Starting with the landmark research of Charles Booth in London at the end of the 19th
century, the term “social survey” was applied to investigations carried out by private
individuals and voluntary associations into social conditions of the working classes. This kind of research was the first attempt to study the community by empirical means and to show that the source of social problems was society itself, rather than individuals. In the early 20th century the survey movement affected sociological research in the areas of both methodology and community studies of Chicago sociologists.
References
1. Booth Ch. Life and Labour of the People in London. URL: https://archive.org/stream/labourlifeofpeop01bootuoft#page/n1/mode/2up
2. Chapin F. S. Field Work and Social Research: The Century Co., New York, 1920. 222 р.
3. Commons J. R. Standardization of Housing Investigations // American Statistical Association: V. XI (1908–1909). 16 р.
4. Converse J. M. Survey Research in the United States: Roots and Emergence, 1890-1960: Transaction Publishers, 2009. 599 р.
5. Du Bois W. E. B. The Philadelphia Negro. Cosimo, Inc., 2010. 540 р.
6. Elmer M. C. Technique of social surveys. The World Co., 1917. 93 р.
7. Essays on the History of British Sociological Research / M. Bulmer. CUP, 1985. 257 р.
8. Rowntree C. Poverty: a study of town life. The Policy Press, 2000. 437 р.
9. Turner S. The Pittsburgh Survey and the Survey Movement // Pittsburgh surveyed / M.W. Greenwald. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1996. 15 р.
11. Webb S., Webb B. Methods of Social Study (1928). CUP, 1975. 308 р.
