social surveys, questionnaires and sampling Flashcards
two types of social survey
cross-sectional
longitudinal
cross-sectional
provides information about one particular moment
longitudinal
information gathered over a long period of time
social survey
the systematic collection of large amounts of data from a large number of people in a relatively short time
how is census data collected and processed
undertaken by the ONS every 10 years
gives us a picture of all the people and households in England and Wales
Asks questions about you, your household and your home
info from the census helps the government and local authorities to plan and fund local services, such as education
what type of questionnaire is the census and evaluation
self completion online
largest type of survey (28 million)
quantitative data
high completion rate - sanctions in place
demonstrates change in population over time (200 years)
pilot study
a small scale version of the full study
to test accuracy of the sample and questions, to test if there are unforseen problems and to evaluate the usefulness of the larger study
why do concepts in the questions need to be operationalised
if people don’t share the same understanding, validity will be affected
the problems with leading questions
the question encourages the respondent to answer in a particular way
ambiguous questions
the question can be interpreted in a variety of ways
recall questions
the question asks the respondent to remember the past - retrospective data may cause validity issues as the memory may not be correctly recalled
closed questions
possible answers are defined in advance
open ended questions
the question does not contain pre determined responses
self-completion questionnaires - evaluate
no geographical issues
predetermined answers and questions - reliability
low response rates
postal questionnaires - evaluate
geographically dispersed
self-completion allows honesty
often anonymous when returned
low response rate
uncertainty of identity of the person completing ti
