Which sentence is best?

Question

Hi, please tell me which of the following three sentences is best.

(1) I conducted a survey of people's attitudes toward the issue.

(2) I carried out a survey of people's attitudes toward the issue.

(3) I took a survey of people's attitudes toward the issue.

Also, do these sentences mean the same thing?

Avangi · Accepted Answer

I like number one. Re number three, I think "made" is more common here than "took." One "takes/records/collects data." I believe "making a survey" includes some degree of organizing and interpreting the data.

I'd say, other than that, they all mean the same.

- A.

BarbaraPA · Answer

How about just this: I surveyed people about their attitudes on the matter.

Yizhivika · Answer

Hmmm, interesting set of statements, and what strikes me is the use of the first person here. Survey organisations tend to have a small army of workers, designing the survey, choosing the sample, collecting, collating, and interpreting the data.

Given that, I think sentence (1), using 'conducting', is probably too formal for a one-person operation. It's the sort of verb that I'd expect to see in a written report, and used in a passive sense rather than as here (e.g. "A survey was conducted into the smoking habits of teenagers.")

You might encounter sentence (3), particularly if used colloquially, though I probably wouldn't use it myself.

Therefore, I would probably use sentence (2) - and being an awkward Brit, I'd use 'towards' in place of 'toward' in all three sentences. ;-)

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