Since it was first founded in 1945, INED has played a pioneering role in developing household surveys as an instrument of sociological and demographic knowledge. For this purpose, INED has built up a specialized surveys department which oversees data collection for projects conducted by INED researchers and, increasingly, in partnership with other institutions (INSEE, INSERM, InVS, etc.).

The missions of the surveys department have expanded and broadened in scope over recent years. Offering expert know-how at all stages of the data collection process, its members are closely involved in many large-scale projects both in France and abroad.

The key missions of the surveys department focus around quantitative and qualitative data collection, ranging from questionnaire design to final data presentation.

The department is also actively involved in methodological research and in assessing innovative survey techniques and protocols in the social sciences field.

A third mission of the department is to manage the survey archives and make survey data available to users.

INED's survey activities serve as a basis for methodological and scientific publications and seminars.