Sample validation for the experimental mass survey of native Russian speakers focussed on the diagnostics of color naming

Mass surveys of native speakers are an intricate research practice in the field of sociolinguistics, connected with many methodological, financial, and organizational difficulties. One of the most noticeable problems of a native speakers’ mass survey is the selection of respondents, who can provide information based on which conclusions can be made about the entire social object to be studied. The objective of this article is to validate the sample calculated for an experimental mass survey of native speakers of Russian. This survey is focused on understanding the actual structure of the colour-naming system, which means to: (1) determine the selecting criteria for respondents; (2) calculate the sample and (3) discuss its representativeness and sufficiency. The paper presents a description of the research toolkit (the RGB and Munsell colour scales) for the online experiment that allows to compare the terms used by native speakers of different languages for naming colours...