The measure of a nation: The USDA and the rise of survey methodology

Survey research has played a major role in American social science. An outgrowth of efforts by the United States Department of Agriculture in the 1930s, the Division of Program Surveys (DPS) played an important role in the development of survey methodology. The DPS was headed by the ambitious and entrepreneurial Rensis Likert, populated by young and talented social scientists getting their first practical experience, and fed by the needs of the US government fighting World War II. The DPS innovations included open-ended interviewing and area probability sampling methodology as illustrated in the War Bond studies and the Master Sample of Agriculture. This paper examines the creation of the DPS, its work, and its legacy.