1. 1. Survey methods Questionnaires and Survey Design

2. Selecting the method of data collection Mail Telephone Face-to-face Internet Group administered

4. Choosing the survey method There is no best overall method Each method has strengths and weaknesses Ask yourself 1.Who are the survey respondents? 2. Which method best suits this survey and the respondents?

5. Other Considerations 1. Administrative factors such as cost, time, geographic distribution 2. Questionnaire issues such as branching, complexity of questions, sensitivity issues, rapport with respondent 3. Data quality issues such as bias, knowledge about refusals and non- contacts, control of replies

6. Mailed questionnaires Cost is relatively low Response rate may be poor and biased towards more educated and those with an interest in the topic No knowledge about non-response Long time between data collection and analysis Geographic distribution can be wide

8. Telephone surveys Most widely used type Numbers are selected randomly from a phone book or by generating random numbers (RDD: (Random Digit Dialling) Problems include unlisted numbers Landline coverage is decreasing so increasing bias against the young (no directory for cell phones) Geographic distribution can be wide Data collection period can be short

9. Face-to-face surveys Cost is high Data collection period is long Geographic distribution must be clustered Takes a long time Good control and quality of responses

11. Internet Low cost (no paper, no data entry costs) data collection is quick Geographic distribution may be wide Questionnaires may be complex because the skips are programmed in Pop-up instructions, videos, voice-overs, animation are available to make it more fun and dynamic

13. Group-administered questionnaires For example, completed by all students in selected classrooms or classes on a particular day. Time to complete survey is limitd Good response rate

14. Example 1 Youth Health 2000 The Adolescent Health Research Group investigators are all staff of the University of Auckland. The Adolescent Health Research Group (AHRG) was established in 1997. The AHRG’s first goal was to develop, administer and analyse a health survey to provide current national data on the health and well-being of New Zealand’s youth. Other countries carried out their own surveys of youth. www.youth2000.ac.nz

15. Example 2 ISAAC, the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in childhood, was formed in 1991 to facilitate research into asthma, allergic rhinitis and eczema by promoting a standardised methodology. It developed from a merging of two multinational collaborative projects each investigating variations in childhood asthma at the population level. These were an initiative from Auckland, New Zealand to conduct an international comparative study of asthma severity, and an initiative from Bochum, Germany for an international study to monitor time trends and determinants of the prevalence of asthma and allergies in children. http://isaac.auckland.ac.nz/