Lecture 4:

1. Lecture 4: Social Research II: Survey Research And Data Collection

2. Overview • The Logic Of Survey Research • Steps In Conducting A Survey • Advantages And Limitations Of Questionnaires • Operationalisation And Questionnaires • Questionnaire Design • Types Of Questions • Key Rules For Designing Questions

3. The Logic of Survey Research • Hypothetico-deductive approach • Mail, Interview, Telephone Surveys • A Survey Questionnaire • An Interview Schedule

4. Steps In Conducting A Survey • Develop Hypothesis • Decide On Type Of Survey • Write Survey Questions • Decide On Response Categories • Design Layout

5. Advantages Of Questionnaires • Questionnaires are less expensive that other methods • Questionnaires can be completed at the respondent’s convenience • They offer greater assurance of anonymity • They offer less opportunity for bias or errors causes by the presence or attitudes of the interviewer • Questionnaires are a stable, consistent and uniform measure without variation • The use of questionnaires promises a wider coverage, since researchers can approach respondents more easily than other methods.

6. Limitations Of Questionnaires • They do not allow probing, prompting and clarification of questions • They do not offer opportunities for motivating the respondent to participate in the survey or to answer the questions • The identity of the respondent and the conditions under which the questionnaire was answered are not known. Researchers cannot be sure whether the right person has answered the questions. • Questionnaires do not provide an opportunity to collect additional information while they are being completed. There is no researcher present, for instance, to make observations while the questions are being answered. • Due to lack of supervision, partial response is possible.

7. Operationalisation And Questionnaires • Step 1: Identify The Variables To Be Studied • Step 2: Divide Variables Into Indicators • Step 3. ‘Translate’ Indicators Into Questions

8. Table 1. Chain Of Translation Source: Sarantakos, 1998: 243

9. Questionnaire Design • Types Of Questions Open-ended Questions • e.g. What is your favourite TV programme? Close-ended Questions • e.g. Is the government doing a very good, fair or poor job in relation to poverty?

10. Exemplary Topics. How would you structure these questions in a Quantitative Questionnaire? • demographic information (age, sex, occupation, home locale, income range, etc.) • Health information (height, weight, medical conditions, smoking, medication) • confirmation that the respondent uses a service you are investigating • evaluation of services • ranking of service attribute importance for service users • Consumption patterns- which brands are used or purchased • how often brands are purchased • why the respondent likes different brands • what is disliked about brands • importance of different brand images • intent on a five-point scale (definitely, maybe, indifferent, maybe not, definitely not) What Kind of data would these produce (Nominal/ Ordinal? Continous/ Discrete)

11. Key Rules For Designing Questions: • Avoid Jargon • Avoid Ambiguity, Confusion And Vagueness • Avoid Double-Barrelled Questions • Avoid Leading Questions • Avoid Asking Questions That Are Beyond Respondent’s Capabilities/knowledge • Avoid False Premises/ Asking Two Questions • Avoid Very General Questions • Avoid Questions That Include Double Negatives • Avoid Overlapping Or Unbalanced Response Categories