50 Survey Quotes that Define Research

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published September 5, 2023

Finding the relevant and authentic survey quotes could be a daunting task.

However, with a list offering the best survey quotes, it won’t be difficult for you to find an inspiring quote.

To help you in this regard, we have created a list of survey quotes that are worthy to share.

On the other hand, you can also seek some information about the term survey and various aspects associated with it.

So, let’s start!

What is a Survey?

A survey is referred to as a structured approach to collecting data.

This data is collected from a group of entities or individuals.

The data thus analyzed is used to capture the opinions, preferences, and behaviors of the individual in a particular society.

Hence, surveys tend to be the most essential tools for researchers, governments, institutions, and businesses.

Types of Surveys

Listed below are the most popular types of surveys:

Questionnaire Surveys
Observational Surveys
Interview Surveys

Questionnaire Surveys

This is one of the most famous types of surveys.

During this survey, respondents or participants are provided with a questionnaire.

These questionnaires could be delivered by hand or online.

Surveys can cover a wide array of topics, including public opinion or market research.

Observational Surveys

These types of surveys involve recording the events and behaviors.

This method is usually used in fields like:

Anthropology
Psychology
Sociology

Interview Surveys

During this survey, the interviewers directly interact with the individuals and ask questions.

The answers are then recorded and are used for drawing a conclusion.

This method allows for a deeper exploration of responses and follow-up questions.

Tips to Craft Effective Surveys

Listed below are the tips to create a survey that offers accurate and meaningful data:

The purpose and object of the survey should be clear.
Make sure to identify the target audience you want to use as respondents.
The questionnaire must have questions that are relevant, concise, and unbiased.
Pre-test the survey questions to know the issues with the wording or topic.

Applications

Surveys prove to be critical in a variety of ways.

A few of the applications include:

Academic Research
Market Research
Public Policy

Academic Research

Researchers take advantage of surveys to gather required data regarding a particular field of education.

Academic surveys are conducted across a variety of disciplines (Psychology to Economics).

Market Research

Surveys also offer key insight into consumer preferences.

Hence, businesses use surveys to make their strategies based on customer behavior.

Public Policy

Governments also conduct surveys to assess and analyze public opinion.

This helps with policy decisions and allocates the required amount of resources to a particular area of society.

Top 10 Survey Quotes

The following compilation features the top 10 survey quotes.

1. “Surveys show that surveys never lie.” — Natalie Angier

2. “Faults are beauties when survey’d by love.” — Theocritus

3. “My father was a soil scientist with the Geological Survey.” — Jim Fowler

4. “Time, that takes a survey of all the world, Must have a stop.” — William Shakespeare

5. “The boundaries of culture and rainfall never follow survey lines.” — J. Frank Dobie

6. “History is the arbiter of controversy, the monarch of all she surveys.” — Lord Acton

7. “She couldn’t survey the wreck of the world with an air of casual unconcern.” — Margaret Mitchell

8. “Latest survey shows that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the world’s population.” — Stephen Hawking

9. “One survey found that ten percent of Americans thought Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.” — Rita Mae Brown

10. “A man’s feet should be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world.” — George Santayana

Inspiring Survey Quotes

Here is a collection of inspiring survey quotes that shed light on the remarkable role surveys play in capturing voices, shaping perspectives, and making positive changes.

11. “Survey says: one more for the bad guys.” — Scott Hall

12. “A technical survey that systematizes, digests, and appraises the mid-century state of psychology.” — Stanley Smith Stevens

13. “Philosophy, most broadly viewed, is the critical survey of existence from the standpoint of value.” — Sidney Hook

14. “It takes no compromising to give people their rights. It takes no money to respect the individual.” — Harvey Milk

15. “Everyone takes surveys. Whoever makes a statement about human behavior has engaged in a survey of some sort.” — Andrew Greeley

16. “When you spend time with potential customers, you get to hear about their struggles firsthand… You learn why people buy.” — Jason Fried

17. “But honestly, if you do a rigorous survey of my work, I’ll bet you’ll find that biology is a theme far more often than physical science.” — David Brin

18. “It’s essentially taught in high school and college survey courses as an item on a timeline: ‘The Lusitania was sunk; the U.S. gets into World War I’.” — Erik Larson

19. “A poll survey should indicate at the outset whether it is meant to capture opinions and beliefs for preferences and practices or value and perceptions.” — N. Bhaskara Rao

20. “The fact disclosed by a survey of the past that majorities have been wrong must not blind us to the complementary fact that majorities have usually not been entirely wrong.” — Herbert Spencer

Survey Quotes On Survey Findings

Examining these thought-provoking quotes, we can see how survey findings may be used to shape strategy, motivate change, and spark constructive conversation.

21. “You may not be aware of a recent survey that showed that if the First Amendment were put to a popular vote today, it would fail by a 60% to 40% vote.” — James E. Rogers

22. “A survey carried out across the U.S. between 2004 and 2006 showed that frequent church- or synagogue-goers are more likely to give money to charity.” — Jonathan Sacks

23. “A recent survey conducted by the University of Minnesota concluded that meth was involved in as many as 81 percent of child protection cases in the state.” — Mark Kennedy

24. “A recent Pew Hispanic survey found that more than 70 percent of illegal immigrants from Mexico are interested in a guest-worker program and then returning home.” — John Shadegg

25. “There once was a demographic survey done to determine if money was connected to happiness, and Ireland was the only place where this did not turn out to be true.” — Fiona Shaw

More Quotes About Survey Findings

Learn more from the following survey results.

26. “One survey that I saw that was published, I think, in Variety or Electronic Media within the last three weeks says that now the average hour of radio in the United States has 18 minutes of commercials.” — Robert McChesney

27. “According to a new survey, 40 percent of adults in Mexico say they would move to the United States if they got a chance. The number would have been higher, but the other 60 percent already live here.” — Conan O’Brien

28. “A 2014 survey found that 74% of law-enforcement agencies reported anti-government extremism as one of the top terrorist threats. Just 3% of those agencies viewed the threat from Muslim extremists as severe.” — Ibrahim Hooper

29. “Imitation is flattery. There was once a survey of who was the most imitated celebrity in Latin American countries, especially in Brazil and Argentina, and I was in third place after Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.” — Walter Mercado

30. “A 2001 survey of business owners with MBAs conducted by the Rochester Institute of Technology found that money was the primary motivator for only 29% of women versus 76% of men. Women prioritized flexibility, fulfillment, autonomy, and safety.” — Warren Farrell

Perspectival Survey Quotes

In this collection, we present a selection of quotes that celebrate the art of gathering insights from various perspectives on surveys.

31. “Poll results published with a clear byline for the research reflect a higher degree of confidence in the survey.” — N. Bhaskara Rao

32. “I think somebody ought to do a survey as to how many great, important men have quit to spend time with their families who spent any more time with their family.” — Walter Cronkite

33. “With Twitter and other social networking tools, you can get a lot of advice from great people. I learn more from Twitter than any survey or discussion with a big company.” — Daniel Ek

34. “But I do think the survey group – and I think Charlie Duelfer is a great leader. I have the utmost confidence in Charles. I think you will get as full an answer as you can possibly get.” — David Kay

35. “I have a lack of fear, whereas in the past, the fear of failure was a powerful motivator. Anyway, I have great expectations for the future, but I just don’t know if I’m the monarch of all I survey.” — Sylvester Stallone

Additional Survey Quotes Showing Perspective

Reflect on these various survey gathering quotes.

36. “Give these Indians little farms, survey them, let them put fences around them, let them have their own horses, cows, sheep, things that they can call their own, and it will do away with tribal Indians.” — George Crook

37. “As I occasionally survey the pack of sycophantic shih tzus in the Washington press corps, wriggling on their bellies to kiss the feet of those in power, I feel plumb discouraged about the future of journalism.” — Molly Ivins

38. “As a great man’s influence never ends, so also there is not definite finality, no end, to a great survey; it runs along for centuries, ever responsive to the strain of the increasing needs of a growing population and an enlarging domain.” — Cleveland Abbe

39. “Therefore, let us not despair, but instead, survey the position, consider carefully the action we must take, and then address ourselves to our common task in a mood of sober resolution and quiet confidence, without haste and without pause.” — Arthur Henderson

40. “We survey companies and ask them what the barriers to export and import are. Once we map these barriers, we sit down with the companies on one side and the government and regulatory agencies on the other and help them identify obstacles to trade and what has to be done to tackle them.” — Arancha Gonzalez

Survey Quotes On Surveying Experience

In this collection, we present a selection of quotes that illuminate the experience of conducting surveys to capture moments, opinions, and emotions.

41. “I used to work on a survey crew because my dad was an engineer, but he was also a surveyor.” — Michael Keaton

42. “At Olduvai, for 20 years, Mary and I had investigated and made a general survey of the overall geology.” — Louis Leakey

43. “I’ve done an informal, anecdotal survey about marriage, and I’ve found no evidence that it brings happiness.” — Mary McCormack

44. “I run the largest survey company in the world. It just so happens to be the second-largest company run by someone in my house.” — Dave Goldberg

45. “If you look at the American Household Survey, the last time we did that in 2013, renters in over 2.8 million homes thought they would be evicted soon.” — Matthew Desmond

Additional Quotes About Conducting Surveys

Learn more a few more quotes from those who have been part of the survey experience.

46. “People have said I belong in a rubber room because I look for wrecks, and when I find them, I just do a survey. I don’t look for treasure or artifacts.” — Clive Cussler

47. “Jocelyn Bell joined the project as a graduate student in 1965, helping as a member of the construction team and then analyzing the paper charts of the sky survey.” — Antony Hewish

48. “In 1989, I started the National Association of Business Women. We incorporated microfinance and different job training for women. We did a survey, with USAID, that found women lacked training, credit, and information.” — Joyce Banda

49. “People only ever cook nine meals in rotation, so we put a survey out to see what people wanted to eat. People said they loved a Bakewell tart and a trifle, so we’ve put them together, and now a recipe for Bakewell trifle exists.” — Dave Myers

50. “In Egypt, I do survey work on the ground. That’s really the most important part of using satellite images. You know, it helps us to find potential locations for sites, and then we get to go there on the ground and confirm what we’ve seen.” — Sarah Parcak