How to Cite a Survey in APA (7th Edition)

How you cite a survey in APA 7th edition depends on whose survey it is. A survey you ran yourself gets no reference-list entry: you describe it in the text and attach it as an appendix. A survey dataset someone else published gets a full reference in the dataset pattern. This guide separates the cases so you can pick the right one for a manuscript or thesis.

Which rule applies to your survey

What you are citing	Reference-list entry?	What to do
A survey or questionnaire you designed and ran	No	Describe it in the Methods, state that the data come from it, and put the full instrument in an appendix.
Responses from a published survey dataset (with a DOI or repository record)	Yes	Use the dataset pattern with [Data set] after the title.
A report by an organisation about its survey	Yes	Use the report pattern; leave out the publisher when it is the same as the author.

The first row rests on two university library guides. Cranfield University Library says that in APA 7 “There is no requirement in APA7 for a bibliographic (full) reference” for this kind of research and that the original survey, and anonymised responses, can be added to an assignment as an appendix. The Central Michigan University Libraries FAQ, quoting Purdue OWL, says the same: describe the survey in the paper, summarise the methods, attach the full survey as an appendix, and do not include it in the reference list. The dataset and report rows come from APA’s official reference-examples handout.

The format

A survey dataset you did not collect

The APA reference-examples handout gives this pattern for a dataset:

Author, A. (Year). Title of dataset (ID; Version) [Data set]. Repository/Publisher. https://doi.org/...

• Author and year: the creator of the dataset and the year it was released.
• Title with ID and version: the dataset title, then the identifier and version in one set of parentheses separated by a semicolon.
• [Data set]: the bracketed description that tells the reader what kind of source this is.
• Repository or publisher: where the data are held.
• DOI or URL: a DOI is written as a https://doi.org/ link. APA 7 dropped the “DOI:” label and uses “Retrieved from” before a URL only when a retrieval date is needed.

A survey report from an organisation

For a report with a group author, the handout pattern is Group Name. (Year). Title of report. URL. There is no separate publisher element when the publisher is the same as the author. For individual authors, add the organisation before the URL: Author, A., & Author, B. (Year). Title of report. Organisation. URL.

Examples

All examples below are fictional and follow the official patterns. They do not describe real surveys or people.

Published survey dataset (example)

Smith, J. (2022). Example survey responses (EX-001; Version 1) [Data set]. Example Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.0000/example.v1

Organisation report on a survey (example)

Example Health Agency. (2025). Annual review of example programs. https://example.org/report.pdf

Your own survey in a thesis (example)

There is no reference entry. The Methods section carries the citation work instead. A sentence such as the following does the job: “Data were collected with an online questionnaire (see Appendix A) completed by 120 participants.” The sample count here is illustrative only.

In-text citation version

For a published dataset, cite it like any author-date source. The APA in-text citation checklist gives the parenthetical form (Author, year) and the narrative form Author (year). From the example above: (Smith, 2022) or Smith (2022). With a direct quotation, add the page: (Author, year, p. 20). For three or more authors, use the first author’s surname plus “et al.” from the first citation.

For your own survey there is no author-date citation. Point to the instrument instead. SCU Library’s APA guide states that each appendix must be referred to in the text, for example “(see Appendix A)”. Cranfield advises that you anonymise your participants; labelling them in the text as Participant A, Participant B and so on is one simple way to do that. The layout of the appendix itself is covered in our guide to the APA appendix.

In a manuscript or thesis

• Put the description of your own survey in the Methods: what it measured, who completed it, how data were collected, and how responses were anonymised.
• Attach the full questionnaire as a labelled appendix and refer to it by label in the text. See parts of a research paper for where Methods sits in the overall structure.
• Where you reuse someone else’s survey data, give the dataset a reference-list entry and cite it in the Methods and wherever you report results from it.
• Other database and dataset patterns are covered in how to cite a database in APA, and a quick layout reference sits in the APA format table.

Common errors

• Adding a reference entry for your own survey. APA 7 does not require one; use the Methods text and an appendix.
• Leaving out [Data set] on a published dataset, or dropping the ID and version when the repository supplies them.
• Using a “DOI:” label or “Retrieved from” in front of a DOI. APA 7 uses a https://doi.org/ link and reserves “Retrieved from” for cases that need a retrieval date.
• Naming a publisher that repeats the group author in a report entry.
• Not referring to the appendix in the text. Each appendix must be called out.

Style-guide edition

This guide follows the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition (2020). The dataset, report and in-text patterns above come from APA’s own instructional handouts (reference examples, last updated March 3, 2026; in-text citation checklist and the guide to what is new in the 7th edition), checked on 2026-10-29. APA 7th is the current edition as of October 2026.

FAQ

Do I cite my own survey in APA?

No reference-list entry is needed. Describe the survey in your text, say the data come from it, and attach the instrument as an appendix.

Where does the questionnaire go?

In an appendix, labelled (for example Appendix A) and referred to in the text with “(see Appendix A)”.

How do I cite a published survey dataset?

Use the dataset pattern: Author, A. (Year). Title of dataset (ID; Version) [Data set]. Repository. https://doi.org/…, and cite it in text as (Author, Year).

How do I quote a survey participant?

Anonymise them in the text, for example by calling them Participant A, rather than creating a reference for the quotation.

Sources

All sources below were checked on 2026-10-29.

• American Psychological Association, APA Style Common Reference Examples (handout), last updated March 3, 2026: https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/reference-examples.pdf
• American Psychological Association, In-Text Citation Checklist, 7th ed.: https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/in-text-citation-checklist.pdf
• American Psychological Association, Guide to What’s New in the 7th Edition: https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/whats-new-7e-guide.pdf
• Cranfield University Library, “Interviews and surveys in APA 7” (page dated 5 September 2023): https://blogs.cranfield.ac.uk/library/interviews-surveys-apa7
• Central Michigan University Libraries FAQ (last updated 17 February 2022), quoting Purdue OWL: https://libanswers.cmich.edu/faq/25763
• SCU Library, APA appendix guide (updated 21 October 2026): https://libguides.scu.edu.au/apa/appendix