À quoi sert une enquête: biais, sens et traduction

Questionnaire surreys Céline Bessière, Frédérique Houseaux: Following the Interviewers - Christian Baudelot, Michel Gollac: Making Do - Florence Weber. Anonymous Relationship and Survey Form - Alain Desrosières: What are Surveys for? Slant, Meaning and Interpretation. Within the scope of the Happiness and Work seminar that led to an Insee survey, Céline Bessière and Frédérique Houseaux were able to "follow the interviewers" and draw some conclusions from their own field observations about how statistical data are produced. A turbulent questionnaire session with a farm worker shows the importance of the survey situation and misunderstandings about the terms used. The authors propose to use these "failed" survey relationships to bring to light the often- neglected role of the interviewer. Finally, they suggest bringing together interviewers and survey designers and using the data produced while keeping in mind the translation process that governed their production. Christian Baudelot and Michel Gollac arrive at the conclusion that we have to "make do" with what we have and refuse to give up the increase in knowledge that statistical surveys offer. They argue that as long as we do not confine ourselves to statistics, we can use them to fight against the very ethnocentrism governing the act of data gathering. Florence Weber examines the interaction between the Insee interviewer and the interviewee: "anonymous relationship and survey form" are combined to máe surveys similar to relationships between other types of subordinate government agents and citizens. By playing on the nature of the questions asked, we merely shift the spot that gives rise to misunderstandings, which are both instructive and constructive. Finally, Alain Desrosières raises the question: "What are surveys for?" If the same criticisms have been formulated for decades and have never put an end to statistical surveys, it means that what is at stake is not only cognitive but also political. Thus, we must reconstruct the purposes served by surveys along with the social means used for the statistical products and statements.Desrosières Alain. À quoi sert une enquête: biais, sens et traduction. In: Genèses, 29, 1997. Sciences sociales improbables, sous la direction de Jean Leroy. pp. 120-122