A field of applied statistics, survey methodology studies
the sampling of individual units from a population and the
associated survey data collection techniques, such as questionnaire construction and methods for improving the number and accuracy of responses to surveys. Statistical surveys are undertaken with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population being studied, and this depends strongly on the survey questions used. Polls about public opinion, public health surveys, market research surveys, government surveys and censuses are all examples of quantitative research that use contemporary survey methodology to answer questions about a population. Although censuses do not include a "sample", they do include other aspects of survey methodology, like questionnaires, interviewers, and nonresponse follow-up techniques. Surveys provide important information for all kinds of public information and research fields, e.g., marketing research, psychology, health professionals and sociology. Overview[edit] A single survey is made of at least a sample (or full population in the case of a census), a method of data collection (e.g., a questionnaire) and individual questions or items that become data that can be analyzed statistically. A single survey may focus on different types of topics such as preferences (e.g., for a presidential candidate), opinions (e.g., should abortion be legal?), behavior (smoking and alcohol use), or factual information (e.g., income), depending on its purpose. Since survey research is almost always based on a sample of the population, the success of the research is dependent on the representativeness of the sample with respect to a target population of interest to the researcher. That target population can range from the general population of a given country to specific groups of people within that country, to a membership list of a professional organization, or list of students enrolled in a school system (see also sampling (statistics) and survey sampling). Survey methodology as a scientific field seeks to identify principles about the sample design, data collection instruments, statistical adjustment of data, and data processing, and final data analysis that can create systematic and random survey errors. Survey errors are sometimes analyzed in connection with survey cost. Cost constraints are sometimes framed as improving quality within cost constraints, or alternatively, reducing costs for a fixed level of quality. Survey methodology is both a scientific field and a profession, meaning that some professionals in the field focus on survey errors empirically and others design surveys to reduce them. For survey designers, the task involves making a large set of decisions about thousands of individual features of a survey in order to improve it. [2]
Survey methodology topics[edit] The most important methodological challenges of a survey methodologist include making decisions on how to: [2]
Identify and select potential sample members. Contact sampled individuals and collect data from those who are hard to reach (or reluctant to respond). Evaluate and test questions. Select the mode for posing questions and collecting responses. Train and supervise interviewers (if they are involved). Check data files for accuracy and internal consistency. Adjust survey estimates to correct for identified errors. Selecting samples[edit] Main article: Survey sampling Survey samples can be broadly divided into two types: probability samples and non-probability samples. Stratified sampling is a method of probability sampling such that sub-populations within an overall population are identified and included in the sample selected in a balanced way. Modes of data collection[edit] Main article: Survey data collection There are several ways of administering a survey. The choice between administration modes is influenced by several factors, including 1. costs, 2. coverage of the target population, 3. flexibility of asking questions, 4. respondents' willingness to participate and 5. response accuracy. Different methods create mode effects that change how respondents answer, and different methods have different advantages. The most common modes of administration can be summarized as: [3]
Telephone Mail (post) Online surveys Personal in-home surveys Personal mall or street intercept survey Hybrids of the above. Cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys[edit] There is a distinction between one-time (cross-sectional) surveys, which involve a single questionnaire or interview administered to each sample member, and surveys which repeatedly collect information from the same people over time. The latter are known as longitudinal surveys. Longitudinal surveys have considerable analytical advantages but they are also challenging to implement successfully. Consequently, specialist methods have been developed to select longitudinal samples, to collect data repeatedly, to keep track of sample members over time, to keep respondents motivated to participate, and to process and analyse longitudinal survey data [4]
Response formats[edit] Usually, a survey consists of a number of questions that the respondent has to answer in a set format. A distinction is made between open- ended and closed-ended questions. An open-ended question asks the respondent to formulate his or her own answer, whereas a closed- ended question has the respondent pick an answer from a given number of options. The response options for a closed-ended question should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive. Four types of response scales for closed-ended questions are distinguished: Dichotomous, where the respondent has two options Nominal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two unordered options Ordinal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two ordered options (Bounded) continuous, where the respondent is presented with a continuous scale A respondent's answer to an open-ended question can be coded into a response scale afterwards, [3] or analysed using more qualitative methods. Nonresponse reduction[edit] The following ways have been recommended for reducing nonresponse [5] in telephone and face-to-face surveys: [6]
Advance letter. A short letter is sent in advance to inform the sampled respondents about the upcoming survey. The style of the letter should be personalized but not overdone. First, it announces that a phone call will be made/ or an interviewer wants to make an appointment to do the survey face-to-face. Second, the research topic will be described. Last, it allows both an expression of the surveyor's appreciation of cooperation and an opening to ask questions on the survey. Training. The interviewers are thoroughly trained in how to ask respondents questions, how to work with computers and making schedules for callbacks to respondents who were not reached. Short introduction. The interviewer should always start with a short instruction about him or herself. She/he should give her name, the institute she is working for, the length of the interview and goal of the interview. Also it can be useful to make clear that you are not selling anything: this has been shown to lead led to a slightly higher responding rate. [7]
Respondent-friendly survey questionnaire. The questions asked must be clear, non-offensive and easy to respond to for the subjects under study. Brevity is also often cited as increasing response rate. A 1996 literature review found mixed evidence to support this claim for both written and verbal surveys, concluding that other factors may often be more important. [8] A 2010 study by SurveyMonkey looking at 100,000 of the online surveys they host found response rate dropped by about 3% at 10 questions and about 6% at 20 questions, with dropoff slowing (for example, only 10% reduction at 40 questions) [9] Other studies showed that quality of response degraded toward the end of long surveys. [10]
Interviewer effects[edit] Survey methodologists have devoted much effort to determine the extent to which interviewee responses are affected by physical characteristics of the interviewer. Main interviewer traits that have been demonstrated to influence survey responses are race, [11] gender [12] and relative body weight (BMI) . [13] These interviewer effects are particularly operant when questions are related to the interviewer trait. Hence, race of interviewer has been shown to affect responses to measures regarding racial attitudes , [14] interviewer sex responses to questions involving gender issues , [15] and interviewer BMI answers to eating and dieting-related questions . [16] While interviewer effects have been investigated mainly for face-to-face surveys, they have also been shown to exist for interview modes with no visual contact, such as telephone surveys and in video-enhanced web surveys. The explanation typically provided for interviewer effects is that of social desirability. Survey participants may attempt to project a positive self-image in an effort to conform to the norms they attribute to the interviewer asking questions. Exploratory Research As the term suggests, exploratory research is often conducted because a problem has not been clearly defined as yet, or its real scope is as yet unclear. It allows the researcher to familiarize him/herself with the problem or concept to be studied, and perhaps generate hypotheses (definition of hypothesis) to be tested. It is the initial research, before more conclusive research (definition of conclusive research) is undertaken. Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data collection method and selection of subjects, and sometimes it even concludes that the problem does not exist! Another common reason for conducting exploratory research is to test concepts before they are put in the marketplace, always a very costly endeavour. In concept testing, consumers are provided either with a written concept or a prototype for a new, revised or repositioned product, service or strategy. Exploratory research can be quite informal, relying on secondary research such as reviewing available literature and/or data, or qualitative (definition of qualitative research) approaches such as informal discussions with consumers, employees, management or competitors, and more formal approaches through in-depth interviews, focus groups, projective methods, case studies or pilot studies. The results of exploratory research are not usually useful for decision- making by themselves, but they can provide significant insight into a given situation. Although the results of qualitative research can give some indication as to the "why", "how" and "when" something occurs, it cannot tell us "how often" or "how many". In other words, the results can neither be generalized; they are not representative of the whole population being studied. Wiki of Exploratory research : Exploratory research of research conducted for a problem that has not been clearly defined. It often occurs before we know enough to make conceptual distinctions or posit an explanatory relationship. [1] Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data collection method and selection of subjects. It should draw definitive conclusions only with extreme caution. Given its fundamental nature, exploratory research often concludes that a perceived problem does not actually exist. Exploratory research often relies on secondary research such as reviewing available literature and/or data, or qualitative approaches such as informal discussions with consumers, employees, management or competitors, and more formal approaches through in-depth interviews, focus groups, projective methods, case studies or pilot studies. The Internet allows for research methods that are more interactive in nature. For example, RSS feeds efficiently supply researchers with up-to-date information; major search engine search results may be sent by email to researchers by services such as Google Alerts; comprehensive search results are tracked over lengthy periods of time by services such as Google Trends; and websites may be created to attract worldwide feedback on any subject. When the purpose of research is to gain familiarity with a phenomenon or acquire new insight into it in order to formulate a more precise problem or develop hypothesis, the exploratory studies ( also known as formulative research ) come in handy. If the theory happens to be too general or too specific, a hypothesis cannot to be formulated. Therefore a need for an exploratory research is felt to gain experience that will be helpful in formulative relevant hypothesis for more definite investigation. [2]
The results of exploratory research are not usually useful for decision- making by themselves, but they can provide significant insight into a given situation. Although the results of qualitative research can give some indication as to the "why", "how" and "when" something occurs, it cannot tell us "how often" or "how many". Exploratory research is not typically generalizable to the population at large. Social exploratory research "seeks to find out how people get along in the setting under question, what meanings they give to their actions, and what issues concern them. The goal is to learn 'what is going on here?' and to investigate social phenomena without explicit expectations." (Russell K. Schutt, "Investigating the Social World," 5th ed.). This methodology is also at times referred to as a grounded theory approach to qualitative research or interpretive research, and is an attempt to unearth a theory from the data itself rather than from a predisposed hypothesis. Earl Babbie identifies three purposes of social science research. The purposes are exploratory, descriptive and explanatory. Exploratory research is used when problems are in a preliminary stage. [3] Exploratory research is used when the topic or issue is new and when data is difficult to collect. Exploratory research is flexible and can address research questions of all types (what, why, how). Exploratory research is often used to generate formal hypotheses. Shields and Tajalli link exploratory research with the conceptual framework working hypothesis. [4]
Skeptics, however, have questioned the usefulness and necessity of exploratory research in situations where prior analysis could be conducted instead. [
Research Diagnostic Criteria: The Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) are a collection of influential psychiatric diagnostic criteria published in late 1970s. [1] As psychiatric diagnoses widely varied especially between the USA and Europe, the purpose of the criteria was to allow diagnoses to be consistent in psychiatric research. Some of the criteria were based on the earlier Feighner Criteria, although many new disorders were included; "The historical record shows that the small group of individuals who created the Feighner criteria instigated a paradigm shift that has had profound effects on the course of American and, ultimately, world psychiatry." [2]
The RDC is important in the history of psychiatric diagnostic criteria as the DSM-III was based on many of the RDC descriptions. Action research Action research is a research initiated to solve an immediate problem or a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. There are two types of action research: participatory action research, and practical action research. This is supported by Denscombe (2010, p.6) who states that an action research strategy's purpose is to solve a particular problem and to produce guidelines for best practice. Action research involves the process of actively participating in an organization change situation whilst conducting research. Action research can also be undertaken by larger organizations or institutions, assisted or guided by professional researchers, with the aim of improving their strategies, practices and knowledge of the environments within which they practice. As designers and stakeholders, researchers work with others to propose a new course of action to help their community improve its work practices. Kurt Lewin, then a professor at MIT, first coined the term action research in 1944. In his 1946 paper Action Research and Minority Problems he described action research as a comparative research on the conditions and effects of various forms of social action and research leading to social action that uses a spiral of steps, each of which is composed of a circle of planning, action and fact-finding about the result of the action.