Читать книгу Sociology - Anthony Giddens - Страница 88

Interpreting field studies usually involves problems of generalization. Since only a small number of people are studied, we cannot be sure that what is found in one context will apply in another, or even that two researchers would come to the same conclusions when studying the same group. This is less of a problem in large-scale survey research. In a survey, questionnaires may be sent out or administered directly in interviews to a selected group of people – sometimes several thousand. Sociologists refer to this group of people, whatever its size, as a sample.

While ethnographic work is well suited to in-depth studies of small slices of social life, survey research tends to produce information that is less detailed but can be applied over a broader area. Surveys are the most widely used type of quantitative research method, allowing social phenomena to be measured and then analysed using mathematical models and statistical techniques. Many government bodies and private polling agencies make extensive use of surveys to gain knowledge of people’s attitudes and creating an accurate picture of the shape, size and diversity of a society’s population would be quite impossible without such survey research.