Methodological Challenges in Studying Wealthy Families

Bibliographic Data

ID19213635
AuthorsA Lareau (0000-0002-4988-6274, University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-05-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-4446.70124
PMID42176302
OpenAlexW7162188326
LanguageEN
References cited46

Studying the wealthy is not easy. This piece provides suggestions for recruitment, interview strategies, and design to gain high-quality data on wealthy people. It is based on an interview study of 81 US racially-diverse families with a median net worth of $25 million. First, to gain access to the wealthy, it is key for the researcher to use a wide array of social networks, particularly weak ties, by asking acquaintances if they can mention the study to a potential respondent, and making the first request very small (such as a brief phone call) rather than large (a two-hour interview). Second, rather than standardization of the interview protocol, flexibility is invaluable along with early "safe" questions about money (i.e., salary of a first job) for gaining concrete information about family wealth. Third, designing a study to include multiple members of the same family can improve data quality by adding depth, nuance, and confidence in the findings

Flexibility (engineering) · Key (lock) · Phone · Quality (philosophy) · Salary · Standardization · Data Analysis and Archiving · Social Capital and Networks · Survey Methodology and Nonresponse

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