Abstract: University students’ social practice, as an important constituent to enhance the effectiveness of higher education, is an inevitable way to realize the purpose of ideological and political education in colleges and universities under the new situation. As one of the basic methods of social practice in college and university, survey and research, following the cycle of “practicing, understanding, practicing again, understanding again”, allows students to gradually obtain true rational understanding in the research. At present, the content and form of survey and research in the social practice of university students in China is rapidly expanding and further improving, but there are still practical difficulties in the design of the selected topic, research methods, result transformation, and teaching guidance. Finally, the “five-word method” that is “deep, practical, detailed, accurate, effective” can be adopted as a guide to further practical exploration and innovation.