6Quantitative Research

SURVEY

McGraw-Hill/IrwinBusiness Research Methods, 10e Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Dilemma for Surveys

“The ubiquity of cell phones and the rapid and

continuing development of the Internet have

completely altered the way we talk to each

other, the way marketers talk to customers,

the way customers shop and the way the

media research their audiences.”

Alain Tessier , founder,

Mediamark Research, Inc.

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Data

Collection

Approach

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Selecting a

Communication

Data Collection

Approach

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Survey

Strengths:

Versatility: abstract information of all types can be

gathered.

Efficiency: a few well-chosen questions can yield

information that otherwise would take more time

Geographic coverage: a survey that uses the

telephone, mail, a computer, e-mail, or the Internet as

the medium of communication can expand geographic

coverage at a fraction of the cost and time required by

observation.

Weakness:

all communication research has some errors.

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Total Survey Error

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Sources of Error

Error

Sources

Measurement

Questions

Interviewer

Participant

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Interviewer error

Interviewer error is error that results from interviewer

influence of the participant.

It can be caused by several actions such as:

failure to secure full participant cooperation

failure to record answers accurately and completely

failure to consistently execute interview procedures

failure to establish appropriate interview environment

falsification of answers

inappropriate influencing behavior

physical presence bias.

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Participants

Participants cause error in two ways:

whether they respond (willingness) and

how they respond.

Three factors influence participant

The participant must believe that the experience

will be pleasant and satisfying.

The participant must believe that answering the

survey is worthwhile.

The participant must dismiss any mental

reservations about participation.

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Participant Motivation

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Response Terms

Noncontact rate

Refusal rate

Incidence rate

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The noncontact rate is a ratio of potential but

unreached contacts to all potential contacts. A

contact may be unreachable due to no answer,

busy signal, answering machine or voice mail,

and disconnects).

The refusal rate refers to the ratio of contacted

participants who decline the interview to all

potential contacts.

The incidence rate refers to the ratio of

contacted people who actually qualify for the

survey to all contacts.

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Communication Approaches

Self-

Administered

Survey

Survey via

Personal

Interview

Telephone

Survey

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Self-Administered Surveys

Disk-by-Mail

Intercept

Modes

Drop-off

Mail

CASI

Fax

Survey

Mail survey - the questions are mailed to prospective respondents who are asked to fill them out and return them to the researcher by mail.

Intercept surveys are typically carried out on the street (street intercepts), in shopping malls (mall intercepts) or in retail outlets themselves, or in any space where there is a good population of target consumers. These are carried out by trained interviewers who deliver a short (5 to 20 minute) Questionnaires concerning the consumer's behaviour, habits, preference, or perceptions. Usually a screener is administered to confirm that a respondent is a member of the target group, and a small gift is offered for participation.

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Survey (con’t)

Drop-off survey - Another variation of the self-administered survey is the drop-off survey, in which the survey representative approaches a prospective respondent, introduces the general purpose of the survey to the prospect, and leaves it with the respondent to fill out on his or her own.

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Survey (Con’t)

Disk by mail: a selected respondent is mailed a computer disk that contains a questionnaire and a self-starting interview program. The respondent runs the program on his or her own computer and returns the disk containing the completed questionnaire. In some instances, the disk may provide an option for the person to transmit his or her responses over the Internet.

Computer assisted self-interviewing (CASI) is a technique for survey data collection in which the respondent uses a computer to complete the survey questionnaire without an interviewer administering it to the respondent

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Self-Administered Surveys

Factor Online Drop-Off Mail Survey

Speed Very Fast Moderate Slow

Cost/

Response

Very low Low Low

Control High Low Low

Scope Can be

world-

wide

Local Can be

national

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Self-Administered Surveys

Anonymity

Topic

Coverage

Systematic

Sample

Accessibility

Costs

Time

Constraints

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Total Design Method (TDM)

The TDM method refers to Don Dillman’s Total Design Method.

The appeal of the TDM is based on convincing people first that a problem exists that is of importance to a group with which they identify, and second, that their help is needed to find a solution.

The researcher is portrayed as a reasonable person who, in light of the complexity of the problem, is making a reasonable request for help, and contribute to the solution of that problem.

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Total Design Method (TDM)

The researcher is identified as an intermediary between the person asked to contribute to the solution of an important problem and certain steps that might help solve it.

The reward to the respondents derives from the feeling that they have done something important to help solve a problem faced by them, their friends, or members of a group including community, state, or nation, whose activities are important to them.

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Designing Questionnaires Using the

TDM

Easy to read

Offer clear directions

Include personalization

Notify in advance

Encourage response

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Options for Web-based Surveys

Surveying

Software

Fee-Based

Service

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Web based surveys

There are two primary options for creating web surveys: With fee-based services, the researcher is guided

through questionnaire design and then the supplier’s staff generates the questionnaire HTML code, hosts the survey at their server, and provides data consolidation and reports. Surveymonkey.com and Perseus are examples of fee-based services.

Researchers can also buy Off-the-shelf software programs that allow easy programming and deployment. These software programs generally require that the researcher have a server to support data collection efforts.

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Advantages of Surveying Software

Questionnaire design in word processing

environment

Question and scale libraries

Automated publishing to the Web

Real-time viewing of incoming data

Rapid transmission of results

Flexible analysis and reporting mechanisms

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The Web as a Survey Research Venue

Advantages

Cost savings

Short turnaround

Use of visual stimuli

Access to participants

Perception of anonymity

Access to data and

experiences otherwise

unavailable

Disadvantages

Recruitment

Coverage

Difficulty developing

probability samples

Technical skill

System compatibility

issues

Possible self-selection

bias

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Advantages of Self-Administered

Study

Access inaccessible

participants

Incentives for higher

response rates

Lowest-cost

Geographic coverage

Minimal staff needed

Perceived anonymity

Reflection time

Question complexity

Rapid data collection

Visuals possible

Multiple sampling possible

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Disadvantages of Self-Administered

Study

Low response rates in

some modes

No interviewer

intervention

Cannot be too long

Cannot be too

complex

Requires accurate list

Skewed responses by

extremists

Participant anxiety

possible

Directions necessary

Need for low-distraction

environment

Security

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Improving Response Rates

Advance notification

Reminders

Return directions and devices

Monetary incentives

Deadlines

Promise of anonymity

Appeal for participation

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Telephone Survey

Traditional

CATI systems

Computer-

administered

Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI)

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Telephone survey

Traditional telephone interviews - traditional

telephone interviews are conducted either from the

homes of the telephone interviewing staff or,

perhaps, from telephone staffs located in the data

collection company’s offices.

Computer-administered survey – Computer

technology plays an essential role in the interview

work.

Computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI)

– is a computerized central location telephone

interviewing process

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CATI system

Simplest form of CATI has a computer replacing the paper questionnaire on a telephone interviewer's desk. CATI provides the following advantages:

More efficient data collection, because the interviewer enters answers directly into the computer rather than sending a paper questionnaire for a separate data capture step.

More efficient and more accurate questionnaire administration, because the computer delivers the questions to the interviewee in the correct programmed sequence, including any required rotations, randomizations, or insertions of information from a separate data file or from earlier in the interview.

More accurate data collection, because the computer can apply various range and logic edits as the answers are entered.

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Advantages of the Telephone Survey

Lower costs than

personal interview

Wide geographic

coverage

Fewer interviewers

Reduced interviewer bias

Fast completion time

Random Dialing

CATI

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Disadvantages of the Telephone

Survey

Lower response rate

Early termination

Higher costs if

geographically dispersed

sample

Limited Interview length

Inaccessible populations

Limited complexity of scales

iPhone

Voice-over IP

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Personal Interview

A two-way conversation initiated by an

interviewer to obtain information from a

respondent

They are typically strangers, and the

interviewer generally controls the topics

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Personal Interview Survey

Advantages

Good cooperation rates

Interviewer can probe

and explain

Visual aids possible

Illiterate participants can

be reached

Interviewer can

prescreen

CAPI possible

Disadvantages

High costs

Need for highly trained

interviewers

Time consuming

Labor-intensive

Some unwilling to invite

strangers into homes

Interviewer bias possible