1. Survey Research

2. Survey Research Structured interview of:
Sample of individuals in order to generalize to a larger population
Survey modes:
Face-to-face
Paper-and-pencil
RDD telephone
Direct mail
Internet

3. Advantages & Disadvantages
Generalizability - external validity
Representativeness - unbiased sample
Customizability - wide variety of research questions
Time - 6 months from start to finish
Cost - Face-to-face vs. Telephone vs. Mail
Hard to find facilities and experts
Causality - Non-experimental design

4. Misconceptions
Single time-point >>> Longitudinal, Panel Designs
Must be face-to-face >>> Can use telephone, mail
Interviewers read questions >>> Self-administered
Individuals as unit of observation >>> Family
Non-experimental >>> Can embed experiments
Atheoretical >>> Can test hypotheses
Surveys are a very flexible research technique

5. Reliability of Survey Research
Stability:
In panel designs, test-retest correlations of same respondents’ answers
Reproducibility:
Open-ended querstions:
Agreement between coders
Internal Consistency:
In testing scales, the homogeneity of items

6. Validity of Survey Research
Face:
Do items capture concepts?
Content:
Are relevant dimensions represented by indicators?
Convergent:
Are multiple indicators correlated?
Divergent:
Do indicators allow us to differentiate from other concepts?
Do indicators differentiate between distinct concept dimensions?

7. Stages in Survey Research
General Research Questions
Specific Research Questions
Sampling Design
Questionnaire Development
Interviewer Training
Pretest
Fieldwork - Test
Content Coding
Analysis Computation
Report Writing

8. Questionnaire Construction
Length:
:30 for telephone, longer for personal/self-administered
Ordering:
Put an easy question first, funnel toward specific
Save sensitive question for the end
Transitions:
Ease them from one section to another
Probes:
Further information, elaboration

9. Training Interviewers
Two parts:
1. Basic interviewing skills
2. Specific interview schedule, questionnaire

10. Motivations and Barriers
Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations:
expression, boredom, loneliness, politeness, curiosity, loyalty
Barriers:
Suspicion, fear, inadequacy, privacy, distractions, time to answer, etc.
Overcoming Barriers:
confidentiality, listening, probing, repeating, focus, and practice