Ch, 9 Survey Research
Survey Research is a research method involving the use of standardized questionnaires to collect data bout people and their preferences, thoughts and behaviors.
The survey method can be descriptive, exploratory, or explanatory research.
Surveys are excellent for measuring wide unobservable data
Surveys are for remotely collected data about a population.
Surveys are preferred
Surveys interviews may be the only way of reaching a certain group.
Surveys may allow the detection of small effects when analyzing variables.
Surveys are economical in terms of time, effort, and cost.
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Constructing a survey
Self-administered mail surveys where the same questionnaire is mailed to a large number of people and willing respondents can complete the survey
Group administered sample of respondents is brought together at a common place and time and each respondent is asked to complete the survey questionnaire in the room.
Online survey is administered over the internet using interactive forms.
Questionnaire survey is a research instrument consisting of a set of questions intended to capture responses from respondents in a standardized manner
Response formats - survey questions may be structured or unstructured.
Dichotomous response - respondents asked to select one or two possible choices
Nominal response - presented with more than two unordered options
Ordinal response - respondents have more than two ordered options
Interval level response - respondents are presented with 5 or 7 point scale
Continuous response - respondents are continuous ratio scaled value with a meaningful zero point
Questioning sequencing - questions should flow logically from one to the next to achieve the best response rates.
Remember the golden rule when administering a survey
Interview Survey more personalized form of data collection
Face to face interview - the interviewer works directly with the respondent to ask questions and record their responses
Focus group - small groups of respondents are interviewed together in a common location
Telephone interviews - contact respondents over the phone to ask survey questions.
Role of interviewer - Prepare, Locate & motivate respondents, Clarify any concerns and Observe quality of responses
Conducting the interview - Prepare, Contact, be Confident, Follow the script, Thank the respondent and Write down any notes
Biases in Survey Research
Non-response bias, low response rates
Sampling bias - telephone surveys conducted by calling a random sample
Social desirability bias respondents tend to avoid negative opinions or comments about themselves
Recall bias responses to survey questions depend on the subject's motivation, memory and ability to respond.
Common method bias to the amount of correlation between variables shared between the independent and dependent variables measured at the same time