ABSTRACT
A survey gathers data about variables as they are found in the world. The important distinction between the survey and the experiment is that the survey takes the world as it comes, without trying to alter it, whereas the experiment systematically alters some aspects of the world in order to see what changes follow. Causal-analysis survey research is quite analogous to experimentation, with the single difference that the independent variable(s) is not controlled and manipulated by the researcher. The main advantage of a survey over a laboratory experiment is its realism; and over a field experiment it may have a cost advantage. A survey lacks the almost clinching proof of actually trying out the relationship by varying the independent variable to see whether it is indeed followed by changes in the dependent variable. Descriptive surveys are surveys whose purpose is to provide true quantitative descriptions of aspects of a universe of people or things.
