Survey Method

7/18/2019 Survey Method

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The Survey Method



Private Eye political commentary and humor weekly



Characteristics of the survey method

Most widely used research technique in social sciences and education. Data collected from surveys ranges from physical counts and frequencies

to attitudes and opinions. Survey data is used to:

– To answer questions that have een raised. – To solve prolems. – To assess needs. – To set goals. – To determine whether specific o!ectives have een met. – To estalish aselines against which future comparisons can e

made. – To analy"e trends across time. – To descrie what e#ists$ in what amount$ and in what conte#t.



Focus of survey research questions

%ehaviors.

&ttitudes'eliefs'opinions.

(haracteristics. E#pectations.

Self classification.

)nowledge.



A survey should be…

Systematic: carefully planned and e#ecuted to ensure

appropriate content coverage and sound$ efficient data

collection. Representative: closely reflecting the population of all

possile cases or occurrences$ either y including everyone or

everything$ or y using scientific sampling procedures.

Objective: insuring that the data are as oservale ande#plicit as possile.

uantifiable: yielding data that can e e#pressed in

numerical terms.



Four sta!es of the survey research method

"# $esi!n and plannin! sta!e# – Decide on type of survey to use and type of respondent.

Type of survey method. – Mail. – Telephone. – *ace+to+face.

Type of respondent. –

&dults over ,- years of age. – English speakers only or all languages.



Survey instruments% features

Features Type of Survey

Mail Telephone Face&to&face

Administrative issues

(ost cheapest (heap to moderate e#pensive

Speed Slowest *astest Slow'moderate

ength /numer

of questions0

Moderate Short ongest

1esponse rate owest Moderate+high highest






Research control

Specific respondent 2o 3es 3es

4nly one respondent 2o 3es 3es

5isual oservation 2o 2o 3es

Proes possile 2o 3es yes






Success with different questions

4pen+ended questions imited imited 3es

(ontingency questions imited 3es 3es

(omple# questions imited Moderate 3es

Sensitive questions east Some Some

5isual aids imited 2one yes






Sources of bias

Social desiraility Some Some 3es

6nterviewer ias 2o Some yes

1espondent7s readingaility

3es 2o no



– Develop the survey instrument /questionnaire or interviewschedule0.

8rite questions to measure variales.Decide on response categories.4rgani"e the question sequence.Design the layout.Develop a system to record answers.Pilot test.Train interviewers /if you use them0.

Sta!es …



Sta!es …

– Drawing the sample. Define the population.

Decide on sample si"e. Decide on the type of sample to use. Develop the sampling frame. Select the sample.

'# $ata collection sta!e# – ocate and contact the respondents. – Make introductory statements and provide instructions. – &sk the questions and record the answers. – Thank the respondent for cooperating. – End data collection.



(# $ata analysis sta!e# – (ode data.

– Enter data into a computer.

– (lean data.

– Statistical analysis.

– Draw conclusions.

)# *rite up and communication sta!e# – Summari"e your results and incorporate them into the

results section of your report'thesis'paper.

Sta!es …



+uidelines to conductin! a survey

,. Define the purpose and scope of the survey in e#plicit terms. &void 9fishing e#peditions and ramling$ redundant$ ill+conceivedapproaches.

;. &void using an e#isting survey instrument.<. 6n designing a survey instrument$ sit down with a group of

potential respondents and e#plore what is meaningful or importantto them and how est to phrase questions to reflect their attitudesor opinions.

=. *ield test the survey instrument to spot amiguous or redundantitems and to arrive at a format leading to ease of data taulationand analysis.



+uidelines…

>. E#amine the merits of using machine+scored answer sheetsto facilitate taulation and analysis.

?. &s often as possile$ use structured questions as opposed tounstructured and open+ended ones for uniformity of resultsand ease of analysis.

@. Do not ask questions out of idle curiosity + this will overta# therespondents.

-. &void questions that are redundant or have ovious answers.

A. &void loaded or iased questions y field testing andinvolving others in the wording process.,B. )eep the final product as rief$ simple$ clear as possile.,,. Think out the analysis needs to insure the clarity and

comprehensiveness of the instrument.



,imitations of the survey method

Surveys may only tap respondents who are accessile andcooperative.

Surveys often make the respondent feel special or unnaturaland thus produce responses that are artificial or slanted. Surveys arouse 9response sets such as acquiescence or a

proneness to agree with positive statements or questions. Surveys are vulnerale to over+rater or under+rater ias + the

tendency for some respondents to give consistently high or lowratings.

6n the case of interviews$ iased reactions can e elicitedecause of characteristics of the interviewer or respondent$ orthe comination$ that elicit an unduly favorale or unfavoralepattern of responses.



The art and science of developin!questions for research

Dr. 1oy (ole

SS<BB 1esearch Methods

Crand 5alley State niversity

&llendale$ Michigan



uestions- questions- questions

,. The closed question.

;. The open question.

<. The partly+open question.

=. The quasi+filter question.

>. The filter /or contingency0 question.

?. The full filter question.



The closed question

,. 8hat do you think the government7s role in the

automoile industry should e – FFFFF 4wn it.

– FFFFF (ontrol prices and profits ut not own it.

– FFFFF 2either own it nor control prices and profits.



The open question

,. 98hat do you think the government7s role in theautomoile industry should e

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF






The partly&open question

,. 98hat do you think the government7s role in the

automoile industry should e – FFFFF 4wn it.

– FFFFF (ontrol prices and profits ut not own it.

– FFFFF 2either own it nor control prices and profits.

– FFFFF 4ther GSPE(6*3H FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF



The filter .contin!ency/ question

,. 9Iave you every smoked mari!uana

+ G6* 3ESH 9&out how many times have you smoked

mari!uana FFFFF.



The quasi&filter question

,. 9Iere is a statement aout another country:- The 1ussian leaders are asically trying to get along with

the .S. Do you agree$ disagree or have no opinion onthat FFFF &gree.

FFFF Disagree.

FFFF 2o opinion'Don7t know.



The full filter question

,. 9Iere is a statement aout another country. 2ot

everyone has an opinion on this. 6f you do not have

an opinion$ !ust say so. Iere is the statement:- The 1ussian leaders are asically trying to get along with

the .S.

- Do you have an opinion on that FFFFF 3es.

FFFFF 2o.

- G6* 3ESH Do you agree or disagree



A0Cs of question construction



A0Cs…

1se simple lan!ua!e# As2 only about thin!s that the respondents can be

e3pected to 2no4# 5nclude 6don%t 2no47 as a response option on your

questions# 5nclude 6other7 as a response option for your questions#

Make sure that there is a space for the interviewer to recordwhat the 9other is.

Ma2e the question specific# – Did you attend the program regularly – Iow many times a week did you attend the program – 9Iow far do you usually !og – 9Iow far in miles do you usually !og per week



A0Cs…

Avoid double ne!atives# – 9Iow much would you dislike the inaility to receive service

at the same health center $on%t as2 double&barreled questions#

– 9Did you use videos and pamphlets in the training sessionsyou organi"ed

Avoid value&laden or emotionally&loaded terms# – 9Do you consider yourself pro+choice or pro+life

$on%t lead the respondent to an ans4er# – 9Do you agree that (ongress should alance the udget – 9(ongress should alance the national udget. Do you

agree$ disagree$ or have no opinion



A0Cs …

1se 4ordin! that has been adopted in the field# ook at

questions asked y the .S. (ensus or the Ceneral Social

Survey /C.S.S.0 or other instrument. – 9Iow old are you is not a good question.

– 98hat is your date of irth

– 98hat is your age in years

Make sure that questions are in the est order. – Sensitive questions later.



&%(s Jquestion order effects

The context created by

answering one questioncan affect the answer to

another.uestion "#

9Do you think that the nited States should

let (ommunist newspaper reporters from

other countries come in here and send

ack to their papers the news as they

see it

uestion '#

9Do you think a (ommunist country like

1ussia should let &merican newspaper

reporters come in and send ack to

&merican the news as they see it

8eardfirst 9es to:" 9es to:'

K , >=L @>L

K; ?=L -;L



A0Cs …

5nclude enou!h information to jo! people%s memories. The

questions don7t have to e short:

– 9Some Ath graders in the pulic schools in this district takea health education course that includes a unit on se#ual

reproduction. Ias your child attended such a course this

year

,oo2 for second&hand opinions or ratin!s only 4hen first&

hand information is unavailable# 1espondents can give moreaccurate info aout themselves than they can aout other

people.

Survey Method

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