User involvement in social care research has generally been the preserve of qualitative methodologies, while user involvement in quantitative research has tended to be limited by the assumed inflexibility of statistical designs and concerns that lay people may require specialist training to engage with quantitative methods. Using the example of the Care and Caring study, a survey about the direct employment of care and support workers in England commissioned and funded by Skills for Care, this paper explores the benefits and difficulties of involving service users in the development and design of survey processes and instruments.