In the spring of 2000, students in the Masters od Survey Research Program at the University of Connecticut received their semester-long practicum project assignments. One group took on a particularly challenging initiative: survey those who condusct surveys for a living. In fact, they were assigned to poll members of the survey industry's leadnig professional organization, the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
Adding  to the adventure, these students would collect their data online using a web-based survey instrument. The use of this controversial method to poll some of the most noted members of the survey community would be rather like preparing a nouveau cuisine banquet for a convention of classically trained chefs – a risky venture, to say the least.
As part of the survey design, the students appended a text box to their questionnaire allowing respondents to submit additional comments. From this comment box came perhaps the most valuable lessons of the study.
The most heartening insight afforded by the contents of the comment box is that many survey researches are quite generous in giving their time and sharing expertise. About one-third of the 560 respondents took the time to write something. Some respondents wrote a few paragraphs, others more, with the longest comment nearly 300 words.