PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.

This article presents observations on survey methodology in the early twenty-first century. The century was challenging for survey methodologists. The telephone, which once seemed the heir apparent to face-to-face interview, is no longer an obvious choice for conducting many surveys. It is affected by change in connectedness of telephone instruments from households to individuals and cultural shift whereby people are able to control the telephone rather than vice, versa. The Internet has not served as an immediate source of salvation. It is limited by restrictions on access, an inability to develop sample frames, and response rates that are lower than those achievable by telephone. Other data collection methodologies, from Interactive Voice Response to classroom and home administration on computers, and mixed-mode designs are being proposed as unique solutions for specific survey topics and populations. Random sampling from defined populations is being forgone by some, replaced by modeling of data collected from volunteer panels. Data collection procedures that seemed curiosities have achieved use and permanency in ways that had not anticipated, creating a survey landscape that is quite different.