Johnston] NAVAHO POPULATION 183 



loosen the ties between the of f -reservation Navahos and their reserva- 

 tion origins.^^ 



With respect to the development of improved statistics on the popu- 

 lation trends and characteristics of the Navaho and similar popula- 

 tions, the preceding analysis suggests two possible approaches. The 

 first and only immediately practicable approach is to make the fullest 

 possible use of the rapidly growing armamentarium of measures and 

 constmcts that are available to the demographer in the analysis of 

 limited data. The second and longer range approach is to develop 

 and maintain an improved system of population registration among 

 the several populations in question. 



The preceding analysis has provided but a small indication of the 

 potential usefulness of the first approach in the evaluation and inter- 

 pretation of inadequate or faulty demographic statistics. The several 

 analytic tools that w^ere utilized in this study serve two major func- 

 tions; descriptive and heuristic. Such measures as the age and sex 

 ratio scores, the joint scores, median ages, crude vital rates, and child- 

 woman or infant-child ratios serve primarily to describe the magni- 

 tudes of the miderlying population dynamics and apparent defects 

 in the reporting of the vital events reflecting these dynamics. On the 

 other hand, constructs such as the hypothetical age distributions 

 developed in the preceding chapter serve a heuristic, rather than a 

 descriptive, purpose. These "models" indicate the characteristics 

 which we would expect to be manifested, in theory, by a population 

 experiencing the vital rates or other conditions expressed in the values 

 assigned to the model's basic parameters. 



The models developed in the previous chapter cannot be regarded 

 as purely descriptive, nor can they be viewed as analytic, devoid of 

 empirical content. The descriptive quality of these models is limited 

 by the fact that it is impossible to ascertain with certainty that the 

 values assigned to the models' basic parameters have ever corresponded 

 exactly to actual conditions prevailing among the Navaho population 

 at any given time. Nevertheless, these constructs are not entirely 

 analytic in nature, since the values assigned to the models' parameters 

 were selected so as to conform as closely as possible to actual conditions 

 prevailing among the Navaho at different periods, insofar as could be 

 determined from the available data. It can be concluded that the essen- 

 tial character of such constructs is similar to that of Max Weber's 

 "ideal types," whose basic elements are selected from empirical sources, 



^ The reaction of a number of European ethnic minorities to the assimilative pressures of 

 American life suggests a different outcome in tliis respect. It can be argued that once an 

 acceptable degree of acculturation has been achieved, permitting a full share of the economic 

 and social benefits that accompany such acculturation, the interest of educated Navahos in 

 their unique cultural heritage may be enhanced rather than attenuated. They would thus 

 aspire, as have the educated members of many other ethnic groups, to preserve their sepa- 

 rate identity within the correspondingly broader framework of American society and 

 culture. 



