ch5 Flashcards
When to use surveys?
- When you want to say something about ap population, but cannot measure the whole population
- When you are interested in quantitative descriptors
- Personal measures
- Subjective measures
- When observations not possible/feasible
Survey research design decisions
- Operationalization of concepts
- Decide on survey mode
- Appearance of the questionnaire
- Data collection
- Operationalization
- Reduction of abstract concepts
* To render them measurable in a tangible way
Steps involved in operationalization
- Come up with a definition of the construct you want to measure
- Think about the content of a. measure, which is the instrument
- A response format, e.g. 7 Point Likert scale
- Reliability and validity of the assessment scale have to be assessed
When are single-item measures used
When concrete singular object/attritbute
e.g. What is your marital status? What is your profession?
Multi-item scales
- Use ‘off-the-shelf’ scales
* Develop your own scale
Advantages and disadvantages of off-the-shelf-scales
+ Known and “good” validity and reliability
+ Comparability of results
+ Low cost
+- Not tailored to your exact research need
- Requires translation if in different language (source of error)
What to avoid in developing questions
- Double-barreled questions
- Ambiguous questions
- Leading questions
- Loaded questions
- Double negatives
comparative scales (ranking scales)
used to tell preference between 2 or more items.
It is ordinal in nature
Paired comparison (comparative scales)
Respondent continuously picks between 2 options. Used to determine prefernces
Rank ordering (comparative scales)
enables respondents to rank brands
Constant sum (comparative scales)
e.g. diving 100 points among 5 brands
Non comparative scales (rating scales)
Each object is scaled independently of the other objects in the study
Continuous rating scale
A score is given to something.
E.g. rate the Bijenkorf on a scale of 0 to 100.
Likert scale
Agree/disagree on a 5- or 7-point scale. E.g.From strongly disagree to strongly agree.
Treated as interval.
Semantic differentials
Choice between 2 bi-polar options. Good/bad, modern/old fashioned.
Treated as interval.
Response categories for categorical scales (Nominal) should be…
- Mutually exclusive: only 1 answer applies
* Should be collectively exhaustive: the answer possibilities cover the realm of possible answers
Survey modes
How the data are collected.
Interviewer-assisted vs self-administered
Factors that play a role in deciding on survey mode
- Measurement: interactivity, multi-media, interviewer presence or self-administration
- Representation: coverage quality, sampling control, response rate
- Economics: sample size, questionnaire size, speed, cost
Mixed mode designs
•To trade off cost and error
e.g. using web surveys + mail surveys to senior citizens
Web: cheaper, mail: better coverage
Why pre-test your questionnaire
- Catch errors/unclarities
- Discover sensitive topics
- Check response categories
- Optimize length
How do you pretest your questionnaire
- Pick 5-10 people from target group
- Let them “think out loud” + observe
- Improve survey
Note: any testing is better than no testing
Response rate
of people that participated in the survey DIVIDED BY # of people sampled
How to increase response rate:
•Maximize rewards of participation
-Show appreciation
-Use interesting/friendly questionnaires
-Offer tangible rewards
•Minimize the cost of participation
-Minimize time and effort required
-Minimize the chances of feeling threatened by questions
•Maximize trust
-Ensure anonymity/confidentiality
-Open lines of communication with the participant
-Identify research with well-known legitimate organization
