Survey Research: Principles, Methods, and Evolution

Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, 5e

Chapter 10: Survey Research • Introduction • Logic of Survey Research. • Constructing the Questionnaire. • Types of Surveys: Advantages and Disadvantages. • Interviewing. • Ethical Survey • Conclusion

Introduction • What is a survey? • A form of quantitative research in which the researcher: • Develops a questionnaire • A set of questions designed to measure one or more variables • Administers the questionnaire to a sample • Unit of analysis – most often individual, but can be family, organization, etc • Records and analyzes the responses

Surveys are • The most widely used data gathering technique in sociology • Used in many fields

Research Questions Appropriate for a Survey • Behavior How frequently do you or someone else do something? When is the last time you or someone else did something? • Attitudes and opinionsWhat kind of job is someone doing? What is the biggest problem in this community? • CharacteristicsAre you married? What is your age?

Questions continued… • Expectations Do you plan to do something within the next year? What will change? • Self-classificationsDo you consider yourself liberal? Are you more rural or urban? • Knowledge What is the population of this community?

History of Survey Research • Based on ancient census, e.g. Domesday Book in England 1085-6 • For taxation, political representation • United States: research on urban poverty mid-19th century, no scientific sampling or statistics • Social surveys: 1890s to 1930s – qualitative and quantitative survey research on communities – now would be called ‘action-oriented community survey’ oriented toward social reform • By mid-1940s, eclipsed by modern quantitative survey

The modern quantitative survey – factors in its rise to dominance: • Addition of scientific sampling and precise measurement techniques, after Literary Digest case • Researchers developed scales and indexes • Increasing use of surveys in other fields – market research, journalism, government, private non-profits • ‘Professionalization’ of social science – shift from non-academics seeking to solve social problems – often at local level – to positivist model, based on natural sciences

Factors leading to professionalization of social sciences and rise of survey research • Competition among researchers and universities for funding and prestige • Researchers turned away from reform ideals after the end of the Progressive Era (1895-1915) • Major foundations – Carnegie, Rockefeller, Sage – poured money into quantitative positivist research

History, continued • WWII – great government use of surveys • Post-war: shift to universities and other settings. Major growth due to: • Computers • New survey research centers • Creation of data archives • Funding – especially by federal government • Improved methodology

Survey Research Today • Survey research ‘industry’ employs more than 60,000 people in U.S. alone, including 6,000 full-time professionals • Surveys are used in • Basic research • Applied research

Steps in Conducting a Survey • Surveys follow a deductive process • Begin with theoretical or applied research problem(s) or question(s) • See specific steps in figure 10.1, page 268

Principles of Good Question Writing • A good questionnaire forms an integrated whole • Introductory remarks and instructions • Measure each variable with one or more questions • Questions flow smoothly • Dilemma: • Each respondent should hear the same question, but • Respondents have different backgrounds and frames of reference, so the same wording may not have the same meaning to different people • So, question writing is as much an art as a science

Writing Questions • Avoid using jargon, slang, or abbreviations. • Avoid ambiguity, confusion, and vagueness. • Avoid emotional language and prestige bias. • Avoid double-barreled questions.

Writing questions continued… • Avoid leading questions. • Avoid asking difficult questions. • Avoid false premises. • Avoid asking about future intentions. • Avoid double negatives. • Avoid overlapping or unbalanced response categories.

Aiding Respondent Recall • Memory is less trustworthy than social scientists once assumed • Need to customize questions and interpret results cautiously • Provide respondents with special instructions and extra thinking time

Types of Questions and Response Categories • Threatening (to self-image, etc.) questions can be mitigated by • ‘enhanced’ wording • Gender of researcher • Anonymity • Knowledge questions • Pilot test questions • Sleeper questions

Types of Questions and Response Categories, continued • Skip or contingency questions • Open vs. Closed questions • See box 10.2, page 278 – advantages and disadvantages of each • Agree/Disagree, Rankings or Ratings? • Wording Issues

Questionnaire Design Issues • Instrument length. • The order or sequence of the questions. • Order effects • Context effects • Format and Layout • Non-response, refusals. • Response rate • See box 10.6, page 287

Types of Surveys: Advantages and Disadvantages • See Table 10.4, page 290

Interviewing – the Survey Interview • The survey research interview is: • A special kind of interviewing • A social relationship • Role of the interviewer • Gain cooperation, build rapport, but • Remain neutral, unbiased, nonjudgmental • “Stages” – see 294-295 for specific techniques • Training Interviewers • Interviewer Bias • Cultural Meanings and Survey Interviews

Feminist Approaches to Interviewing (Contrast with Positivist) See box 10.11, p. 299

Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) and Web-Surveys • CATI • Interviewers read questions from a computer screen and input responses • Speeds interviewing and decreases interviewer errors. • Well suited to contingency questions • elemarketers are making this technique problematic as respondents have become suspicious of survey callers. • Web-Surveys • Promising in terms of cost • Can have high rates of coverage error in terms of who really completes the instrument • Many people still lack access to the internet.

The Ethical Survey • Key issues • Privacy • Voluntary participation • Pseudosurveys • “suppression polls” • “push polls” • Misuse of surveys • Uncritical reporting of bad surveys

Survey Research: Principles, Methods, and Evolution