A survey of public attitudes toward issues of informed consent in social research had 2 primary goals. The first was to test experimentally the effect of varying the amount of information provided to 1,016 respondents in the introduction to a telephone interview. Two factors were varied: 1. the amount of information given to respondents ahead of time about the content of the interview, and 2. the amount of information about the study's methodological purpose. Neither of the experimental variables significantly affected either the overall response rate to the survey or response rates to individual questions. The 2nd aim of the study was to elicit, by direct questioning, respondents' understanding of and attitudes toward ethical issues of social research. A high level of expressed concern was found about such matters as confidentiality of response and study sponsorship. The survey was carried out by the National Opinion Research Center in 1979.