2026 Survey Costs Workshop

February 9 – 10, 2026

Call for Papers and Panels

Submission Deadline: Monday, Dec. 8, 2025 by 11:59 pm ET

Format: Abstracts should be no more than 300 words. Abstracts should indicate if the proposal is for a paper or a panel discussion. Panel discussions should list all presenters, their organizations, and a brief summary of the topics for discussion.  

Topics of Interest

1. Cost Measurement Systems. Panels or papers that provide insights into how survey organizations capture, analyze, and/or monitor survey costs across multiple metrics, including currency and non-currency metrics. Papers or panels in this area would include description of the types systems in use, including systems purchased commercially (off-the-shelf) or custom-built by the survey organization.  Submissions from both large and small organizations are of interest.  
2. Types of Costs. Although the sample design literature highlights the difference between fixed and variable costs, little actual empirical data examines these different types of costs. Further, survey practitioners may not share a common language around fixed (e.g., costs that do not necessarily vary per additional sample unit) and variable (e.g., costs that vary per additional sample unit) costs. Papers that describe the kinds of fixed and variable costs that are budgeted and/or monitored, the kinds of costs considered under each of these labels, and allocation of budgets to fixed and variable costs are desired.  
3. Relationship Between Costs and Design Features. Papers or panels that have empirical data on the association between different survey design features and fixed and/or variable survey costs in currency, non-currency, and relative metrics.
4. Costs for Non-Survey Data. Little is known about the costs for non-survey data. Papers in this area will present empirical data on costs related to processing, management, and/or use of non-survey data, including fixed and per-record acquisition costs. Additional information on costs include personnel types and expertise, specific tasks for its use, and staff hours in these different tasks, among others.
5. Best Practices for Cost Estimation and Monitoring. Proposing best practices or describing organizational strategies for estimating, measuring, monitoring, and reporting costs for surveys and other data used for inference.
6. Errors in Cost Estimation and Evaluation. Survey budgets often deviate from the actual observed costs. Papers on deviations between budgets and observed costs, including reasons for deviations, ability of cost monitoring systems to track costs at the level of budgeted costs, and other outcomes are of interest. 
7. Relationship between Survey Costs and Survey Errors. Although survey costs constrain the kinds of designs that are available to a survey designer, empirical research on the association between costs and error indicators are quite limited. 
8. Influence of Cost Drivers on Survey Design Decisions. Case studies for how practical decisions on design and management are affected by available cost information are welcome. Linking costs and errors in design decisions is critical for optimal design of surveys.  
9. Other Topics. Other topics related to survey costs not described above are welcome.