Alternatives to Experimentation: Surveys and Interviews Flashcards
A useful way of obtaining data about people’s opinions,
attitudes, preferences, and experiences that are hard to
observe directly; data may be obtained using questionnaires or interviews
Survey Research
Conducting surveys is generally thought of as low-risk
research, but there are times when special care is necessary
to protect survey respondents from potential harm. The
potential for ethical problems needs to be just as carefully
considered in survey research as in any other kind of
psychological research. The two areas most likely to cause
ethical concerns are breaches of confidentiality and stress
brought about by answering sensitive questions
Ethical Considerations in
Survey Research
The first step of any survey
is to map out your
research objectives, making them as specific as
possible.
(also called structured questions)
must be answered by one of a limited number of
alternatives.
Closed questions
(also called open questions)
solicit information about opinions and feelings by asking
the question in such a way that the person must respond
with more than a yes, no, or 1–10 rating
Open-ended questions
Is the kind of scale used to measure a response.
Different statistical tests are required for different levels
of measure ment. There are four levels of
measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio
LEVEL OF MEASUREMENT
Classifies response items into two or more
distinct categories on the basis of some
common feature.
- Groups items together into categories that
can be named.
- The lowest level of measurement because
it provides no information about magnitude.
NOMINAL SCALE
A rank ordering of response items. The
magnitude of each value is measured in
the form of ranks.
ORDINAL SCALE
Measures magnitude or quantitative size
using measures with equal intervals between
the values. However, an interval scale has no
true zero point.
INTERVAL SCALE
The highest level of measurement which
has equal intervals between all values and a
true zero point. Measurements of physical
properties, such as height and weight, are
characteristics whose quantity or magnitude can be measured using ratio
scales.
RATIO SCALE
Psychological variables lend themselves to different levels of
measurement because they represent a continuous dimension.
Traits, attitudes, and preferences can be viewed as continuous
dimensions, and each individual could fall at any point along each
dimension
SELECTING LEVELS OF
MEASUREMENT
Psychological variables lend themselves to different levels of
measurement because they represent a
continuous dimension.
According to Czaja and Blair (1996), in
addition to being the start of data
collection, the first question should
have these characteristics:
- Relevant to the central topic
- Easy to answer
- Interesting
- Answerable by most respondents
- Closed format
Are tendencies to respond to questions or test items in specific
ways, regardless of the content (Cronbach, 1950; Rorer, 1965).
- These response styles need to be considered and, if possible,
controlled for when you design survey questions
RESPONSE STYLES
Willingness to answer comes into play whenever ques tions
require specific knowledge about facts or issues.
- When unsure, some people will leave questions blank; others will
take a guess. An unwillingness to answer is often a problem in
survey research. Subjects might omit answers to key questions,
making both scoring and interpretation difficult.
WILLINGNESS TO ANSWER
If your questions are multiple-choice, response styles can influence
the selection of answers. When in doubt about the right answer on
a multiple choice exam, perhaps you always answer c. This is an
example of a position preference
POSITION PREFERENCE
- We would expect subjects to respond to the manifest content of
the questions, the plain meaning of the words that actually appear
on the page. When we give a questionnaire or other paper-andpencil test, we are usually interested in the manifest content of
the items. - Yea-sayers are apt to agree with a question regardless of its
manifest content (this is also called response acquiescence).
Nay-sayers tend to disagree no matter what they are asked (also
known as response deviation)
MANIFEST CONTENT
- Sometimes the position of a question—where it falls within the question order—
can influence how the question is interpreted. particularly likely when two questions are related. Sometimes it helps to separate related items by buffer items—questions
unrelated to either of the related questions
CONTEXT EFFECT
Respondents complete the questionnaire on their own, without
the help of an interviewer. This is a common method for collecting
data from large groups of people, as it is relatively inexpensive and
easy to administer
SELF-ADMINISTERED
QUESTIONNAIRES
Questionnaires are mailed to respondents, who then complete them and
return them by mail. This is a traditional method of collecting survey data, but
it has become less common in recent years due to the rise of online survey
MAIL SURVEYS:
Questionnaires are mailed to respondents, who then complete them and
return them by mail. This is a traditional method of collecting survey data, but
it has become less common in recent years due to the rise of online surveys.
COMPUTER AND INTERNET SURVEYS:
Interviews are conducted over the phone by an interviewer. This method
can be more expensive than other methods, but it can be helpful for
reaching people who do not have access to the internet or who are not
comfortable completing online surveys.
TELEPHONE SURVEYS:
are conducted in person or over the phone by an interviewer.
This method can be more expensive than other methods, but it can be
helpful for collecting detailed data and for understanding respondents’ perspectives in more depth.
Interviews
A small group of people (usually 6-10) are brought together to discuss a
particular topic. This method can be helpful for understanding respondents
‘
perspectives in more depth and for generating new ideas.
can be more expensive than other methods, as they require
recruiting and paying participants
Focus groups
