If these trends continue, little useful information will be available about the size and nature of social problems that affect the lives of many people. Criticisms of survey research are based on several motivations. The first motivation is clearly political and comes under the guise of protecting family privacy. The second motivation comes from university committees that review and approve procedures for research involving human subjects. These committees are becoming increasingly rigid in terms of the requirements they place on research protocols. Another motivation involves protecting organizations sponsoring research from potential legal action. The author believes that current procedures for protecting subjects in survey research are more than adequate and that new restrictions are unnecessary. 4 references