"Survey Research is the method most frequently used by sociologists in their study of American and other large societies. Surveys allow sociologists to move from a relatively small sample of individuals, who are accessible as carriers of information about themselves and their society to the broad contours of a large population."
Encyclopedia of Sociology, v.4 1992, pp 2121-22.
You will find survey research & data in scholarly communication: books, articles, dissertations, public policy reports, etc.
