A thread was posted over at folkinfo that reminded me of the Mass Observation exercises that took place in Britain during 1937 until the early fifties (see http://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/massobs/)

The topic raised was Children's rhymes and it struck me what an amazingly detailed picture we could get if Mudcatters who were teachers of children in the range say 5-11 just noted what playground rhymes and songs were sung on an agreed date. Of course, this thought has occurred to me at just about the worse possible time i.e. just before the main summer break. Has Mudcat ever undertaken such an exercise? Would it be possible? Admittedly, it would still give a very partial picture, but even the wonderful Opie surveys were partial.

What say you?