Is the noun "survey" really used synonymously with "study?

[ghoul]

Is the noun "survey" really used synonymously with "study?
the study; the poll
To me, it always seemed like it was used synonymously with "poll" when I've heard it before. Even when the context was a scientific study the information was still extracted via a poll rather than through observation or so.
On the other hand, this British English school book I'm using right now (Green Line 1 by Klett) names study as a secondary meaning. Can it even be used for studies that didn't contain a poll?

 

[5jj]

this British English book

Title and author please. You should know by now that we require this information

 

[ghoul]

Title and author please. You should know by now that we require this information

Sorry, it's Green Line 1 by Klett, a book for fifth grade German students.

 

[jutfrank]

Is the noun "survey" really used synonymously with "study?

There is some degree of synonymy, yes, but the words are not usually semantically interchangeable, if that's what you mean.

As you appear to be already aware, a survey is typically a way of gaining data by asking questions only (like 'poll'), but it does go broader than that, covering data collection by observation using a range of methodologies.

 

[ghoul]

There is some degree of synonymy, yes, but the words are not usually semantically interchangeable, if that's what you mean.

As you appear to be already aware, a survey is typically a way of gaining data by asking questions only (like 'poll'), but it does go broader than that, covering data collection by observation using a range of methodologies.

I'm not sure if I understand this correctly.
They are interchangeable in terms of that they're both a way of gaining data by various methods, right? In what ways are they not interchangeable?

 

[jutfrank]

They're two different words, with different meanings and different uses, but there is some degree of synonymy between them.

My advice is that you should examine these words separately, and in respective authentic context. We normally ask that you provide at least one complete sentence using the word that you want to know about.

 

[ghoul]

They're two different words, with different meanings and different uses, but there is some degree of synonymy between them.

My advice is that you should examine these words separately, and in respective authentic context. We normally ask that you provide at least one complete sentence using the word that you want to know about.

Okay, I followed your advice. You're right, there's a whole bunch of ways they're used differently, even as a noun and I didn't even know some of them at all.

In this case, I wasn't really comfortable with providing a sentence since I didn't hear one recently.

 

[ghoul]

They're two different words, with different meanings and different uses, but there is some degree of synonymy between them.

My advice is that you should examine these words separately, and in respective authentic context. We normally ask that you provide at least one complete sentence using the word that you want to know about.

This initially raised more questions than it answered and I found following this advice quite bothersome, because, first of all, I've been told, dictionary entries are never the whole picture. Secondly, I often find online dictionaries messy to navigate as they sometimes contain duplicate translations and some of them, such as Dictionary.com, use uncommon, seemingly ambiguous words in their definitions. The real "fun" starts when you have to look up a word that is used in a word's definition but that word, again, is described with an uncommon ambiguous word and you need to, again, look up the definition of that word. And even if you do, you may not be really sure if you understand it right, because you've simply never seen any real-world-usage of it, or at least in that context.

Only after examining the definitions of "study" and "survey" in 4 dictionaries, I found an overlap.

According to the Collins Dictionary, a study is:
the act or process of applying the mind so as to acquire knowledge or understanding, as by reading, investigating, etc.

And a survey is:
a detailed study or inspection, as by gathering information through observations, questionnaires, etc. and analyzing it

But even now I'm left with some uncertainty because I still don't know how real world applications of those definitions look like.

To be honest, just a clear answer to my initial question whether "survey" can refer to a "study" that doesn't involve a poll with an example sentence would've helped me more than this.
It's such an inefficient and annoying way to learn English.

 

[jutfrank]

Right. Forget about definitions and focus on good authentic examples of use in context.