Conducting a Communal Questionnaire in Community-Oriented Cultures

Abstract

In order to enrich our scholarly knowledge we need to consider how our methodologies fit the particularities of every social context. A recent experience conducting a questionnaire in rural Turkey revealed a "community orientation" (Turan 1975) among respondents that caused me to question the individual as the center of analytic attention. Based on my findings, I propose the communal questionnaire, an innovative hybrid of the structured survey, qualitative interview, and focus group, which accounts for the non-standard nature of respondents' social situations. I conclude with methodological suggestions for conducting research in community-oriented cultures.