Population surveys are one of the most important tools for tapping how much citizens know about science and technology, how they perceive potential risks and benefits, and what their attitudes are about emerging technologies or research on particular applications.

Sample surveys are defined as systematic studies of a geographically dispersed population by interviewing a sample of only certain members in an attempt to generalize to their population. Two terms of this definition are particularly important: “systematic” and “generalizable.” Both apply to almost all types of large-scale surveys, including surveys administered by Web or mail, Computer Assisted Telephone (CATI) surveys, and Computer Assisted Personal Surveys (CAPI), to just name a few of the most common survey techniques (for a complete overview, see Don Dillman's 2007 book, Mail ...