A surface measurement instrument (1) for obtaining surface characteristic data of a sample surface (13) is described. Relative movement between a reference surface (11) and a sample support (15) is caused to occur while a sensor (16) senses light intensity at intervals along a scan path (SP) to provide a series of intensity values representing interference fringes produced by a region of a sample surface (13) during said relative movement and from which series of intensity values surface characteristic data can be derived. The sample support (15) is both translatable and tiltable in at least one direction perpendicular to a scan direction so that the sample support (15) can be both tilted to cause the scan path (SP) to be normal to the sample surface region and translated to compensate for translation movement due to the tilting.