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Chapter 11: Survey Research Summary page 343

Chapter 11: Survey Research Summary page 343. Asking Questions Obtaining Answers Multi-item Scales Response Biases Questionnaire Design Questionnaire Administration Survey Data Archives. Asking Questions. Open and Closed-Ended Question Wording Use participants’ language

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Chapter 11: Survey Research Summary page 343

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  1. Chapter 11: Survey ResearchSummarypage 343 • Asking Questions • Obtaining Answers • Multi-item Scales • Response Biases • Questionnaire Design • Questionnaire Administration • Survey Data Archives

  2. Asking Questions • Open and Closed-Ended • Question Wording • Use participants’ language • Avoid negatives • Ask one at a time • Avoid leading and loaded Qs • Be specific • Don’t make assumptions • Address sensitive topics sensitively

  3. Purposes and Types • Two purposes…what are they? • Estimate population parameters • Test hypotheses • Which type can be tested? Corr or Experimental? • Both! But how would you conduct an experiment? • Two typesof recruiting Ps are…? • Sample surveys • Convenience surveys

  4. Before Asking Questions • Establish purpose(s) • “The purpose of this survey is to determine…” • Specifics ….e.g. Ps attitudes toward, intentions, etc. • Characteristics of Ps (attributes) • Beliefs (cognitive) • Feelings (affect) • Behavioral intentions • Past behaviors • Objectives (Explicit) • Specify what findings will indicate the objectives were met • Anticipate what analyses will need to be conducted (ahead of time!)

  5. Before Asking Questions • Determine sample demographics needed • Grouping variables • E.g. race, gender, age, occupation, dept, geographical • Determine constructs • Established measures • E.g. job stress • Self-developed measures • E.g. Attitudes toward drug therapy • Single item variables • E.g. intention to continue or quit • Determine topic and question order

  6. Asking Questions: Open v. Closed Ended • Open Qs when: • For some sensitive Qs • When don’t know all options • Esp. exploratory study (use interview/focus group) • Certain types of judgments • Caution: • Open ones have to use content analysis

  7. Asking: Question Wording • Use Ps language • To hell with grammatically correct • Clarity takes precedence • Avoid Negatives (double ones) • But counterbalance to avoid acquiescence • One at a time • No double barreled • “would you like to pass this course and get an A?”

  8. Asking: Question Wording (con’t) • No leading questions • “Don’t you agree that Dr. Mitchell is an excellent professor?” • Be specific • “Do you like your instructors here at UB?” • Don’t make assumptions • “How long have you been a thug?” • Address sensitive topics sensitively • “Even the best students get irritated with professors sometimes”

  9. Obtaining Answers • Levels of measurement • Consider the construct • Consider precision needed • Information content • Statistical tests • Decide ahead of time! • Ecological Validity • E.g. mock jury (interval) v. real jury (nominal)

  10. Response Format p 354 • Choice depends on purpose • E.g. should each of a category be itemized? • Comparative rating scales • Method of paired comparisons (all possible combos) • Itemized rating scales (MC questions) • Make sure responses are mutually exclusive • Nominal, ordinal • Graphic scales • Visual anchors • Numerical rating scales • 5,7,9 points with labels (interval level)

  11. Response Formats con’t • Multi-item scales • Likert scales • Consider direction: reverse some or not • Thurstone • Not worth the trouble • Guttman scales • Ordered attitude items with increasing levels of agreement • “marry 1. stranger, 2. cousin, 3. sibling. 4. ? • Semantic Differential • Choose relevant adjectives

  12. Response Biases • Question-related • Scale ambiguity (choose meaningful labels) • Category Anchoring (find right range) • Estimation biases (open ended) • Retrospective is very unreliable • E.g. self-reported illegal drug use • Respondent interpretations of numerical scales • E.g. “not at all successful?”

  13. Response Biases • Person-related • Social desirability • Acquiescence • Extremity response rates • (gender, age, race differences) • Halo & Leniency • Interpreting responses • “Literal interpretation fallacy” • A good reason to calculate means

  14. Questionnaire Design • Question order • Question sequencing • Easy to difficult; related to purpose • General to specific within topic • Context effects • An early question may influence response to a later one

  15. Questionnaire Design • Layout • Use closed as much as possible • Consistent format • depending upon the nature of constructs • Whether or not you want to compare to norms • Instructions • Used to motivate and clarity how to respond • Use existing measures • Response formats

  16. Methods of Data Collection • Group (efficient) • Mail (low response rate) • Personal (good but expensive) • Phone (efficient and provide anonymity) • Focus groups • Confounding, conformity, all sorts of problems • Computer (lots of advantages) • But identity confirmation, duplicate entry problems • Compare methods (use table 11-12, p. 382)

  17. Survey Data Archives • Great, but never seem to answer your research questions • But start there

  18. Survey Research summary • Asking Questions • Obtaining Answers • Multi-item Scales • Response Biases • Questionnaire Design • Questionnaire Administration • Survey Data Archives

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