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Survey Methods in Law Research: Lessons from public attitudes to price fixing

Survey Methods in Law Research: Lessons from public attitudes to price fixing. Andreas Stephan Norwich Law School. What does a survey measure. ‘A set of procedures for collecting information and making quantitative inferences about populations’ Attitudes, attributes, actions

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Survey Methods in Law Research: Lessons from public attitudes to price fixing

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  1. Survey Methods in Law Research: Lessons from public attitudes to price fixing Andreas Stephan Norwich Law School

  2. What does a survey measure • ‘A set of procedures for collecting information and making quantitative inferences about populations’ • Attitudes, attributes, actions • ‘Target population’ (usually too large) • …so we take a ‘sample’ • Those who agree to participate are ‘respondents’

  3. What does a survey measure ‘Samples’ Smoking Y Others in target Population, not taking part in survey X Income

  4. Using a survey in Legal Research • Should start with a specific research question / hypothesis. • Questionnaires inappropriate for exploratory research: key is design of the questions. • How law: is applied / perceived / affects people’s behaviour • Where to begin: • Literature review (is it necessary) • Brainstorming sessions • Qualitative research (get to know target population)

  5. Public attitudes to price fixing survey Hypothesis: • Public perceptions of price fixing do not reflect the severe sanctions that exist for such behaviour in law. Research Questions: • Do members of the public think price fixing is wrong? • What punishments do they feel are appropriate? • Do they feel the use of immunity is justifiable? • Do they perceive price fixing to be ‘dishonest’? • Are attitudes different towards crisis cartels?

  6. Designing unbiased questions • Dependant variables(e.g. why do people smoke?) • Independent variables(e.g. parents, friends, age, stress, income) • Most common explanatory variables will be demographic • Many pitfalls such as reverse causality (e.g. income and education); overly narrow definitions; time. • Some common challenges: • Respondents dedicate limited time/effort to completing survey • Making sure respondents’ understand questions • Technical / specific language and the risk of ambiguity • What can actually be measured - is survey still worthwhile? • Avoiding bias (in language and context) • Problems of asking about the past

  7. Designing unbiased questions (Q1): Do you feel that young people lack discipline? (Q2): Should national service be reintroduced? (Q1): Do you feel it is wrong to force people to take up arms against their will? (Q2): Would you oppose the reintroduction of compulsory military service?

  8. Surveys should be piloted and developed over many months… SEPT 06 Is it wrong for the owners of 3 corner shops to meet up once a month and agree on what prices to charge?  Yes  No MAR 07 Imagine the owners of the 3 corner shops in your area meet once a month to agree on what prices to charge for groceries. Shopper A believes that this is good for their customers because it ensures similar prices and saves them the hassle of searching each shop for the lowest price. Shopper B believes that this is bad for their customers because it will result in much higher prices. Which shopper do you agree with? Please tick () only one.  Strongly Agree  Agree  Disagree  Strongly Disagree  Neither  Don’t Know

  9. Choosing an appropriate survey method Self completion (postal) Online Telephone Face to face interview (Street or omnibus) Probability and Quota surveys: the former is preferable, but not practicable with large populations. Sample size and response rates are important. The lower, the more chance that a group has been excluded, resulting in perverse survey results. Important factors include: cost; incentive; timing effort

  10. Choosing an appropriate survey method ‘Samples’ Y Others in target Population, not taking part in survey X

  11. Interpreting the results • In law, descriptive statistics are perfectly acceptable. • In Economics, statistical analysis is expected. • But, torture statistics long enough and they will confess… • Professional ethics / responsibility

  12. Interpreting the results Strong Positive No Relationship Y Y X X Weak Negative Y X

  13. Time machine: What I would have done differently • Including more questions • Ask if each question really of any use / or did it just seem interesting at the time. • Expanding piloting beyond CCP?

  14. Tips for effective survey design • Define the aims of the study • Review the existing literature / research on subject • Establish the research questions / hypotheses • What is it exactly you want to measure? How? - Think ahead! • Establish a realistic budget – is survey still worthwhile? • Design survey questions – repeatedly pilot to develop/refine • Choose the most appropriate survey method / sample size. • Carry out survey (allow plenty of time for delays) • Process, analyse, interpret and report.

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