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first seek permission to answer the questions from his
employer, in which case the questionary was left with
him for completion and was subsequently collected or
returned by post.
A list of footwear retailers in the Ealing area
was obtained from the Public Health Inspectors Department,
Out of 49 shops selling shoes, 39 sold children's
shoes Of these 39 shops 3 were multiple stores - for
example, Woolworths Some of these 39 shops were
branch shops of one particular firm, but as their
stocks of shoes were found to differ with the individual
manager's choice, they were counted as separate shops
in this survey
In two shops the managers were unwilling to cooperate
In 15 shops the questionary had to be left
with the manager concerned; of these, four were never
recovered though a letter of reminder was sent, and in
eight cases the questionary was incomplete or inaccurate.
These were discarded and the final analysis was made
with the results from 25 shops
At the time of the questionary (mid-year, 1958)
the population of Ealing was 183,000, and the number
of children aged 1-15 years was estimated at 34,000,
Description of Questionary
The questionary was devised in the form of a series
of questions, followed by the possible answers, of
which the pertinent answer was ringed by the questioner
in each ,ase For example: (1) Do you stock shoes with
rounded toes and straight inner borders? ....Yes /No,
(2) Are all or some or none of your assistants trained
to fit children9s shoes?
The questionary was in seven main parts.
Part I - This ascertained whether suitable children's
shoes were stocked and, if so, whether they were in
half-sizes and width-fittings, How many width-fittings?
Were these shoes of a lace-up style or bar-instep
style,* or both? Were they stocked for toddler aged
1 - 3 years, infant aged 3-7 years, junior aged
7-11 years, and senior aged 11 - 18 years? Were
these shoes stocked in large sizes - that is, size 7,
8, 9, and 10 for boys and girls?
Part II - Besides these well shaped shoes, what other
styles for girls were stocked in the shop? That is,
did the shop stock (1) double ankle-bar, (2) high-cut
casual, (3) low-cut casual shoes?
Part III - Did the shop recommend or sell only one
make of shoe, or several?
Part IV - Did the shop carry a stock of the good shoes
with (a) half-sizes and (b) width fittings in all, or
some, or none of the shoes? The manager was then asked
to show a narrow-fitting shoe (10c child's shoe) and a
large-size shoe (8 girl's shoe) asacheck of the shop's
stock at the time of the survey. Could the shop obtain
shoes out of stock in one day, two or three days, one
week, or several weeks? Did they try to do this?
Part V - Pour shoes were specified and the prices
asked. For example, a request was, "Qiote the price of
size 5 toddler's shoe in brown leather and composition
sole,"
'Bar instep style denotes a shoe with a strap across
the instep