Surveys: Best Practices for Quantitative Research

2016

Interest in a multimode approach to surveys has grown substantially in recent years, in part due to increased costs of face-to-face (FtF) interviewing and the emergence of the Internet as a survey mode. Yet, there is little systematic evidence of the impact of a multimode approach on survey costs and errors. This article reports the results of an experiment designed to evaluate whether a mixed-mode approach to a large screening survey would produce comparable response rates at a lower cost than an FtF screening effort. The experiment was carried out in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), an ongoing panel study of Americans over age 50. In 2010, HRS conducted a household screening survey to recruit new sample members to supplement the existing sample. The experiment varied the sequence of modes with which the screening interview was delivered. One treatment offered mail first, followed by FtF interviewing; the other started with FtF and then mail. A control group was offered only ...

International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 2009

Survey research is a non-experimental research approach used to gather information about the incidence and distribution of, and the relationships that exist between, variables in a predetermined population. Its uses include the gathering of data related to attitudes, behaviours and the incidence of events. Survey research in one form or another has existed for over two millennia with the population census of Caesar Augustus (St. Luke's Gospel) being an early example. For most modern researchers sample surveys are more cost effective and easier to undertake than population surveys when gathering information; however, this increases the risk of both representation and measurement errors. There are a number of different forms of survey research; however they all share common steps and common limitations. The purpose of this article is to discuss these steps with a view to highlighting some of the common difficulties.

Surveys are probably the most commonly-used research method world-wide. Survey work is visible not only because we see many examples of it in software engineering research, but also because we are often asked to participate in surveys in our private capacity, as electors, consumers, or service users. This widespread use of surveys may give us the impression that surveybased research is straightforward, an easy option for researchers to gather important information about products, context, processes, workers and more. In our personal experience with applying and evaluating research methods and their results, we certainly did not expect to encounter major problems with a survey that we planned, to investigate issues associated with technology adoption. This article and subsequent ones in this series describe how wrong we were. We do not want to give the impression that there is any way of turning a bad survey into a good one; if a survey is a lemon, it stays a lemon. However, we believe that learning from our mistakes is the way to make lemonade from lemons. So this series of articles shares with you our lessons learned, in the hope of improving survey research in software engineering.

2012

Collecting, Managing, and Assessing Data Using Sample Surveys provides a thorough, step-by-step guide to the design and implementation of surveys. Beginning with a primer on basic statistics, the first half of the book takes readers on a comprehensive tour through the basics of survey design. Topics covered include the ethics of surveys, the design of survey procedures, the design of the survey instrument, how to write questions, and how to draw representative samples. Having shown readers how to design surveys, the second half of the book discusses a number of issues surrounding their implementation, including repetitive surveys, the economics of surveys, Web-based surveys, coding and data entry, data expansion and weighting, the issue of nonresponse, and the documenting and archiving of survey data. The book is an excellent introduction to the use of surveys for graduate students as well as a useful reference work for scholars and professionals.

Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology, 2015

Critical Thinking in Psychology, 2006

Much of what we know about human behavior is based on self-reports. When we want to learn about individuals' health behaviors, consumer habits, family problems, media consumption, values or political beliefs, we ask appropriate questions. The answers provided to these questions serve as input into scientific analyses and provide the basis of statistical indicators used to describe the state of a society. Obviously, these data are only as meaningful as the questions we ask and the answers we receive. Moreover, whom we ask is of crucial importance to our ability to draw conclusions that extend beyond the particular people who answered our questions. Accordingly, the processes underlying question answering and the appropriate selection of respondents are of great importance to many areas of social research.

Health Affairs, 1998

International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 2003

Survey research is sometimes regarded as an easy research approach. However, as with any other research approach and method, it is easy to conduct a survey of poor quality rather than one of high quality and real value. This paper provides a checklist of good practice in the conduct and reporting of survey research. Its purpose is to assist the novice researcher to produce survey work to a high standard, meaning a standard at which the results will be regarded as credible. The paper first provides an overview of the approach and then guides the reader step-by-step through the processes of data collection, data analysis, and reporting. It is not intended to provide a manual of how to conduct a survey, but rather to identify common pitfalls and oversights to be avoided by researchers if their work is to be valid and credible.

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 2010

2004

Speaking of the teaching and learning of statistics at the undergraduate level, a moderate amount of training in small-scale data-handling seems to be an indispensable part of an introductory program in statistics. In the Pakistani system of statistical education, however, there is very little emphasis on the conduct of practical projects involving collection and analysis of real data. Realising the importance of such projects, the Department of Statistics at Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore initiated a series of small-scale statistical surveys back in 1985. .Each of these surveys has consisted of (a)identification of a topic of interest, (b) formulation of a questionnaire, (c) collection of data from a sample of individuals / a population of interest, (d) a fairly detailed analysis of the collected data, and (e) presentation of the survey findings in front of teachers and students in the form of an educational and entertaining program. Combining information with other items of in...

Student BMJ, 2001

2012

An effective way of increasing the popularity of a ‘Dry ’ subject

Global Scientific Journal, 2022

This article focuses on the question of survey research in the social sciences. It is a unique method of data gathering in the social sciences, which involves the use of questionnaire and interview techniques. The questionnaire technique involve the use of instruments ranging from the loosely structured, highly structured, open-ended to closed-ended questionnaires that aim at collection of quantitative data. While interview technique includes the use of personal interviews, ranging from schedule-structured, informal, unstructured, to telephone interviews. This paper shows that that survey research is the main method for a social scientist with numerous strengths despite some weaknesses. In conclusion, the paper argues that survey research method can be adapted to the emerging advancements in science, information communication and technology.