SURVEY RESEARCH

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SURVEY RESEARCH
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SURVEY RESEARCH

• Nature of survey research
• People naturally do what they do
• you measure this through self-reports
• most typically in the form of interviews or
  questionnaires

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Types of questions

• Timing
• Past (Retrospective)
• Future (Prospective)
• Agent
• Yourself (Self Report)
• Others (Informant)

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Typical questions

• 1. Measuring rates of occurrence
• Interest in a product, product purchase, media
  use
• 2. Examining relationships
• Between the cause (Independent Variable)
• and the outcome (Dependent Variable)

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Strengths

• Quick and easy
• When fast info is needed
• Standardized
• Offers consistency
• Flexible
• Can get most any type of info in a variety of
  ways
• Measuring a natural phenomenon
• People behave naturally, you merely measure that.
• 5. Qualitative or quantitative information
• Numbers or words
• Control for subgroup differences
• e.g. Separate analyses for men and women

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Survey Weaknesses

• Problems Due to Respondent
• Nonresponse error
• Self-selection bias
• Response bias
• Social desirability bias
• Acquiescence bias
• Extremity bias
• Interviewer bias
• Auspices bias

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More Survey Weaknesses

• Problems Due to Administration
• Sample selection error
• Data processing error
• Interviewer error
• Cheating or falsifying data
• Fatigue
• Misunderstanding of method
• Unconscious cues

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More Survey Weaknesses

1. Many participants needed
2. Cannot prove causation
3. Limited time and complexity for phone
4. Limited visuals for many survey forms
5. Does not measure actual behaviour

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Survey time-frames

• Cross-sectional
• One shot
• Longitudinal
• More than one shot
• Cohort ask different people each time
• Panel ask the same people at different times

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The End