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Survey Research: Methods, Designs, and Considerations

This article provides an overview of survey research methods, including sampling designs, questionnaire construction, and interviewer training. It also discusses various survey designs such as cross-sectional, trend, and cohort studies, along with their advantages and limitations. Additionally, the reliability and validity of survey research are explored, along with the stages involved in conducting a survey.

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Survey Research: Methods, Designs, and Considerations

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  1. Journalism 614: Survey Research

  2. Survey Research • Structured interview of: • Sample of individuals in order to generalize to a larger population • Survey modes: • Face-to-face • Paper-and-pencil • RDD telephone • Direct mail • Internet

  3. Advantages & Disadvantages • Generalizability - external validity • Representativeness - unbiased sample • Customizability - wide variety of research questions • Time - 6 months from start to finish • Cost - Face-to-face vs. Telephone vs. Mail • Hard to find facilities and experts • Causality - Non-experimental design

  4. Time and Survey Design • Static designs: • Cross-sectional Survey - Poll • Longitudinal designs: • Trend studies - Multiple Polls • Cohort studies – Study of Group Change • Panel studies – Study of Individual Change

  5. Cross-sectional Study • Static snapshot • Slice of population at one point in time • E.g., an opinion poll • Inherent limitation: • Inability to capture change over time • Usually giving correlations not causal inferences

  6. Cross Section Example

  7. Trend Studies • Measures changes over time • Sequential cross-sections of the population • E.g., Changes over time in: • Political knowledge levels • Concern about global warming • Presidential approval rating

  8. Trend Example

  9. Cohort Studies • Tracking changes in a group as they age • Baby boomers (born during the post–World War II baby boom, approximately between 1946 and 1964) • Generation X • Millennials • Measure change across the aging process • Do millenials become more conservative? • Why can’t you answer this question with a cross-sectional design? • Untangle lifecycle vs. cohort differences

  10. Cohort Example

  11. Panel Studies • Goes a step further: • interviewing the same people more than once • Captures change in individuals over time • E.g., NES Election Study • Pre-election and post-election • Can begin to explain which individuals are changing and why they are changing • The respondent mortality problem: • Are those who drop out different?

  12. Panel Example

  13. Misconceptions • Single time-point >>> Longitudinal, Panel Designs • Must be face-to-face >>> Can use telephone, mail • Interviewers read questions >>> Self-administered • Individuals as unit of observation >>> Family • Non-experimental >>> Can embed experiments • Atheoretical >>> Can test hypotheses Surveys are a very flexible research technique

  14. Reliability of Survey Research • Stability: • In panel designs, test-retest correlations • Reproducibility: • In open-ended questions, coder agreement • Internal Consistency: • In scales, the consistency of item response

  15. Validity of Survey Research • Face Validity: • Do items capture concepts? • Content Validity: • Are relevant dimensions represented by indicators? • Convergent Validity: • Are multiple indicators correlated? • Divergent Validity: • Do indicators allow us to differentiate from other concepts? • Do indicators differentiate between distinct concept dimensions?

  16. Stages in Survey Research • General Research Questions • Specific Research Questions • Sampling Design • Questionnaire Development • Interviewer Training • Pretest • Fieldwork - Test • Content Coding • Analysis Computation • Report Writing

  17. Questionnaire Construction • Length: • :30 for telephone, longer for personal/self-administered • Ordering: • Put an easy question first, funnel toward specific • Save sensitive question for the end • Transitions: • Ease them from one section to another • Probes: • Further information, elaboration

  18. Training Interviewers • Two parts: • 1. Basic interviewing skills • 2. Specific interview schedule, questionnaire

  19. Motivations and Barriers • Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations: • expression, boredom, loneliness, politeness, curiosity, loyalty • Barriers: • Suspicion, fear, inadequacy, privacy, distractions, time to answer • Overcoming Barriers: • confidentiality, listening, probing, repeating, focus, and practice

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