It is a methodical gathering of social data from a sample of the target population through standardized interviews or questionnaires. This will normally be carried out for government departments, regional authorities, and research institutes. This type of work usually involves a complex questionnaire with large samples of the population being interviewed utilizing a specific sampling methodology. For these projects important issues would be covered such as employment, health, housing, transport and crime.

The data thus collected is collated and systematically analyzed quantitatively. It provides descriptive information about the variables studied, correlations between two or more variables, and causal analysis.