ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that written surveys, which have advantages that complement their disadvantages, retain a useful role even in sociolinguistic methodology when they are deployed appropriately for certain purposes. It examines the advantages and disadvantages of surveys and the history of their use, with a special focus on the study of Canadian English, in which written questionnaires have played a major role. The chapter presents some methodological considerations that sociolinguists should bear in mind if they wish to maximize the benefits and minimize the drawbacks of surveys. Written surveys, or questionnaires, have long been an important means of gathering data on linguistic variation. An important advantage to collecting a large quantity of data: to some extent, assuming data of reasonable quality, confidence in the results of an investigation increases in direct proportion to the size of the sample. Ideally, surveys should be used as a complement to data from the observation of language in use.
