This reference guide is not a textbook on language surveys, but rather a no-frills compendium of techniques that have a good track record as tested in the field -- a reminder, if you like. It assumes that the reader already knows a fair amount of linguistics, including how to do field work, and has studied language survey techniques. It also assumes that he or she is not averse to expressing things with numbers and diagrams when that gives a clearer picture of a situation than words alone might.

Each section of the guide deals with one kind of survey activity -- the reason for it, the situations where it is worth using, the kind of team it takes to do it, preparation, text construction, appropriate sampling, test administration techniques, scoring, interpretation, and ways to visualize the results. The most useful readings are listed at the end of each section -- again, not a full bibliography, but a working list.