1. Chapter 9 Survey Methodology Basic survey language Types of surveys
The survey schedule
Survey designs
Sampling error, confidence levels, and sample size

2. Basic Survey Language
In research, the term survey refers to a sample survey
A sample survey has scientific utility

3. Types of Surveys Four basic types of ways to collect survey data:
In person
On the phone
Through the mail
On the internet

4. The Survey Schedule (Questionnaire)
The interviewer/survey script
Length
Writing the schedule

5. Survey Designs There are three basic survey designs:
Cross sectional design survey
Panel study
Multiple cross sections

6. Cross Sectional Survey Design
Analogous to a photographa snapshot in time
Generalizable only to the sample population during that period of time

7. Panel Study A single sample is interviewed at multiple points in time
Allows us to see change in a particular group
Introduces threats to validity (testing and sensitivity)

8. Multiple Cross Sections or Continuous Polling
Multiple cross sections: different samples are pulled from a particular population over time for comparison
Continuous polling: interviews take place for weeks or months at a time; the researcher combines the respondents’ data for time periods

9. Mortality
A potential threat to validity; the death of a sample element
If a respondent in a panel designs stops being interviewed
Multiple cross sections avoid mortality problems, but present sampling challenges

10. Interpreting Statistical Numbers
Three basic interdependent quantities must be known:
Sampling error
Confidence level
Sampling size

11. Sampling Error
The error rate is how far off the sample statistic is likely to be from the population parameter that is being estimated (the population’s true score)

12. Confidence Level
The probability / likelihood that the actual population parameter is in the range of the sampling error
The wider the range, the more certain we are that the range encompasses that actual population parameter; the narrower the range, the less certain

13. Sample Size (N)
The number of people or things in the sample