 People who are preparing to do data collection and research often ask me what the difference is between a survey and an instrument. Actually, let's start with what is the same about them. Surveys are filled out about the respondent, meaning whoever is responding to the survey is filling it out for themselves. That's true for instruments as well. Surveys can measure facts as well as feelings or opinions and so can instruments. Opinions are seen as soft or latent constructs to measure, which are harder than facts. It's pretty easy to measure how many cars you own, but it's much harder to measure how you feel about your car. So, surveys and instruments both are filled out about the respondent and both measure soft constructs. The big difference is with scientific research about those soft constructs. Instruments have scientific research behind them, so you can be more confident you are actually measuring something when you are measuring a feeling. Want to know more about designing customer surveys? Take my free online course, Understanding Research Forms, Surveys, and Instruments. The link is in the description.