This book has its origins in an interest which we both share, from different backgrounds, in the conduct of empirical social research in developing countries. The conditions under which social science research is carried out in the Third World differ in significant respects from conditions in the industrial world in North America, western Europe and Australia. The guidance available from standard texts—particularly those on survey methods—for the most part assumes as background the conditions that exist in the developed world. When such texts are transposed to the context of the developing countries, although they provide guidance on how to proceed, they do not pay attention to the particular local conditions and problems which are likely to arise. One aim of this book is to provide a collection of material which specifically addresses the problems of conducting social surveys in developing countries.