| Survey research is a thriving industry worldwide. Rossi et al. (1983) estimated the gross income of the industry in the United States alone to be roughly $5 billion, employing 60,000 persons. There are no current estimates, but the market for survey work has only continued to grow in the last two decades. Accompanying this growth are revolutionary breakthroughs in survey methodology. The field of cognitive psychology has dramatically changed how survey researchers approach the public to request participation in surveys, and how they design questionnaires and interpret survey findings. There have also been breakthroughs in computer technology, and these have transformed the way data are collected. In addition, the use of new survey data quality evaluation techniques have provided more information regarding the validity and reliability of survey results than was previously thought possible. Today more than ever, the collection of survey data is both an art and a well-developed science. |