The development and data validation of the 1977 Ladd-Lipset national survey of the American professoriate are described. The respondents were selected from a random sample of colleges and universities and from a random sample of individual faculty members from the universities. The 158 institutions in the 1977 survey were selected from 2,406 institutions. The following areas are described: the sampling scheme; questionnaire development, mailing and receipt, and coding; codebook development; dataset construction; weighting procedures; construction of the "Index of School Quality;" comparisons to other data sources; and checking for respondent bias. Information is presented on the distributions of faculty by rank, sex, religious background, principle occupation of father, political party identification, and 1972 presidential vote. A sample cover letter, questionnaire, and a list of institutions are included. The questionnaire includes questions on the general status and financial status of American higher education, involvement in research, academic standards, faculty organization and representation, and respondent background. (SW)