Questions differ according to the municipalities.

There are two questionnaires:

- one standard questionnaire, adapted specifically to small municipalities as it had a supplementary section on supply services that the 1988 survey did not have;

- the other "urban" questionnaire, with all the sections about services and shops, health and education removed.

This questionnaire was sent to 1,306 municipalities which were part of urban units with more than 10,000 inhabitants, 960 of which were municipalities which themselves had fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. Municipalities with more than 30,000 inhabitants were not surveyed: the most common facilities were attributed the maximum number (9 and over). Less common facilities were attributed using available administrative files (veterinary practices, hypermarkets, furniture stores, household goods, shoe shops .... middle schools, high schools, chemists, hotel capacity and camp sites). The Urban Facilities survey was used mainly for sports and cultural facilities. For these municipalities no information was available on attraction if a specific facility was absent. Municipalities of more than 10,000 inhabitants surveyed using the urban questionnaire: this concerned 346 municipalities. For businesses and services, a service was listed as existing and the number of facilities was given as the mean number observed in municipalities of the same size surveyed with the standard questionnaire. Municipalities of fewer than 10,000 inhabitants surveyed using the urban questionnaire: this concerned 960 municipalities. Traditional sources were used to reply to questions on services and businesses: the urban facilities survey (public services, hypermarkets, professional high schools, day nurseries and aid structures, etc.), files on facilities, and mean results obtained in municipalities of the same size. If a facility was absent, the centre of the conurbation was given as the municipality frequented in the case of urban units that are small in area (fewer than 15 municipalities). For urban units that are particularly large in area (more than 15 municipalities), no information was available on attraction. 36 reference facilities have been monitored in the various municipality inventories since 1980, giving the number of facilities and the municipality frequented.

Four ranges of facility are defined, according to whether the 36 facilities are generally widely available or fairly scarce:

- the basic range includes 6 facilities or services: general grocery store, tobacconist, primary school, builder, plumber-joiner, car repair workshop;

- the local range includes 10: butcher/cooked meats, baker's, post office, electrician, nurse, general doctor, pharmacy, painter-decorator, hairdresser's, petrol station;

- the intermediate range contains 17:

- shops: hardware, bookshop-stationer's, shoes, electrical goods, furniture, clothes, supermarket,

- medical services: ambulance, dentist, physiotherapist,

- public services: middle school, police, tax office, fire station,

- other services: bank, notary, veterinary surgeon;

- The extended range contains the following 3 facilities: cinema, hospital and medical analysis laboratory.