Surveys do more than count opinions. They reveal surprising truths about how people work, eat, think, spend, believe, and behave. From workers being productive for less than three hours a day to rock fans collectively rebuilding Led Zeppelin, these 50 surveys offer a fascinating look at people and society around the world.
1 Family Estrangements Affect Millions Nationwide
In 2020, Cornell University sociologist Karl Pillemer reported that a national survey of more than 1,300 Americans found 27% of adults had cut off contact with a family member, representing at least 67 million people nationwide. These rifts often involved harsh parenting, favoritism, divorce, money disputes, conflicts with in-laws, or differences in values and expectations. Estrangement could force relatives uninvolved in the original conflict to take sides, spread across generations, and deprive family members of valuable social and financial support.
2 James Doohan Inspires Engineering Students
In 2005, the BBC reported that actor James Doohan, who played chief engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott on Star Trek, had received an honorary doctorate in engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The university awarded the honorary doctorate after half of the surveyed students indicated that Scotty had inspired them to pursue careers in engineering.
3 Yao Ming Opposes Shark Trade
In 2013, an iResearch survey of 1,568 Chinese respondents found that 91% supported a nationwide ban on the shark fin trade. Retired Chinese basketball star Yao Ming had joined conservation group WildAid in a highly visible campaign to reduce demand for shark fin soup. The campaign helped connect consumption of the dish with the killing of sharks and shift public opinion against the trade.
4 Geography Survey Inspires Carmen Sandiego
A 1988 National Geographic Society-sponsored Gallup survey found that one in four Americans could not locate the Soviet Union or Pacific Ocean on a map. Producers partly responded by creating the PBS children’s game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, which turned geography lessons into fast-paced detective challenges. National Geographic World verified the program’s questions and provided magazine subscriptions as contestant prizes. The series premiered in 1991 and produced 295 episodes across five seasons before ending in 1995.
5 Christmas Costs Drive Holiday Avoidance
In 2012, Think Finance surveyed 1,000 Americans who used alternative financial services and found that 45% would prefer to skip Christmas altogether. Respondents blamed the financial pressure created by gifts and other holiday expenses, while half described their seasonal stress as high or extremely high. Nearly half also expected to lack enough savings to cover their Christmas costs.
6 Men Lose Close Friendships Nationwide
The May 2021 American Perspectives Survey found that 15% of American men had no close friends, a fivefold increase from 3% in 1990. The Survey Center on American Life interviewed a representative sample of 2,019 U.S. adults and found that only 27% of men had at least six close friends, down from 55% three decades earlier. The report pointed to pandemic isolation, later marriage, geographic mobility, longer working hours, and reduced time for friendships as possible contributors to this wider “loneliness epidemic.”
7 Pilots Fall Asleep During Flights
In 2013, the BBC reported that a British Airline Pilots’ Association survey of 500 commercial pilots found 56% had fallen asleep on the flight deck. Among the pilots who had nodded off, 29% had awakened to discover that the other pilot was asleep too. The poll also found that 84% believed fatigue had impaired their flying ability during the previous six months, while 43% said such incidents happened at least once a month. BALPA released the results ahead of a European Parliament vote on new flight-hour rules.
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8 Doctors Choose No-Code Orders Themselves
In 2013, Stanford University researchers surveyed 1,081 physicians at Stanford Hospital & Clinics and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System about their end-of-life preferences. When asked what they would choose if terminally ill, 88.3% selected a do-not-resuscitate or “no-code” order for themselves. Yet doctors often pursued aggressive, life-prolonging treatment for patients facing similar prognoses. The researchers linked this disconnect partly to a medical system that rewards doctors for taking action rather than spending time discussing patients’ wishes.
9 Death Wish Drops Roman Numerals
The 1985 movie “Death Wish III” became “Death Wish 3” because the Cannon Group conducted a survey and reportedly found that nearly half of the U.S. population could not read Roman numerals. The company changed the working title before releasing the Charles Bronson action sequel.
10 Britons Believe Sherlock Holmes Existed
In a 2008 UKTV Gold survey of 3,000 Britons, 58% thought fictional detective Sherlock Holmes had really existed, while 23% thought World War II prime minister Winston Churchill was made up. The same poll found that 23% doubted Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale had existed, while 3% mistook British writer Charles Dickens for a fictional character.
