Abstract
The aim of the study is to examine the actors and circumstances that led to the establishment of the Columbia model of empirical social research in Norway between 1947 and 1955. The article analyses Lazarsfeld's first European sabbatical in Oslo.
The active level of interest among young academics and students at this university in the model of sociology practised at Columbia University in New York helped to initiate the whole process. Support from Rockefeller Foundation, Fulbright Programme, Norwegian industrialists, and the rector of the university also paved the way for the successful implementation of the model.
The paper concludes that Paul Lazarsfeld evidently contributed to the ultimately successful process of the institutionalisation of empirical sociology in Norway.