1. Page 1 SURVEY RESEARCH

2. Page 2 Survey research a research method involving the use of questionnaires and/or statistical surveys to gather data about people and their thoughts and behaviors.

3. Page 3 Survey research is one of the most important areas of measurement in applied social research. The broad area of survey research encompasses any measurement procedures that involve asking questions of respondents.

4. Page 4. A "survey" can be anything form a short paper-and-pencil feedback form to an intensive one-on-one in-depth interview.

5. Page 5 In survey research, the researcher selects a sample of respondents from a population and administers a standardized questionnaire to them.

6. Page 6 The questionnaire, or survey, can be a written document that is completed by the person being surveyed, an online questionnaire, a face-to-face interview, or a telephone interview.

7. Page 7 Using surveys, it is possible to collect data from large or small populations (sometimes referred to as the universe of a study).

8. Page 8 Survey research does not belong to any one field and it can be employed by almost any discipline. According to Angus and Katona, "It is this capacity for wide application and broad coverage which gives the survey technique its great usefulness.

9. Page 9 Strengths: Surveys are relatively inexpensive (especially self-administered surveys). Surveys are useful in describing the characteristics of a large population. No other method of observation can provide this general capability. They can be administered from remote locations using mail, email or telephone. Many questions can be asked about a given topic giving considerable flexibility to the analysis.

10. Page 10 Consequently, very large samples are feasible, making the results statistically significant even when analyzing multiple variables.

11. Page 11 Weaknesses: A methodology relying on standardization forces the researcher to develop questions general enough to be minimally appropriate for all respondents, possibly missing what is most appropriate to many respondents. Surveys are inflexible in that they require the initial study design (the tool and administration of the tool) to remain unchanged throughout the data collection.

12. Page 12 The researcher must ensure that a large number of the selected sample will reply. It may be hard for participants to recall information or to tell the truth about a controversial question. As opposed to direct observation, survey research (excluding some interview approaches) can seldom deal with "context."

13. Page 13 Surveys tend to be weak on validity and strong on reliability. The artificiality of the survey format puts a strain on validity. Since people's real feelings are hard to grasp in terms of such dichotomies as "agree/disagree," "support/oppose," "like/dislike," etc., these are only approximate indicators of what we have in mind when we create the questions.

14. Page 14 Reliability, on the other hand, is a clearer matter. Survey research presents all subjects with a standardized stimulus, and so goes a long way toward eliminating unreliability in the researcher's observations. Careful wording, format, content, etc. can reduce significantly the subject's own unreliability.

15. Page 15 SOURCES: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/surve y.php http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/surve y.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survey_research http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/sur vey/pop2b.cfm http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/sur vey/pop2b.cfm http://www.researchconnections.org/childcare/d atamethods/survey.jsp http://www.researchconnections.org/childcare/d atamethods/survey.jsp http://www.surveysystem.com/sdesign.htm http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/sur vey.htm http://faculty.chass.ncsu.edu/garson/PA765/sur vey.htm http://www.src.isr.umich.edu/content.aspx?id=a bout_src