Non-Experimental Designs: Survey Methods

1. Non-Experimental Designs: Survey Methods Psych 231: Research Methods in Psychology

2. I will aim to have the exams graded and entered into ReggieNet by Monday • Remember that piloting is happening in labs this week, so be prepared with everything that you need, and attendance is important Announcements

3. Sometimes you just can’t (or don’t want to) perform a fully controlled experiment • Because of the issue of interest • Limited resources (not enough subjects, observations are too costly, etc.). • There are other kinds of designs that may be used • Surveys • Correlational studies • Quasi-Experiments • Developmental designs • Small-N designs • This does NOT imply that they are bad designs • Just remember the advantages and disadvantages of each Non-Experimental designs

4. Sometimes you just can’t (or don’t want to) perform a fully controlled experiment • Because of the issue of interest • Limited resources (not enough subjects, observations are too costly, etc.). • There are other kinds of designs that may be used • Surveys • Correlational studies • Quasi-Experiments • Developmental designs • Small-N designs • This does NOT imply that they are bad designs • Just remember the advantages and disadvantages of each Non-Experimental designs

5. Instruments used • What are survey methods? • Questionnaires and interviews that ask people to provide information about themselves • Why conduct them? • Best way to collect some kinds of information: • Descriptive, behavioral, and preferential • e.g., demographic information, recreational behavior, personal preferences, and attitudes • To compliment experimental work • Good/common first step, can collect a lot of data about a lot of variables • Do not have to directly observe behaviors Note: these instruments can be used as DVs in many research designs (observational, experimental) Surveys • A good resource: • Check out the Methodology Pages http://www.people-press.org/

6. Advantages • One can investigate internal events • e.g., attitudes & opinions • Can generalize about an entire population based on relatively small samples of individuals • Large amounts of data can be collected quickly with relatively little cost (effort, time, etc.) • But they’re often not as “cheap” as you may think Surveys

7. Disadvantages • Correlational: causal claims shouldn’t be made • Often used for descriptive and predictive research questions • Note: Survey instruments are sometimes used as part of an experimental design, which may allow testing of causal claims • Non-response bias • Why doesn’t everybody respond? • Does response rate interact with variables of interest? • Self-reports may not be truthful • Response set - tendency to respond from a particular perspective • Social desirability bias (e.g., how a “moral” person would answer) • Large data sets are sometimes difficult to analyze Surveys

8. Stage 1) Identify the focus of the study and select your research method • What are the objectives of the research? • Is a survey method the best approach? • What kind of survey should be used? • Group administration • Mail surveys • Internet surveys • Telephone surveys • Face-to-face interviews • Focus group interviews 11 Stages of survey research

9. Stage 2) Determining the research schedule and budget • Stage 3) Establishing an information base • Find out what’s been done, what’s known • E.g., Find other related surveys • Stage 4) Identify the sampling frame • The actual population that the sample is drawn from (as opposed to the ideal population) • Think of it as operationalizing the conceptual level population • Be aware of potential coverage error– when the sampling doesn’t lead to a good representativeness 11 Stages of survey research Kahn Academy: Examples of bias in surveys

10. Stage 5) Determining the sample method and sampling size • Review Probability and Non-Probability methods • Voluntary response method • Importance of sample size 11 Stages of survey research Kahn Academy: Reasonable Samples

11. Should leftover Halloween candy be given out to students who get an A on the exam? Call 231-4YES if you think YES Call 231-NONO if you think NO • A kind of convenience sampling methods commonly used • Problem: Typically only individuals with strong opinions respond, so the results are often extremely biased (A coverage error issue? Non-response issue?) Daily show clip (8/17/2009, 5:30 mins) Voluntary response methods

12. Confidence intervals • An estimate of the mean or percentage of the population, based on the sample data • “John Doe has 55% of the vote, with a margin of error ± 3%” • Margin of error (that “± 3%” part) • The larger your sample size, the smaller your margin of error will be. • Which would you be more likely to believe • “We asked 10 people …” • “We asked 1000 people …” • Sampling error - how is the sample different from the population? Often focus on this part But this part is important too Importance of sample size More than just sampling error (10/5/16)

13. Sampling error - how is the sample different from the population? • Response rate • What proportion of the sample actually responded to the survey? • Hidden costs here - what can you do to increase response rates • Non-response error (bias) • Is there something special about the data that you’re missing (From the people who didn’t respond)? Importance of sample size

14. Stage 6) Designing the survey instrument • Question construction: How the questions are written is very important • Clearly identify the research objectives • Do your questions really target those research objectives (think Internal and External Validity)? • Take care wording of the questions • Keep it simple, don’t ask two things at once, avoid loaded or biased questions, etc. • How should questions be answered (question type)? 11 Stages of survey research • 7 tips for good survey questions

15. Problem: emotionally charged words Good Poor Was the FDC negligent by ignoring the warnings about Vioxx during testing and approving it for sale? • Yes • No • Unsure Do you favor eliminating the wasteful excess in the public school budget? • Yes • No • Unsure If the FDC knew that Vioxx caused serious side effects during testing, what should it have done? • Ban it from ever being sold • Require more testing before approving it • Unsure Do you favor reducing the public school budget? • Yes • No • Unsure Good and poor questions

16. Problem: asks two different questions Good Poor Should senior citizens be given more money for recreation centers and food assistance programs? Yes No Unsure Should senior citizens be given more money for recreation centers? Yes No Unsure Should senior citizens be given more money for food assistance programs? Yes No Unsure Good and poor questions

17. Good Poor Are you against same sex marriage and in favor of a constitutional amendment to ban it? • Yes • No • Unsure What is your view on same sex marriage? • I think marriage is a matter of personal choice • I’m against it but don’t want a constitutional amendment • I want a constitutional amendment banning it Problem: Biased in more than one direction Problem: Asks two questions Good and poor questions

18. Question types • Open-ended (fill in the blank, short answer) • Can get a lot of information, but • Coding is time intensive and potentially ambiguous • Close-ended (pick best answer, pick all that apply) • Easier to code • Same response alternatives for everyone • Take care with your labels • Decide what kind of scale • Decide number/label of response alternatives What is the best thing about ISU? What is the best thing about ISU? (choose one) • 1. Location • 2. Academics • 3. Dorm food • 4. People who sell things between Milner and the Bone Survey Questions

19. PSY 231 is an important course in the major. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Agree Disagree • Semantic differential: Rate how you feel about PSY 231 on these dimensions Important _____: _____: _____: _____: _____: Unimportant Boring _____: _____: _____: _____: _____: Interesting • Nonverbal scale for children: Point to the face that shows how you feel about the toy. Survey Questions: Close-ended • Decide what kind of rating scales • Rating: e.g., Likert scale

20. Agreement? Strongly Disagree No Opinion Strongly Agree 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 Strongly support and would vote for? Strongly support (Yes / No) Strongly Yes Strongly No No Yes Survey Questions: Close-ended • Decide number/label of response alternatives • Use odd number (mid point and equal # of responses above and below the mid point) • Questions should be uni-dimensional (each concerned with only one thing) • Labels should be clear

21. Stage7) Pre-testing the survey instrument • Fix what doesn’t seem to be working • Stage8) Selecting and training interviewers • For telephone and in-person surveys • Need to avoid interviewer bias • Stage9) Implementing the survey • Stage10) Coding and entering the data • Stage11) Analyzing the data and preparing a final report 11 Stages of survey research