The growth of survey research in the United States: Government-sponsored surveys, 1984-2004

Although it is widely assumed that survey requests to the general public have grown steadily over time, there are no good studies documenting the trend. This article describes the growth in survey requests from one sector of the industry: the US government. Using the 83-I clearance forms that agencies must file with the Office of Management and Budget in order to collect information from the public, we estimate the changes between 1984 and 2004 in the number of federal government surveys, number of respondents interviewed, average survey lengths, and total survey hours. In addition, we compare the changes in these variables with the changes in a measure of dollars spent on the surveys. The results are discussed in the context of the “over-surveying” explanation for the long-term decline in response rates to surveys.