This article is about the features of conducting social research in the digital age. The article especially emphasizes the inequality of opportunities for institutional and individual researchers in the process of generating samples that meet the requirements of representativeness and normality of distribution. In this regard, the methods of nonparametric statistics that allow working with a small sample come out in the first place for individual researchers and small research teams. Studies conducted on such a sample are called microsocial studies. The article also emphasizes the possibility of using modern software for data processing through statistical and network analysis. This paper discusses the possibility of using methods of qualitative data analysis, which gained particular popularity in the first quarter of the XXI century. We are talking about the methods of condensation of meaning, discourse analysis, the method of "grounded theory". The author especially emphasizes the need to form research competencies that will allow for the conduct of both qualitative and quantitative research correctly, while still studying at a higher educational institution. In this regard, the article provides a number of guidelines for the creation of training courses on statistics and research methodology, which may be useful to teachers and analysts.