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Statistics vocabulary · Survey and Study Design

Survey

Meaning in statistics, with examples

/ˈsɜːrveɪ/nounCore term

In statistics, survey means: A method of collecting information by asking a set of questions to a group of people, usually a sample, in person, by phone, on paper or online.

In Turkish: anket, anket araştırması, tarama

How it is used

You design, conduct or carry out a survey; people take part in, complete or respond to it. 'Survey' is the whole study or method, while 'questionnaire' is the actual list of questions. It is also a verb: 'we surveyed 2,000 adults'.

Example sentences

  1. The survey was conducted online between March and May 2024.

  2. We surveyed 1,500 small business owners about their use of digital payments.

Common collocations

  • conduct a survey
  • online survey
  • survey respondents
  • survey data
  • take part in a survey
  • questionnaireThe printed or online form containing the set of questions that respondents answer in a survey.
  • response rateThe share of people invited to take part in a survey who actually complete it, usually given as a percentage.
  • Likert scaleA rating scale on which respondents show how much they agree or disagree with statements, typically with five or seven ordered options from 'strongly disagree' to 'strongly agree'.
  • sampling frameThe actual list or source from which a sample is drawn, such as a student register, a customer database or a list of addresses.
  • nonresponse biasBias that arises when the people who do not take part in a survey differ in important ways from those who do, so the results misrepresent the population.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Survey and Study Design

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