1Four years ago, in October 2000, the BMS published a special issue (n. 68) devoted to the Fifth International Conference of the Research Committee "Logic and Methodology" (RC33) of the International Sociological Association (ISA) held in Cologne, Germany. This summer, in August, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, RC33 held its Sixth International Conference, and this issue of the BMS, which includes the Fall 2004 RC33 Newsletter, is largely devoted that meeting, but it also includes a research article, in French, and two Ongoing Research articles, one in English and one in French.

2The research article, "Longitudinal Analysis of Total Social Networks with SIENA. Method, Discussion and Applications", by Ainhoa de Federico de la Rua (Université de Lille I), reviews statistical models for network analysis and SIENA, in particular. This dynamic model’s specificity and the principal effects which it can analyze are presented along with an application in the study of an international friendship network among Erasmus scholarship students.

3The first Ongoing Research article, "Assessing the Human Development Index through the Structure of Welfare", by Erik H. Cohen (Bar-Ilan University), assesses the validity of the United Nations’ Human Development Index by embedding it in a previously-published typology of welfare indicators, which permits the detailed comparison of the two systems.

4The second Ongoing Research article, "The Impact of Life Histories in the Analysis of Global Processes", by Blandine Veith (Université de Paris X), compares life histories in several manners: item by item, by cross-verification between them, by their forms of discourse, for their different biographical indicators and biographical events. It also validates life histories through comparison with other materials