Comparisons between local Jewish community studies and the 2000-01 National Jewish population survey

About 50 Jewish federations completed local community studies from 1985 to 2003. This paper provides guidance to researchers wishing to compare local community study results with one another and with results of the National Jewish Population Survey 2000-01. if these comparisons are to be properly interpreted, an understanding of the varying purposes and methodologies of local community studies and NJPS 2000-01 is necessary. This paper concludes that more can be learned by comparing local community study results with one another than with NJPS 2000-01 results.