- A descriptive survey gets a number that tells you something
- A comparative survey tells you whether a number is changing over time
- A modeling survey finds factors that influence an outcome
- An exploratory survey gathers whatever information it can
- Sometimes surveys start as a mixture
Jarrett, Caroline. Surveys That Work : a Practical Guide for Designing Better Surveys (pp 13-17). Brooklyn, New York: Rosenfeld Media, 2021.