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surveying. When understood and responded to, the cornerstone challenges will assure precision in
the pursuit of one’s survey objectives.
1.2 What is a survey?
A quick review of the literature will reveal many different definitions of what constitutes a survey.
Some handbooks on survey methodology immediately describe the major components of surveys
and of survey error instead of giving a definition (e.g., Fowler, Gallagher, Stringfellow, Zalavsky
Thompson & Cleary, 2002, p. 4; Groves, 1989, p. 1), others provide definitions, ranging from
concise definitions (e.g., Czaja & Blair, 2005, p. 3; Groves, Fowler, Couper, Lepkowski, Singer &
Tourangeau, 2004, p. 2; Statistics Canada, 2003, p. 1) to elaborate descriptions of criteria (Biemer
& Lyberg, 2003, Table 1.1). What have these definitions in common? The survey research methods
section of the American Statistical Association provides on its website an introduction (Scheuren,
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