In the present study the quality of interpretation services is measured against the judgments, needs and expectations of users of that service. Using the methods of empirical social sciences research, it brings together the evaluations produced by a wide range of users and attempts to interpret their significance. User responses were obtained in the context in which the respondents were making use of the interpretation services and the data have been analyzed against that background. In addition to the situational context, and to the extent that the empirical data permits, account has also been taken of the degree to which respondents’ individual characteristics may have influenced their responses to or expectations of interpreter performance. The full questionnaire and survey results are available on the following web sites: http://www.benjamins.nl and http://mambo.ucsc.edu/psl/smw.html.