A method for studying a zone of an object, the zone exhibiting a mass-thickness and comprising at least one chemical element, the method including a step of exposing a part of the zone of the object to an electron beam, a step of identifying each chemical element present in the said zone by virtue of the exposure step, a step of measuring, for each chemical element identified, a corresponding intensity of an X-ray radiation emergent from the object on account of the said exposure step, a step of determining a value of the said mass-thickness dependent on each measurement step, and a step of determining a value of the concentration of each chemical element identified using the said value of the mass-thickness determined.