The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word CENSUS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
C
E
N
S
U
S
More clues leading to the result CENSUS
- Become aware of us, say, in survey
- General agreement has Office for National Statistics involved in this event
- Count on son abandoning agreement
- Count bridge team in church with us
- Population count in North and South America by church
- Count coppers guarding first of electricity poles
- Count caught us hiding three bridge players
- Official list of people in Central and South America
- Saracen suspected accommodating count
- At first chaos follows, with European out for the count
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "survey" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case survey = census.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does CENSUS mean?
CENSUS noun- An official count or enumeration of members of a population (not necessarily human), usually residents or citizens in a particular region, often done at regular intervals.
- Count, tally.
- To conduct a census on.
- To collect a census.