Is There a Future for Surveys?

Abstract

For decades, sample surveys have provided information of value to sponsors in government, academia, business, and the public. That value proposition is threatened now by declining survey participation and the advent of competition from alternative data sources. In this environment, some developments in survey practice include new thinking about how to recruit respondents, new methods for applying communication technology, and new approaches to blending survey and non-survey data. Going forward, survey data may increasingly be one component of information products, formed from various sources, including administrative records and unstructured ("big") data. The papers in this special issue of Public Opinion Quarterly will contribute to discussions on how future surveys should be conducted and their place in a new information order.