1. Survey Research

2. What is survey?
The survey is a non-experimental, descriptive research method
Survey can be useful when a researcher wants to collect data on phenomena that cannot be directly observed (such as opinions and behaviors)

3. Surveys are Everywhere
Pop-up quick polls
Evaluations
On-line Product Registrations
Initiated Surveys
Product Downloads requiring survey
Election Exit Polls

6. Types of surveys
Surveys can be divided into two broad categories: the questionnaire and the interview.
Questionnaires are usually paper-and-pencil instruments that the respondent completes
Interviews remind conversations
Sometimes, it's hard to tell the difference between a questionnaire and an interview because you will see questionnaires with open-ended questions (although they do tend to be shorter than in interviews) and there will often be a series of closed-ended questions asked in an interview

7. Questionnaires: mail survey
When most people think of questionnaires, they think of the mail survey
There are many advantages to mail surveys
They are relatively inexpensive to administer
You can send the exact same instrument to a wide number of people
They allow the respondent to fill it out at their own convenience

8. Mail survey But there are some disadvantages as well
Response rates from mail surveys are often very low
And, mail questionnaires are not the best vehicles for asking for detailed written responses

9. Group administered questionnaire
A sample of respondents is brought together and asked to respond to a structured sequence of questions
Traditionally, questionnaires were administered in group settings for convenience
High response rate
If the respondents have questions about the meaning of a question they can ask for clarification

10. Focus group…
What's the difference between a group administered questionnaire and a group interview or focus group?
In the group interview or focus group, the interviewer facilitates the session
People work as a group, listening to each other's comments and answering the questions
Someone takes notes for the entire group -- people don't complete an interview individually.

11. Household drop-off survey
A researcher goes to the respondent's home and hands the respondent the instrument
In some cases, the respondent is asked to mail it back or the interview returns to pick it up
Like the mail survey, the respondent can work on the instrument in private, when it's convenient
Like the group administered questionnaire, the interviewer makes personal contact with the respondent -- they don't just send an impersonal survey instrument
And, the respondent can ask questions about the study and get clarification on what is to be done
Generally, this would be expected to increase the percent of people who are willing to respond.

12. Interviews
Interviews are a far more personal form of research than questionnaires
In the personal interview, the interviewer works directly with the respondent
Unlike with mail surveys, the interviewer has the opportunity to probe or ask follow-up questions
And, interviews are generally easier for the respondent, especially if what is sought is opinions or impressions

13. Telephone interview Enable a researcher to gather information rapidly
Allow for some personal contact between the interviewer and the respondent
Allow the interviewer to ask follow-up questions
Many people don't have publicly-listed telephone numbers.
Some don't have telephones
People often don't like the intrusion of a call to their homes
Telephone interviews have to be relatively short or people will feel imposed upon.

14. Survey Survey is a series of questions asked of a number of people
Face-to-face (interview)
Self-administered (mail, web)
Phone
Provide different answers

15. Reasons for differences
Social desirability and sensitive questions
Acquiescence (culturally-based tendency to agree)

16. Social desirability
During fall semester, how often did you use drugs other than alcohol or marijuana, for example cocaine, speed, LSD, etc.?
No Response
Never
Less than once a month but at least once in the past year
One to three times a month
One to two times a week
More than twice a week

17. Sensitive question
Since the beginning of the school year, have you been forced or coerced to engage in unwanted sexual activity by...someone you someone you know very well
Never
Once or twice
Once a month
Once a week
2-3 times a week
Every day

18. Acquiescence
Please indicate the extent to which you agree that lying is okay if keeps friends out of trouble.
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree

19. Surveys
The goal of writing questions for self-administered questionnaire is to develop a query that every potential respondent will interpret in the same way, be able to respond accurately, and be willing to answer

20. Types Of Questions
Dichotomous Questions -When a question has two possible responses, we consider it dichotomous
Surveys often use dichotomous questions that ask for a Yes/No, True/False or Agree/Disagree response
There are a variety of ways to lay these questions out on a questionnaire:

22. Nominal question

23. Ordinal question

24. Likert scale

25. Cumulative or Guttman scale

26. Filter or Contingency Questions

27. Response Format
The response format is how you collect the answer from the respondent:
unstructured response formats
structured response formats

28. Structured formats
Structured formats help the respondent to respond more easily and help the researcher to accumulate and summarize responses more efficiently
But, they can also constrain the respondent and limit the researcher's ability to understand what the respondent really means
There are many different structured response formats, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. We'll review the major ones here.

29. Fill-In-The-Blank
One of the simplest response formats is a blank line. A blank line can be used for a number of different response types. For instance:
Please enter your gender:
_____

30. Fill-In-The-Blank
NAME: ________________________
NAME:

31. Check The Answer
The respondent places a check next to the response(s).
Sometimes, we supply a box that the person can fill in with an 'X' (which is sort of a variation on the check mark.

32. Check The Answer
Please check if you have the following item on the computer you use most:
modem
Printer
CD-ROM
Drive
Joystick
scanner

33. Circle The Answer
Sometimes the respondent is asked to circle an item to indicate their response. Usually we are asking them to circle a number. For instance, we might have the following:

34. Unstructured Response Formats
While there is a wide variety of structured response formats, there are relatively few unstructured ones
What is an unstructured response format?
Generally, it's written text.
These can vary from short comment boxes to the transcript of an interview.

35. Unstructured Response Formats
In almost every short questionnaire, there's one or more short text field questions. One of the most frequent goes something like this:
Please add any other comments:

36. Writing Questions
One methodologist described the question-writing task as similar to a driving in freeway traffic while drinking a cup of hot coffee and answering an emergency call on his cell phone

37. How answer categories might impact results of the study
How many hours per day do you typically study?
Less than 0.5 hours
hour
hours
2.1 – 2.5 hours
More than 2.5 hours
How many hours per day do you typically study?
Less than 2.5 hours
2.6 – 3 hours
3.1 – 4 hours
4.1 – 4.5 hours
More than 4.5 hours

38. Reported Hours of studying
Mail
Telephone
Reported Hours/Day
2.5 hours or more
Less than 2.5 hours
Low version
High version
23%
77%
58%
42%
69%
70%
30%
31%

39. Rules for writing questions
Rule 1: Each respondent has to have a chance to answer a question

40. What is wrong with the following question?
If you fixed dinner at home last night, did you eat meat as part of that meal?
Yes No

41. Rule 2.1
Do not use ambiguous questions

42. What is wrong with the following question?
“Have you had an opportunity to make use of the suggestions for handling obscene calls from the phone company?”

43. Revision
“Has the phone company offered suggestions for handling obscene phone calls? Have you made use of them?”

44. Is anything wrong with this question?
“Do you agree that pornographic videos are harmful to your children and that you must get rid of them?”

45. Revision
“Do you agree or disagree that pornographic videos should be banned?”

46. Rule 2.1
Do not use ambiguous answer categories

47. What is wrong with the following question?
How often did you attend religious services during the past year?
Never
Rarely
Occasionally
Regularly

48. Revision
How often did you attend religious services during the past year?
Not at all
A few times
About once a month
Two to three times per month
About once a week
More than once a week

49. Rule 3: Use equal numbers of positive and negative categories for scalar questions
How satisfied were you with the service you received when you bought air conditioner?
Completely satisfied
Mostly satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
Dissatisfied
How satisfied were you with the service you received when you bought air conditioner?
Completely satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
Somewhat dissatisfied
Dissatisfied

50. Rule 3.1: avoid overlapping categories
What is your age ?
Less than 10
10-15
15-20
20-30
30-40
40 and older

51. Rule 4: Avoid double-barreled questions
Should the city build a new swimming pool that includes lanes for swimming laps that is not enclosed for winter use?
Yes No

52. Revision
Should the city build a new swimming pool that includes lanes for swimming laps?
Yes No
Should the city build a new swimming pool that is not enclosed for winter use?

53. Rule 5 Avoid biased or leading questions:
“Do you still beat your spouse?”
Yes No

54. Rule 6:Use appropriate language
Avoid complex phrases ( do not show off your vocabulary)
“Occupants of this household” vs “people who live here”
“Subnational region” vs “area of the country

55. Rule 7: Avoid jargon and slang
“Do you agree or disagree that out county prosecutors regularly kink their cases?”

56. Rule 8: Write questions in full sentences
Sex______________
Revision: What is your sex?_____________

57. Rule 9: Avoid negative questions
“Do you agree or disagree that taverns ought not to be prohibited from opening on non-weekends-not including holidays?”

58. Sensitive Questions
Barton (1958, p. 67) provides humorous examples of many of the techniques that have been used as means of asking threatening questions
The Causal Approach: “Do you happen to have murdered your wife?”
The “Other People” approach: “Do you know any people who have murdered their wives? How about yourself?”

59. Sensitive Questions
The Numbered Card: “Would you please read off the number on this card which corresponds to what became of your wife?” (Hand card to respondent).
Natural Death
I killed her
Other (What?)
(Get the card back from respondent before proceeding)

60. Elements of visual design
In self-administered questionnaires, information is communicated through four distinct languages, each of which may independently influence question meaning
Verbal language (the words)
Numeric language (numbers)
Symbolic language (symbols defined by one’s culture, used to convey meaning independent of any words)
Graphical language (variations in the display of words, numbers, and/or symbols)

61. Eye Movement Patterns
Under conditions of visually “equal” information, we tend to follow culturally prescribed patterns

62. Eye Movement Pattern Equal Information

63. Eye Movement Patterns
When information is visually “unequal” what we see and comprehend is often influenced by visual qualities of the information

64. Eye Movement Pattern; Unequal Information

65. Eye Movement Pattern Unequal Information

66. Gestalt Psychology: Principles of Visual Perception
Principle of Proximity: We tend to group together things that are close to one another and more distant from other (similar) objects.

67. Principle of Proximity: Similar figures in closer proximity will be seen as a group)

68. Principle of Proximity

69. Principle of Proximity

70. Principle of Similarity: Similar figures will be seen as a group
Do you see groups?

71. Principle of Similarity: Similar figures will be seen as a group
Do you see groups?

72. Figure/Ground Variations Can Also Facilitate Grouping
It is difficult to switch from one grouping to the other
To what extent to you agree or disagree that this sentence is difficult to read? Would you say that you strongly agree, somewhat agree, have no opinion, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree that this sentence is difficult to read.
extent to you agree or
strongly agree,
no opinion, somewhat
to read.

73. Figure and Ground