SOC200 - Surveys (Chapter 8) Flashcards
SURVEY RESEARCH
form of research in which data are collected through predetermined set of questions administered to a sample
Ideally, the sample comes from your population of interest
Observation and analysis occur together
Main Purpose of Survey Research
To generalize findings from sample to pop of interest
Medium for data collection
Probability sampling – generalizable results
You are never gonna get a perfect sampling frame that includes all of target pop
Just make it as inclusive as possible
Will always have errors
When is Survey Research Appropriate?
for all 3 main types of research (descriptive, exploratory, explanatory)
Good for when researchers want to know something about pop that is too big to observe directly
When is Survey Research Appropriate?
Excellent for measuring attitudes + orientations in large pop (political polling)
When done right, some of most valuable tools for social inquiry
When is Survey Research Appropriate?
Just limited by types of questions you can include
Effective of getting accurate view of characteristics
Economic + efficient
Western World is Suffering from Survey Fatigue!
Constantly bombarded with surveys + data collection
No time + energy
Drive in collecting through electronic habits without consent
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: The appropriate use of questions and statements
“I drink hard liquor…”: Less than once a week, 1 to less than 5 times a week, 5 to less than 10 times a week, 10
times or more a week
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: The appropriate use of questions and statements
don’t work well: drink hard liquor: awkward. Better as question
sometimes better as a question, sometimes as a statement
Obama question: too long
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: The appropriate use of open-ended and closed- ended questions
How many times a week do you drink hard liquor? – ambiguous, ppl can interpret it in many ways
How many times a week do you drink hard liquor? - 1-5 times a week, 5-10 times a week, 10 times or more a week
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: The appropriate use of open-ended and closed- ended questions
how many times a week do you drink hard liquor? – no N/A, answers not mutually exclusive
BETTER: In the last 7 days, how many drinks containing distilled alcohol have you consumed?
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Clearly and unambiguously worded items
How many car repairs did you do last year?
Do they mean car repairs that I personally did, or that my mechanic did? Do they mean “last year” as in the calendar year, or do they mean in the last 365 days from today?
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Clearly and unambiguously worded items
What is your current marital status?
I think it’s great. But my wife, well… Who knows what she’s thinking! What do they mean by marital status? Do they mean whether my marriage is happy, sad, or whether I’m currently single, divorced, or widowed?
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: No “double-barrelled questions”
How would you rate the quality of the instruction in SOC 200?
How happy are you with your phone provider’s rates and customer service?
PROBLEM: one question is asking you about two different things (rates and customer service) – can be misleading
can have diff views on both parts
if it contains “and” – asking 2 things
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: No “double-barrelled questions”
Do you think universities should lower tuition rates in order to increase post-secondary enrolment?
PROBLEM: question still asking about two things (should universities lower tuition rates + asking if you think lowering rates will increase enrolment)
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Asking questions that respondents are competent to answer
Approximately how many bottles of beer have you consumed in your life?
Do you think that China’s Three-Gorges Dam project will be beneficial for its environment?: who knows this?
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Asking questions that respondents are competent to answer
How many times do you blink your eyes in a day?: no one can count that high
What was the first brand of toothpaste you started using?
Optimal recall periods: when is the best time to get these answers
Is it relevant?
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: The questions are relevant to the population of interest
What is your favourite meal using pork?: ppl with dietary restrictions – not appropriate
Do you think that China’s Three-Gorges Dam project will be beneficial for its economy?
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: The questions are relevant to the population of interest
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most challenging, how would you rate your ability to balance your work and family responsibilities?: depends on the age range, probably not for us
Which of the following newspapers do you read most frequently?: replaced by internet
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Having respondents that are willing to answer
Some questions may be too sensitive/embarrassing for particular demographic to answer/answer honestly
One recent study found that while U.S. respondents skip sensitive questions, Asian respondents often discontinue survey entirely
Culture + race has also been linked to response styles:
Differences in extreme responding have been found between a variety of national + ethnic groups
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Having respondents that are willing to answer
tendency of some respondents to agree with questions regardless of content, norm of agreeableness, varies significantly by culture
Dealt with through question wording; ensuring anonymity; providing item response choice that allows respondents to say “prefer not to answer”
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Shorter items are better
The respondent should be able to read the item quickly, understand its intent, and provide an answer without too much study
Reduces survey fatigue
Minimizes the number of potentially misleading answers because the question was too complex for the respondent to understand
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Shorter items are better
May reduce level of non-response/number of uncompleted survey items
keep the items simple, questions clear
harder to do in practice rather than in theory
too short: not communicating enough of question, background info
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Questionnaires that avoid negatively worded items
Negation = easy misinterpretation
instructor did not respond to students’ comments during class: Strongly Disagree, Disagree….
might skip/be confused
Qualities of a “Good” Survey: Questionnaires that avoid negatively worded items
-
