Arnott, GeorginaGreenhalgh, Charlotte2026-10-122026-10-122020Arnott, G., & Greenhalgh, C. (2020). The survey and the state: Governments and early social research in New Zealand and Australia, 1930s–40s. Australian Historical Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2020.18171101031-461Xhttps://hdl.handle.net/10289/18698© Editorial Board, Australian Historical Studies 2020. This article tells the story of two pioneering social surveys designed to extend international developments in quantitative social research into the Antipodes: the 1937–38 survey of living standards in rural New Zealand and the University of Melbourne's 1941–43 urban survey of 7,609 households. Archival material associated with these surveys illuminates the influence of governments on the topics, methods and publication of survey results and the tensions their involvement caused for academic researchers. Caught between the strategic interests of funders and the higher ideals of social science, social researchers struggled to deliver significant findings about local populations.enThis is an author’s accepted manuscript of an article published in the journal Australian Historical Studies. © 2020 Taylor & Francis.Arts & HumanitiesHistoryMELBOURNEWOMENJournal Article10.1080/1031461X.2020.18171101940-50494302 Heritage, Archive and Museum Studies4303 Historical Studies43 History, Heritage and Archaeology4302 Heritage, archive and museum studies4303 Historical studies