Community Surveys

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that there are many different elements that combine to form a community and that the term 'community' can mean different things to different people. The paper further explains that the best way to discover the the ideas of community that dominate the minds of most people would be through a survey. The necessary questions in such a survey are then listed in the paper and the suggestion made that, in order to synthesize the information obtained from the survey, some qualitative and quantative analyses would need to be done. Finally, the paper points out that surveys, such as the one described in the paper, are useful information gathering-tools for the field of sociology and important elements of the sociological method.

From the Paper:

"The word 'community' is somewhat ambiguous. It is not immediately clear whether it refers to geographical proximity, common interests and activities, or some other grouping method. As with many such ambiguous words, it is likely that different people have completely different ideas about what it means to be a member of a community. An interesting question to pursue, therefore, would be this: What factors do people have in mind when they consider themselves to be part of a community? It is not uncommon for people to mentally place themselves in more than one community. Perhaps someone is a member of her church community, the community of her apartment building, and her work community. These are three very different things. In the case of the church, the community seems bonded together by faith, which might more generally be described as a common interest. In the case of the apartment building, geographical location, or proximity of living, seems to be the main cohesive factor. Work shares elements of both of the other two. On the one hand, the workplace represents a common activity that all of the members of the community participate in on a regular basis. On the other hand, it is likely that the workplace is one office or building where many people convene in the same space at the same time."

More papers on Community Surveys:

• Research Paper # 116880 : "Community Health Promotion Project Design"
• Research Proposal # 134475 : "Hispanic Community Parenting Guidelines"
• Research Paper # 102408 : "Filipino Community Analysis of Union County, New Jersey"

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