Studies of emergent, previously unstudied groups in the context of a complex urban society (such as the Project on Working Women, a three-year study of women in nontraditional blue collar and working class jobs) present methodological problems related to sampling, interviewing, and methods of analysis. Crucial to a successful methodology are several factors: (1) the legitimacy of the researcher and his or her capacity to gain access to the sample population (since the population of working blue collar women is isolated and nonhomogeneous, the researcher's reputation and known sympathy to such women are helpful in gaining access to respondents through agencies and establishing credibility with the women respondents); (2) data-gathering strategies which include shared understandings of the research goals and respondent characteristics among the interviewers, and more than one interview so that openness and systematic data collection can occur simultaneously; and (3) approaches to data analyses which are flexible and dovetail with multiple interviews, using multiple methods of measurement. Combining these factors provides a good first step to revealing salient issues relevant to specialized urban populations. (KC)