The empirical study of peasant communities was undertaken in the southern sierra region of Peru. Eight communities were studied. These communities were picked from a sample universe which constituted the most important community areas in the southern sierra. Preliminary studies were conducted in seven of these communities before September 1978, at which time was begun the fieldwork for the present study. The communities studied are located in four of five departments comprising the southern sierra; Ayacucho is the department not represented. This does not, however, present any particular complication to the problems of sample representativity in as much as the differences between departments are of minor importance.

The empirical data were obtained via a peasant family survey, administered as a uniform questionnaire in all of the peasant communities. Interviews were also conducted with persons involved in the life of the community (mainly authorities and ex-authorities) from which were obtained a physical and social perspective which was of great importance in sharpening the contents of the interview to be administered to the families. This procedure also permitted the control of the quality of the interviews by the range of possibilities for response which was given by notable persons. In each community the survey itself (apart from previous visits) lasted approximately two weeks and was conducted, on average, by four persons, three of whom (including the principal researcher) constituted a permanent team, the fourth interviewer usually being a person from the community. The interviews took place in Quechua or Aymara when the family surveyed did not have sufficient command of Spanish.

After concluding the fieldwork in each community, reports were written describing all that was observed during the stay in the community.