studies must be carefully scrutinized.
Cantor (1987) has also complained that ethnic and m...