Editing Monitoring the Future (section)

== Survey design ==
The survey began in 1975 and only focused on that year's senior class. [[Questionnaires]] are sent out yearly by mail. Beginning in 1976, a proportion of survey participants were also chosen for [[wikt:biennial|biennial]] reevaluations. In 1991, the survey was expanded to include 8th and 10th grade students.<ref name=P&D /> The questionnaire is [[Anonymity|anonymous]] for 8th- and 10th-grade students while the questionnaire for 12th-grade students is confidential—name and address information is collected for [[Longitudinal study|longitudinal]] follow-up surveys.<ref name=MTF2010 />

Nationally representative samples of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students (The 2010 MTF survey encompassed about 46,500 students from almost 400 schools nationwide<ref name=MTF2010 />) receive a questionnaire investigating [[substance abuse|substance use]] patterns, attitudes and beliefs about drugs, perceived availability of drugs, and norms among peer and role model groups. Currently, approximately 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th-grade students complete the survey annually.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/|title=Welcome to the MTF Website|date=2015-12-16|website=Monitoringthefuture.org|accessdate=2016-01-03}}</ref>

The survey also evaluates a variety of topics beyond drug use. Questionnaire questions also explore subjects' occupational and educational plans and experiences, attitudes about [[gender role]]s, attitudes and experiences with people of a different race/ethnicity, trust in government and other institutions, concerns about [[the environment]], [[media consumption]], victimization and delinquency, among other things. Follow-up studies into adulthood also cover [[marriage]] and family formation, college attendance, military service, civilian employment, [[unemployment]], and other topics.{{Citation needed|date=June 2018}}