This article uses the method of informally surveying residents.
Andrew O. Mattson and Stephen R. Duncomb, "Public Space, Private Place: The Contested Terrain of Tompkins Square Park," Journal of Sociology, Vol. 37, The Politics of Identity and Difference (1992),pp. 129-161
You could use theoretical frameworks such as Kaplan and Kaplan information process theory which provides a framework.Many article is written in basis of this theory.