ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the basic features of the social survey and how it could be useful in addressing Brian Bowie's research questions. It discusses the processes involved in the design and implementation of a social survey. The chapter presents the sociological literature on the social aspects of diabetes type I and II. It describes the purpose, as well as the advantages and disadvantages, of conducting social surveys. Surveys are useful for collecting data from a large number of participants, and they mainly elicit quantitative results that can be coded and analysed through statistical software. Despite their limitations, surveys are used in many studies, while a mail survey can be a useful way to study a large sample while dealing with issues of anonymity and sensitivity. Experiments within surveys involve the random assignment of participants to "treatment" and "control" groups; differences between the two groups can then be attributed to the treatment.
