To cite survey results effectively, you must first determine if the data is from your own original research or a published external source, and then apply the rules of your chosen citation style.
Properly referencing survey data is crucial for academic integrity and allowing other researchers to evaluate your evidence. The way you format your citation depends entirely on who conducted the survey and whether the results are publicly available.
Citing Published Survey Data
If you are referencing survey results published in a journal article, government report, or public dataset, you should cite the publication itself just as you would any other academic source. Your reference list entry will need the standard elements: the author or organization that conducted the research, the publication year, the title of the report, and the publisher or URL. Managing these external sources can get complicated, but using a tool like WisPaper's TrueCite automatically finds and verifies your citations, eliminating the risk of hallucinated references when formatting in APA, MLA, or Chicago styles.
Citing Your Own Original Survey Data
If you conducted the survey yourself for the specific paper you are currently writing (primary data), you do not need to include a citation in your reference list. Instead, you should thoroughly describe the survey in your "Methodology" or "Materials and Methods" section. When discussing the findings in the text, refer to your data directly (e.g., "The survey results indicate...") or point the reader to your visual aids (e.g., "As demonstrated in Table 2..."). If your survey questionnaire is long, include it as an appendix at the end of your document.
Citing Unpublished External Survey Data
Occasionally, you might use raw survey data provided by another researcher that has not yet been formally published. In APA style, this is typically cited in the reference list as "Unpublished raw data," including the author's name, the year, and a brief description of the data in brackets. If you are citing a casual discussion about someone else's survey results, you will format it as a "Personal communication" in-text, which generally does not require a formal bibliography entry.
Best Practices for Discussing Survey Results
Regardless of the citation format, whenever you write about survey results, you should provide enough context for the reader to understand the scope of the data. Always try to mention:
- Sample size (N): How many people participated in the survey?
- Demographics: Who was surveyed?
- Timeline: When was the data collected?
By clearly distinguishing between your own primary research and external secondary data, you ensure your literature review and methodology are transparent, accurate, and easy to follow.
