Learning how to cite a survey comes down to one decision: is it your own unpublished data, cited in-text only as a personal communication, or an existing survey someone else released, cited with a full citation entry like any dataset or report? The American Psychological Association, the Modern Language Association, and The Chicago Manual of Style all draw this same line, though the wording differs. This guide covers both cases in APA, MLA, and Chicago format, with worked examples, the rules for handling the questionnaire itself, and the mistakes graders flag most often. These rules apply across most survey citations, whatever your other sources look like.
Why the source matters more than the format. Every major style guide treats “a survey” as two different kinds of source, not one. Unpublished raw data has no publisher, no page number, and often no stable timestamp, so it can’t be cited the way a book or journal article is. Once you know which bucket your survey falls into, the citation format follows automatically.
What to record before citing a survey
Gather these details before you write the citation, regardless of format, since most surveys need the same basic information:
- Who conducted the survey
- When it was conducted
- Whether it is published or unpublished
- The publisher or sponsoring organization, if any
- The title of the survey or report, if published
- The URL or DOI, if it’s online
- Sample size and respondent group
How to cite a survey in APA style
In APA (7th edition) style, cite your own survey as an in-text personal communication with no reference entry, and cite a published survey the way you would cite a report or dataset, using the organization that ran it as the author and the year it was released. The American Psychological Association draws this line because unpublished data has no fixed, retrievable location for readers to check.
Citing your own survey data in APA
Unpublished raw data you collected, including your own survey responses, is cited as personal communication. It appears only in the text, never in the reference list, because readers cannot retrieve it.
Correct: Of the 42 students surveyed, 68% reported using a planner app daily (survey data, October 2026).
Incorrect: Of the 42 students surveyed, 68% reported using a planner app daily (Author, 2026).
Skip the fake author name and reference entry. Instead, describe the survey briefly in the sentence itself: who took it, roughly how many respondents, and when.
Citing a published survey in APA
When you cite survey data from a report or dataset, treat it like any other source with a clear publication year and publisher, whether that publisher is a company, a university, or a government agency:
| Element | Example |
|---|---|
| In-text | (Pew Research Center, 2026) |
| Full entry | Pew Research Center. (2026). Social media use among teens. https://www.pewresearch.org/report-url |
Use the free APA citation generator to format the entry automatically once you have the publisher, title, and URL.
How to cite a survey in MLA style
In MLA (9th edition) style, cite your own survey as a personal communication described in your sentence, with no Works Cited entry, and cite an existing survey with a standard Works Cited entry built from the source’s title, publisher, and year. The Modern Language Association draws the same line as APA between data you collected and data someone else released, though the citation mechanics differ.
Citing your own survey in MLA
Your own survey counts as a personal communication in MLA too. Introduce it in your sentence and skip the Works Cited entry entirely, since there is nothing a reader could look up.
Example: “In a survey I conducted of 30 first-year students in March 2026, 80% said they had never used the campus writing center.”
Citing a published survey in MLA
A published survey gets a standard Works Cited entry, built from container elements just like a webpage or report:
| Element | Example |
|---|---|
| In-text | (Pew Research Center) |
| Works Cited | Pew Research Center. “Social Media Use Among Teens.” Pew Research Center, 2026, pewresearch.org/report-url. |
Run the details through the MLA citation generator if you want the punctuation and italics checked for you.
How to cite a survey in Chicago style
In Chicago style, cite your own survey in a footnote (notes-bibliography system) or directly in the text (author-date system), with no bibliography entry, and cite a published survey with a full note or citation entry depending on which system your paper uses. The Chicago Manual of Style offers both systems, and a survey is handled a little differently in each.
Citing your own survey in Chicago
In notes-bibliography style, describe unpublished survey data in a footnote rather than a bibliography entry: “Survey of 25 graduate students conducted by the author, April 2026.” In author-date style, cite it the same way you would a personal communication, directly in the text, with no separate entry.
Citing a published survey in Chicago
Here’s how each system formats it:
| System | Example |
|---|---|
| Notes-bibliography | Pew Research Center, “Social Media Use Among Teens” (Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, 2026), https://www.pewresearch.org/report-url. |
| Author-date | Pew Research Center. 2026. “Social Media Use Among Teens.” https://www.pewresearch.org/report-url. |
The Chicago citation generator builds both formats from the same source details.
Citing the survey instrument itself
Citing a survey’s instrument, the actual questionnaire rather than the data it produced, means treating it as a separate source from the results. Cite a released instrument as a standalone work with its own author and year, and describe a self-designed instrument as your own material in the text. If a researcher issued the instrument on its own, such as a validated psychology scale, cite it under its own title and author, the same way you would cite a book. If you designed the questionnaire yourself, describe it the same way you would describe your own unpublished survey data, and consider adding it as an appendix rather than a formal citation. This applies whether respondents answered on paper or through a survey hosted on a website, such as one built with Qualtrics or Google Forms. Treating instruments and data as separate sources keeps your citations accurate and easy to verify.
Common mistakes when citing a survey
Most survey-citation errors come from treating unpublished data like a public one, or the reverse. The table below covers the ones instructors flag most.
| Mistake | Why it’s wrong |
|---|---|
| Adding a formal citation entry for your own survey | Unpublished raw data has no publisher or retrievable location, so it stays in-text only, described as a personal communication. |
| Inventing an author name for an existing survey with no byline | Use the organization that ran the survey (for example, Pew Research Center) as the author instead of guessing a person’s name. |
| Citing the news article about a survey instead of the survey itself | Look for the original report’s title and authorship instead of the news headline. Relying on secondhand coverage weakens your source. |
| Leaving out the survey date | Survey results change over time. The timing tells readers exactly when the data was collected, not just when it appeared. |
| Mixing citation styles within one paper | Pick APA, MLA, or Chicago based on your assignment and use it consistently for every source, surveys included. |
If you’d rather not format the entry by hand, the free citation generator builds it for you in any of the three styles.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to credit a survey I created myself?
Yes. Even though there is no formal citation entry, you still need to credit the data as your own in the text. Describe how many people you surveyed and when, so readers understand where the numbers came from.
How do I cite survey data with no named author?
A survey published without a named author is common. The U.S. Census Bureau, Pew Research Center, and similar organizations are cited as the author directly, not a person’s name. If an individual is named, use their last name the way you would for a book or article. If the survey truly has no identifiable source, either APA, MLA, or Chicago allows you to start the citation format with the title instead.
Is citing a survey the same as citing an interview?
Close, but not identical. Both your own survey and a personal interview count as unpublished data or personal communications, cited in-text only. An existing survey, unlike most interviews, usually has a formal report or dataset behind it, so it needs a full citation or Works Cited entry.
How do I cite an anonymous or confidential survey?
Anonymous surveys are common in workplace and academic research. Describe it by its source and purpose rather than by respondent names, which you should never include. For your own survey, say something like “an anonymous survey of 50 employees” and give the year it happened. For an existing survey that protects respondent identity, cite the organization that ran it, not the individual participants.
For source types beyond surveys, including speeches and websites, see the full citation format guide hub.
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Terry is a Chicago-based writer and editor who creates practical, student-friendly guides on essay writing, research, and citation styles (APA, MLA, and Chicago). He’s spent 15+ years editing educational content and building clear examples that help readers apply rules without guessing. When he’s not revising drafts, he’s usually turning messy notes into clean outlines and hunting down the one detail everyone skips.