Breakdown of Скольким социологам мы должны отправить эти данные?
мы
we
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
сколько
how much / how long / as much / as many as
отправить
to send (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Скольким социологам мы должны отправить эти данные?
Why is the word for "how many" written as скольким here?
It is in the dative case. The verb отправить (to send) requires the dative case for the recipient of the action (the people you are sending the data to).
I thought сколько was always followed by the genitive plural. Why is социологам in the dative plural?
That is the tricky part about oblique cases! In the nominative and inanimate accusative, сколько forces the following noun into the genitive plural. But in all other cases, it acts like an adjective and simply matches the noun's case. Since the sentence requires the dative case, both words must be dative: скольким социологам.
Why is "this data" translated as эти данные instead of using a singular form?
The Russian word for data, данные, is a plural-only word. Because it is always plural, it must be paired with the plural demonstrative pronoun эти (these). It is in the accusative case here because it is the direct object being sent.
Why does the word for "must" take the form должны?
Words expressing obligation like должен act as short-form adjectives in Russian, meaning they must agree with the subject in gender and number. Because the subject is мы (we), it takes the plural ending -ы.