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Chapter 9: Survey Research - Coggle Diagram
Chapter 9: Survey Research
Questionnaire Surveys
Questionnaire: a research instrument consisting of a set of questions intended to capture responses from respondents in a standardized manner.
Self-administered mail surveys: the same questionnaire is mailed to a large number of people, and willing respondents can complete the survey at their convenience and return it in postage-prepaid envelopes.
Group-administered questionnaire: a sample of respondents is brought together at a common place and time, and each respondent is asked to complete the survey questionnaire while in that room.
Response formats
Dichotomous response: respondents are asked to select one of two possible choices.
Nominal response: respondents are presented with more than two unordered options.
Ordinal response: respondents have more than two ordered options.
Interval-level response: respondents are presented with a 5-point or 7-point Likert scale, semantic differential scale, or Guttman scale.
Continuous response: respondents enter a continuous value with a meaningful zero point.
Question content and wording
Is the question clear and understandable?
Is the question worded in a negative manner//
Is the question ambiguous?
Does the question have biased or value-laden words?
Is the question double-barreled?
Is the question too general?
Is the question too detailed?
Is the question presumptuous?
Is the question imaginary?
Do respondents have the information needed to correctly answer the question?
Interview Survey
Face-to-face interview: the interviewer works directly with the respondent to ask questions and record their responses.
Focus group: a small group of respondents are interviewed together in a common location
Telephone interviews: interviewers contact potential respondents over the phone, typically based on a random selection of people from a telephone directory, to ask a standard set of survey questions.
Role of Interviewer
Prepare for the interview.
Locate and enlist the cooperation of respondents.
Motivate respondents.
Clarify any confusion or concerns.
Observe quality of response.
Conducting the Interview
The silent probe: pausing and waiting.
Overt encouragement: encourage the respondent to go into greater details.
Ask for elaboration.
Reflection
Biases in Survey Research
Sampling bias: calling a random sample of publicly available telephone numbers. Make the respondent sample unrepresentative of the intended population and hurt generalizability claims about inferences drawn from the biased sample.
Social desirability bias: respondents tend to avoid negative opinions or embarrassing comments about themselves. This tendency among respondents to "spin the truth" in order to portray themselves in a socially desirable manner.
Recall bias: responses to survey questions depend on subjects' motivation, memory and liability to respond. Respondents may not adequately remember their own motivations or behaviors or perhaps their memory of such events may have evolved with time and no longer retrievable.
Common method bias: the amount or spurious covariance shared between independent and dependent variables that are measured at the same point in time.
Non-response bias: generally notorious for its low response rates.
Advance notification
Relevance of content
Respondent-friendly questionnaire
Follow-up requests
Endorsement
Interviewer training
Incentives
Non-monetary incentives
Confidentiality and privacy
Survey Research: a research method involving the use of standardized questionnaires or interviews to collect data about people and their preferences.
Question Sequencing
Non-threatening questions.
Never start with an open ended question.
Follow chronological order
Ask one topic at a time.
Use filter or contingency questions as needed
Other Golden Rules
Be respectful of people's time.
Always assure confidentiality
Assure respondents that you will send them a copy of final results
Thank respondents for their participation.