Survey Research
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Questionnaire construction
– Wording
– Ordering
– Layout/format
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Types of surveys
– Self administered
– Interview
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Strengths and weaknesses
Question Wording
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Ask questions R’s can answer
Make questions clear and unambiguous
Make questions relevant to topic
Avoid negative items
Avoid biased items, leading questions
Avoid double-barreled questions
Short items usually better
Question Ordering
•Goal: To get R to answer the questions
• Self-Administered
– Begin with interesting,
non-threatening items
– Less interesting
middle to end
– Most personal
information at the end
• Interview
– Begin with least
threatening items
– Most personal items in
the middle
– Finish with less
sensitive items
Format/ Layout
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Neat, uncluttered
Easy for R to follow
One question per line
Answers marked in boxes or circles:
( )
[ ]
Contingency Questions
• Apply to only some of the respondents
• Set off with boxes and arrows or use
instructions to skip questions:
Do you have children under 18 at home?
No
If yes: please list ages_____________
Yes
_______________________________
Alternative format for contingency questions
4. Do you have children under 18 at home?
No
Yes
please skip to question 15
please go on to question 5
5. How old is your youngest child?
6. What child care arrangements do you use while
at work? (Check all that apply)…..
7………
Matrix Questions
• Set of questions with identical answer choices
• Example:
Strongly
agree
Agree
Don’t
know
Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Husbands and wives should be
equally responsible for financial
support of their families.
5
4
3
2
1
A woman should take care of
her family first, then her career.
5
4
3
2
1
Preschool children may be
harmed if their mothers work.
5
4
3
2
1
A father can care for young
children just as well as a
mother can.
5
4
3
2
1
Using matrix questions
• Easy to follow
• Efficient use of space
• May foster “response set” – solution is to
alternate points of view occasionally
• Answer choices should be appropriate for
all items
Self-Administered Questionnaire
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Mail, e-mail, web page, or handed out
May not produce high response rate
May be good for sensitive topics
Less costly than interviews
Insuring quality
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Use probability sample
Precede with cover letter.
Include letter of explanation
Monitor returns, use follow-ups if needed
Always pay return postage!
Follow-ups on mail surveys
• Maintain confidentiality – use ID numbers
• Keep list of returns
• After reasonable time, send another
questionnaire
• May follow up with phone call
• Improves response rate
• May allow conclusions about nonrespondents
Interviews
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Questions read by researcher
Answers recorded by researcher
May be face-to-face or telephone
Higher response rate than mail surveys
More accurate responses – interviewer
may ask for clarification
• Better for more complex topics
• Interviewer can observe and record
without asking directly (but is it ethical?)
Two main rules for interviewers
• Get R’s confidence: Good listener, nonjudgmental, non-intimidating, appear
interested in R’s opinions, dress
appropriately, may be same gender as R
• Don’t affect the results: Don’t volunteer
own opinion, don’t appear as authority or
expert, don’t judge R.
Interviewer preparation
• Know purpose of study, sponsor, researcher
• Know how much to reveal to R
• Questionnaire must include interviewer
instructions
• Follow wording and instructions exactly.
• Record responses exactly.
• Use probes only as instructed.
• Interviewers should be supervised.
Example of interviewer instructions:
• http://www.macalester.edu/~dolan/POLI30/
interviewerinstructions.html
Telephone Interviews
• Use for short, uncomplicated topics
• Saves money and time
• May precede with cover letter – avoid
being seen as “nuisance call”
• Raises sampling issues – cell phones,
unlisted numbers, people without phones
Computer Assisted Survey Research:
• Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
– Like regular telephone interview, but interviewer types respondent’s
answers directly into computer
• Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI)
– Like CATI, except used in face-to-face interview
• Computer Assisted Self Interviewing (CASI)
– Research worker brings a computer to the respondent’s home
– Respondent answers on the computer
• Computerized Self-Administered Questionnaire
(CSAQ)
– The respondent receives electronic copy of the questionnaire
– Respondent returns the data file
Also: TDE (touch-tone data entry), VR (voice
recognition)
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Surveys
Advantages
• Good for describing large
populations; statistical
inference
• Can handle large data
sets and samples
• Standardization = easy
analysis
• Can have multiple
indicators of concepts
• Relatively inexpensive
Disadvantages
• Can be overstandardized;
categories may be
artificial
• May create opinion