ch5

Question 1

When to use surveys?

Answer 1

• 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

Question 2

Survey research design decisions

Answer 2

1. Operationalization of concepts
2. Decide on survey mode
3. Appearance of the questionnaire
4. Data collection

Question 3

1. Operationalization

Answer 3

• Reduction of abstract concepts

* To render them measurable in a tangible way

Question 4

Steps involved in operationalization

Answer 4

1. Come up with a definition of the construct you want to measure
2. Think about the content of a. measure, which is the instrument
3. A response format, e.g. 7 Point Likert scale
4. Reliability and validity of the assessment scale have to be assessed

Question 5

When are single-item measures used

Answer 5

When concrete singular object/attritbute

e.g. What is your marital status? What is your profession?

Question 6

Multi-item scales

Answer 6

• Use ‘off-the-shelf’ scales

* Develop your own scale

Question 7

Advantages and disadvantages of off-the-shelf-scales

Answer 7

+ 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)

Question 8

What to avoid in developing questions

Answer 8

• Double-barreled questions
• Ambiguous questions
• Leading questions
• Loaded questions
• Double negatives

Question 9

comparative scales (ranking scales)

Answer 9

used to tell preference between 2 or more items.

It is ordinal in nature

Question 10

Paired comparison (comparative scales)

Answer 10

Respondent continuously picks between 2 options. Used to determine prefernces

Question 11

Rank ordering (comparative scales)

Answer 11

enables respondents to rank brands

Question 12

Constant sum (comparative scales)

Answer 12

e.g. diving 100 points among 5 brands

Question 13

Non comparative scales (rating scales)

Answer 13

Each object is scaled independently of the other objects in the study

Question 14

Continuous rating scale

Answer 14

A score is given to something.

E.g. rate the Bijenkorf on a scale of 0 to 100.

Question 15

Likert scale

Answer 15

Agree/disagree on a 5- or 7-point scale. E.g.From strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Treated as interval.

Question 16

Semantic differentials

Answer 16

Choice between 2 bi-polar options. Good/bad, modern/old fashioned.

Treated as interval.

Question 17

Response categories for categorical scales (Nominal) should be…

Answer 17

• Mutually exclusive: only 1 answer applies

* Should be collectively exhaustive: the answer possibilities cover the realm of possible answers

Question 18

Survey modes

Answer 18

How the data are collected.

Interviewer-assisted vs self-administered

Question 19

Factors that play a role in deciding on survey mode

Answer 19

• Measurement: interactivity, multi-media, interviewer presence or self-administration
• Representation: coverage quality, sampling control, response rate
• Economics: sample size, questionnaire size, speed, cost

Question 20

Mixed mode designs

Answer 20

•To trade off cost and error

e.g. using web surveys + mail surveys to senior citizens
Web: cheaper, mail: better coverage

Question 21

Why pre-test your questionnaire

Answer 21

• Catch errors/unclarities
• Discover sensitive topics
• Check response categories
• Optimize length

Question 22

How do you pretest your questionnaire

Answer 22

• Pick 5-10 people from target group
• Let them “think out loud” + observe
• Improve survey

Note: any testing is better than no testing

Question 23

Response rate

Answer 23

of people that participated in the survey DIVIDED BY # of people sampled

Question 24

How to increase response rate:

Answer 24

•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

Question 25

Validity

Answer 25

Does an instrument measure what it is supposed to measure?

Question 26

Reliability

Answer 26

Are the data accurate (free from measurement error) and consistent (from one occasion to another)?

Question 27

Measurement validity

Answer 27

• Provide precedence (in off-the-shelf scales, refer to other studies who used the same scales)
• Always provide sound logic to support that considerable conceptual overlap exists between measurement/proxy and construct
• Be aware: single-item measures for abstract constructs = low validity. Multi item is better!

Question 28

Proxy

Answer 28

An indirect measure of the desired construct, which is strongly correlated to the construct. Proxy is commonly used when direct measures are unobservable/unavailable.

E.g. Fat -> BMI

Question 29

Social desirability bias

Answer 29

Respondents may not always be willing to communicate their true response in case of sensitive issues

Topics such as: alcohol and tobacco, healthy eating, finances, taxes

Question 30

To minimise socially desirable responding:

Answer 30

•Deliberately leading and/or loading the question to make the sensitive “normal”. e.g.:

• “everybody-does-it”
• “Assume-the behaviour”
• “Authorities recommend it”
• “Reasons-for-doing-it”

! Note: in all other instances, avoid leading and loading

Question 31

Reliability of survey measures

Answer 31

• For multi-item measures: Cronbach’s alpha
• Cronbach’s alpha measures to what extent a st of items are inter-related
• High inter-relatedness = high reliability
• Cronbach’s alpha = k DIVIDED BY k -1 (sum of covariances / sum of variances and covariances)
• Cronbach’s alpha is between 0 and 1
• Values >.7 are considered acceptable