ABSTRACT
The major advantage of citizen surveys is that a scientifically selected random sample of the population can obtain an accurate representation of the views of all types of people to be found in the broad public. By the mid to late 1960s, and particularly in the 1970s, it had become a regular feature of decision making in the executive branch of the US government; many acts of Congress mandate that citizen participation shall be a regular part of policy making. On rare occasions perceptive public officials have used citizen participation to creatively develop and implement a new policy. If a public official is reluctant to accept and utilize survey information, strong citizen pressure groups can bring up the information again and again and attempt to force it upon his attention. A survey has the unique capability of incorporating the views of the uninterested but impacted public who have no other form of representation were it not for the survey.
