所謂的「經驗研究」，通常都建立在直接或間接的觀察基礎上。 有關觀察的問題，在國內外社會學界均不乏討論，惟此類討論鮮少觸 及表述的問題。表述問題並非技術問題，而是線性關連的問題。人類 的思維方式具有線性特色，即使是非理性的思考也必須以某種線性方 式呈現。「非線性」（non-linear)的內容不只難以表述，甚至根本難於 理解。問題是：許多社會現象的本質最終都可能是非線性的，那麼該 如何以線性方式來呈現非線性的對象？這不只是一個社會學理論或方 法論的問題，而是一個「社會學世界觀」的基本問題。嚴格來說，這 個問題本身並不是針對社會學，而是在更廣泛的意義上，對於社會科 學思維如何得以形成並在實際研究運作的一個嘗試性回答。
非線性理論對社會科學的衝擊不容小覷，因為社會現象遠比物理 現象更為複雜，但社會學家卻從未在認識論或方法論上提出過比物理 學更令人信服的回答。本文討論的重點，並非「非線性」對象是否可 能被研究（因為它已經是、並且一直是構成社會學經驗研究中的重要 部分）；相對於此，本文欲探討的乃是在經驗研究中，非線性對象的 線性表述問題。簡言之，即某種敘事法則或「表述法」（r6cit)。此處 所謂「敘事」，本身既是關於問題的呈現與書寫，同時也決定問題被 掌握與解決的可能性。本文即試圖由「表述法」這個特殊角度切入， 反省經驗研究中的研究方法、線性陳述，及其意義理解上的限制。

The empirical research is by ordinary based on direct or indirect observation. There's no shortage of methodological debate on observation technique in present sociological academia, but the argumentation is rarely focused on narrative problems. The narrative form (recit) of a sociological research represents a mode of linear relation rather than a technique problem. The nonlinear content is not just “difficult to be expressed”，but “hard to be understood”. The very problem is to reply: if, in a final sense, a great amount of social phenomenon is nonlinear in itself, how can we put it in a linear way? It's not merely a theoretical or methodological problem, but an essential problem related to sociological worldview.
The impact of nonlinear theory on social sciences should not be underestimated, since the social phenomenon are more complicated than physical phenomenon, while the sociologists have never made more convincing answers than the physicians can do. Instead of arguing the plausibility of the nonlinear objects (it's already been, and will be, an important part of sociological research), this study will focus on the narrative problems of nonlinear phenomenon in empirical research, i.e., the expressive forms or recit. The narrative problem is not just related to the representative form of an empirical object or theoretical construction, it decides at the same time the possibility of mode of comprehension and the formation of sociological knowledge.