TWO BASIC APPROACHES ARE INDICATED FOR GENERATING PROPOSITIONS ABOUT SOCIAL PHENOMENA: EMPIRICAL INFERENCE, WHERE REGULARITIES ARE DERIVED FROM OBSERVATION; AND AXIOMATIC THEORY, WHICH REQUIRES AN OBSERVED REGULARITY BE NECESSARILY IMPLIED BY A LOGICAL DEDUCTION FROM A SET OF POSTULATED ASSUMPTIONS, WHILE EMPIRICAL STUDIES ARE THE BASIS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF AXIOMATIC THEORY, IT IS HELD THAT THE CONSTRUCTION OF DEDUCTIVE AXIOMS IS A NECESSARY STEP BEFORE EMPIRICAL STUDY CAN BE MOST EFFECTIVELY EMPLOYED IN POLICY STUDIES. THE ADVANTAGES OF AXIOMATIC MODELS ARE DISCUSSED AS FOLLOWS: (1) AXIOMATIC MODELS PROVIDE A STANDARD SET OF ASSUMPTIONS WHICH ARE CUMULATIVE AND CONDUCIVE TO EXTENSIONS AND REFINEMENTS BY OTHER RESEARCHERS; (2) AXIOMATIC MODELS MAKE A PRIORI PREDICTIONS POSSIBLE--CONSIDERED ESSENTIAL TO POLICY DEVELOPMENT; (3) AXIOMATIC MODELS ARE MORE CONDUCIVE TO NORMATIVE ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC POLICY THAN EMPIRICAL APPROACHES; (4) AN AXIOMATIC APPROACH CAN ALSO FERRET OUT VALUES THAT UNDERPIN ALTERNATIVE BEHAVIORS AND INSTITUTIONS; AND (5) DEDUCTIVE MODELS ARE USEFUL IN THE ADVOCATION OF A POLICY. SOME OF THESE VALUES OF THE AXIOMATIC MODEL ARE ILLUSTRATED IN THE INSTANCE OF A SPECIFIC PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS. (RCB)