on questionnaire development (informed by cognitive psychology) : Robert Groves, et alia. Survey methodology (2010) Second edition of the (2004) first edition . The other books focus on the statistical theory of survey sampling and require some knowledge of basic statistics, as discussed in the following textbooks: David S. Moore and George P. McCabe (February 2005). "Introduction to the practice of statistics" (5th edition). W.H. Freeman & Company. . The elementary book by Scheaffer et alia uses quadratic equations from high-school algebra: Scheaffer, Richard L., William Mendenhal and R. Lyman Ott. Elementary survey sampling, Fifth Edition. Belmont: Duxbury Press, 1996. More mathematical statistics is required for Lohr, for Särndal et alia, and for Cochran (classic): The historically important books by Deming and Kish remain valuable for insights for social scientists (particularly about the U.S. census and the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan): Kish, Leslie (1995) Survey Sampling, Wiley, External links CRAN Task View Survey Methodology What is a Survey? Booklet published by National Opinion Research Center and The American Statistical Association Journal of Information Technology Learning and Performance article Organizational Research: Determining Sample Size in Survey Research Sample Design and Confidence Intervals Survey Sampling Methods Non-probability sampling Sampling techniques Public opinion Survey methodology Mathematical and quantitative methods (economics)