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Surveys as Instruments of Modernization

The Case of Mexico

CIESAS del Occidente

BRYAN ROBERTS

University of Texas at Austin

Survey research in Mexico has flourished as an instrument in the country's modernization, particularly since the 1970s. It has profited from a close association with government. This association has, at times, led to an uneasy relationship with academics, but in recent years, the increasing availability of official survey data has permitted independent critiques of the government's own analysis of surveys and of their methodology. The challenge to Mexican survey research comes primarily from the social heterogeneity and uneven development of the country. Factors making it difficult to standardize national surveys are the persistence of a traditional rural sector, part of whose population speaks indigenous languages; large differences in consumption levels between and within regions; high rates of population mobility; and a large informal sector. The article focuses on the achievements and shortcomings of Mexican survey research when applied to the rural-urban transition, poverty, labor markets, and migration.

American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 42, No. 2, 237-251 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/0002764298042002008


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