ALC208 Week 8-Topic 7 Survey Research Assigned Readings: Text: Chapter 8; Reading 7.1: Moody (2004) & Reading 7.2: Weerakkody (2004): Reading 7.3: US Census ( ed) 1

Surveys Commonest data collection method in quantitative research Census every five years in Australia, 10 yrs in the USA Self-administered (given to respondents to complete) or Researcher –administered (face2face or over the phone ) Survey interviews – structured; Depth (semi-structured), intensive (unstructured) interviews in field studies Survey questions in: MCQ exams & SETUs Closed ended questions give quantitative data and open ended questions give qualitative data 2

Survey Questions Operationalise variables with structured questions an relevant categories of responses to a (close ended) question e.g. what is your sex? 1. Male 2 Female Age: measured as nominal, ordinal, interval or ratio variables Surveys can use constructs to measure concepts or variables that cannot be directly observed or measured using Likert or Semantic differential scales. 3

What surveys can and cannot do Checks factual knowledge of respondents (e,g. MCQs at exams). Collects info on people’s beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, opinions etc. (e.g. Yes/No; True/False; Agree/Disagree; their feelings (e.g. Positive/negative, like/dislike); behaviours (e.g. On a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) Can compare and describe relationships between variables. e.g. Sex, party affiliation and support for a policy Tells about correlations between variables – not their causality (as one causes the other/s) Cause and effect relationships need experimental designs where variables can be controlled and examined. 4

Survey Methodology The steps involved: 1. Developing the survey instrument / questionnaire 2. Selecting the population and sample (of respondents) 3. Administration of the survey 4. Data analysis 5

1. Developing the survey instrument / questionnaire Decide on research questions /hypotheses to be tested in study and variables to be examined Phrase and organise questionnaire Decide if to be self-administered or researcher-administered Decide if to be face-to-face, phone, mail, or internet based How much time needed to complete the survey What closed and open ended to be included 6

2. Selecting the population and sample (of respondents) Decide what the target population is. (e.g. Registered voters in Australia) Obtain the sampling frame (e.g. voter registration lists) Choose a suitable sampling method (e.g. a convenience sample for an exploratory study or a random, representative sample if generalisation of findings is needed) Weighting (higher proportions of specific groups such as the older, females, majority ethnic group, uni students etc.) Balancing (in proportion to census figures) 7

3. Administration of the survey Face-to-face interviews Telephone interviews Mail surveys Online ( or internet) surveys SurveyMonkey, MySpace 8

Raliability & Validity of Surveys Important to consider when designing a survey Interviewers need to be well-trained and survey instrument tested with a few people from the same population. Several other factors affect reliability (give same results when repeated) and validity (measure what you are supposed to measure). 9

Factors Affecting Reliability and Validity 1. Unreliability of answers given by respondents; they forget things etc. – Joke answers or missing data 2. The Social desirability effect 3. Unstable opinions of respondents 4. Question wording- e.g. Push polling 5. Misinterpretation of questions by respondents 10

Factors Affecting Reliability and Validity (Contd.) 6. Question order : Funnel format & reverse funnel format 7. Response set eg. The ‘Donkey Vote’ 8. Question format – closed or open ended 9. Unqualified respondents 10. Cultural bias of questions. Eg. Big Brother, Caviar 11

Secondary Analysis of Data Using data collected in previous studies in a new study. e.g. census data Uses data from archives for a fee Disadvantage of problems in previous study passed on to new one But the national census and other well designed studies provide inexpensive source of good data 12

Things to Remember 1. Ensure mutually exclusive categories of responses 2. Responses must match question posed 3. Responses in logical order in a continuum 4. Question clarity 5. Avoid double-barrelled questions 6. Respondent competent to answer 13

Things to Remember (Contd.) 7. Respondents’ willingness to answer- to reduce no responses and social desirability effect 8. Simplify the questions and make them readable 9. Avoid negative wording ‘We should not do X’ etc. to be avoided 10. Avoid biased wording (e.g. A supreme court decision on X says...; and use neutral terms: Not induce perceptions such as attractiveness of a person related to the survey question 14

How to Organise a Questionnaire Question order- follow a coherent order Contingency ordering- Question’s relevance to those that follow. E.g.1. ‘Do you have at home?’ Yes / No This is a filter question. If no, go to question 5 etc. as questions 2 to 4 are about home use irrelevant to those without . Include demographic questions Layout & design Giving instructions Pre-testing 15

Analysis of Survey Data Close ended questions provide uniform answers to surveys questions- easy to analyse, quantitative data. Use of Excel software of manual coding using /, //, ///, ////, //// to indicate 1 to 5 times SPSS- Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences- Version 17 Open ended questions give qualitative data to be analysed using common themes 16

Strengths and Limitations of Survey research Strengths: can use large samples when self-administered to describe characteristics of large populations. Flexible and allows for many questions to be asked at once. Limitations: Subject to artificiality, Only collects self-reports of past and future or hypothetical action Some topics not suitable for surveys 17

Use of Surveys in Journalism, PR and Media and Communication Journalism- Journalists calling people or using other people’s surveys when news gathering ; About the profession with working journalists PR- program evaluation Media and Communication- Adoption and use of a new media technology e. g. The 2006 Aus. census asked about internet access at home. 18

Any questions? 19