Chapter 12

Survey Research

Survey Research

• Nonexperimental method using interviews or questionnaires to assess attitudes, activities, opinions, or beliefs

• Surveys often used to assess changes in attitudes over time, to test theoretical models, and to describe and predict behavior (i.e., political polls; Marketing Surveys).

Survey Research (cont'd)

• To insure high external validity random samples should be used.

Steps in Conducting Survey Research

• Plan and design the survey• Construct and refine the survey instrument• Collect the survey data• Enter and “clean” the data• Analyze & interpret the data

Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Designs

• Cross-sectional studies involve collecting data in a single, brief time period

• Longitudinal studies involve collecting data at more than one point in time– panel studies – type of longitudinal design in

which the same individuals are surveyed multiple times over time

– trend study – same survey questions are asked of different samples over time (Real Clear Politics)

Methods of Data Collection

• Face-to-face or personal interview– advantages include ability to clear up ambiguities

and higher completion rate– disadvantage - expense

• Telephone interview– less expensive than face to face and comparable

data

Methods of Data Collection (cont'd)

• Mail questionnaires– low cost but low return rate

• Group-administered questionnaire

Methods of Data Collection (cont'd)

• Electronic survey– e-mail & Web-based – advantages of electronic surveys

• cost• instant access to wide audience• download to spreadsheet• flexible in layout—especially web-based survey

Methods of Data Collection (cont'd)

• Electronic survey– disadvantages of electronic surveys

• privacy and anonymity• sample may not be representative of population

Constructing and Refining a Survey Instrument

Principle 1. Write Items to Match the Research Objectives

– conduct literature review(don’t always need to reinvent the wheel)

– write items that will yield reliable and valid data

(may have to construct your own measurement).

Principle 2. Write Items That Are Appropriate for the

Respondents to be Surveyed– use easy-to-understand language based on

reading level, culture etc.

Principle 3. Write Short, Simple Questions

Principle 4. Avoid Loaded or Leading Questions

– a loaded term is one that produced an emotional response

• a leading question suggests to the respondent how they should respond

When forty people were asked about headaches. Those who were asked 'Do you get headaches frequently and, if so, how often?' reported an average of 2.2 headaches per week, whereas those who were asked 'Do you get headaches occasionally and, if so, how often?' reported only 0.7 per week (Loftus, 1975).

Principle 5. Avoid Double-Barreled Questions

– double-barreled questions ask two or more things in a single question

– “Have you stopped beating your wife yet.”– “ 95% of respondents said “Current Gun laws

need to be changed”.

Principle 6. Avoid Double Negatives

I don’t have no time.

- avoid negatives if you can!

• Principle 7. Determine Whether Closed-Ended or Open-Ended Questions are Needed– open-ended better if researcher is unsure what

respondent is thinking or variable is ill-defined– closed-ended are easier to code and provide more

standardized data

Principle 8.

Construct Mutually Exclusive and Exhaustive Categories – mutually exclusive means that the categories do

not overlap– exhaustive items include all possible responses

Principle 9. Consider the Different Types of Closed-Ended

Response Categories– rating scales

• multichotomous (more than two choices) usually preferred

– ability to measure direction and strength of attitude

• distance between each descriptor should be the same

Anchors - descriptors places on points on a rating scale.

Should Current Gun control Law be changed?Yes No (binary forced choice)

Please rate agreement with the statements according to rating scale.

Current Gun Control laws should be: 1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10

Greatly Kept the Greatly

Strengthened Same Lessened

Principle 9 Consider the Different Types of Closed-Ended

Response Categories– binary forced choice

• participant chooses one of pair of attitudes• typically not recommended

– Rankings (forces comparisons between options) - not interval scale.

– Checklists ( allows for more than one answer)

Principle 10. Use Multiple Items to Measure Complex or

Abstract Constructs

semantic differential – scaling method in which participants rate an object on a series of bipolar rating scales.

Likert scaling (summated Rating Scale).Characteristics of a Likert scale:

The scale contains several items.

Response levels are arranged horizontally.

Response levels are anchored with consecutive integers.

Response levels are also anchored with verbal labels which connote more-or-less evenly-spaced gradations.

Verbal labels are bivalent and symmetrical about a neutral middle

Always measures attitude in terms of level ofagreement/disagreement to a target statement.

Principle 11. Make Sure the Questionnaire is Easy to Use

From Beginning to End– ordering of questions

• positive and interesting questions first• demographic questions last

– limit the number of contingency questions (If yes, go to)

– questionnaire length

Response bias• social desirability bias occurs when participants

respond In a way to make themselves look good– reduce by insuring anonymity– Include a measure of social desirability

• response set – tendency to respond in a specific way

– use even number of response categories on rating scale– include multiple question types

– response bias• response set – tendency to respond in a specific way

– use even number of response categories on rating scale– include multiple question types

Principle 12. Pilot Test the Questionnaire until it is perfected

Other Terms in Chapter 12Population vs. SampleConvenience samplingRandom saplingSampling errorSimple Random Samples vs. Representative Samples