Communal Differences and Challenges in Studying Small Jewish Communities

Studying a small Jewish community entails different challenges than studying a large community. A Jewish community study is literally a numbers game, in which a vast number of respondents must complete surveys in order to provide enough data for reliable analysis on a representative sample of the local Jewish community. Providing reliable analysis on subgroups within the community requires that a sufficient number of respondents complete the survey from each desired segment of the community. Collecting sufficient data is challenging even in large communities; it can be nearly impossible in small communities. Because of these challenges, very few community studies have been conducted outside of the mid-sized and large Jewish communities that are home to over 80% of the American Jewish population. Additionally, because the characteristics and patterns of behavior of Jews in small communities are often significantly different from their counterparts in large communities, approaches to survey design may also require modification to conduct a successful study of a small community.

This paper will address the challenges of conducting Jewish community studies outside of the large centers of Jewish population in the United States. Issues considered will include the lack of research on small Jewish communities in general; collecting sufficient data; differences in communal research interests between large and small communities; and identifiable differences related to community size, such as institutional and individual resources and needs and patterns of identification and affiliation.