In this article, a detailed account is given of the collection of data at Udvalg for Folke­maal (The Dialect Commission, later the Institute of Danish Dialectology, later still the Dialectology Section) from its very beginning in 1909 till around 1940, including the kinds of methods used, the organisation of the work and the relations between the dia­lectologists and the informants. Special attention is given to the practical and theoretical considerations behind two unconventional questionnaires, the so-called big question­naire and the phraseological questionnaire, both introduced around 1930. Examples of the work with and results of the collection of data using the two questionnaires are given, and two case studies are presented, introducing a fully trained, "ideal" informant and a more "common or garden" informant.