Survey methodology
Survey methodology targets instruments or procedures that ask one or more questions that may or may not be answered.
A single survey may focus on different types of topics such as preferences (e.g., for a presidential candidate), opinions (e.g., should abortion be legal?
), behavior (smoking and alcohol use), or factual information (e.g., income), depending on its purpose.
That target population can range from the general population of a given country to specific groups of people within that country, to a membership list of a professional organization, or list of students enrolled in a school system (see also sampling (statistics) and survey sampling).
The most common modes of administration can be summarized as:[4] There are several different designs, or overall structures, that can be used in survey research.
Longitudinal studies are the easiest way to assess the effect of a naturally occurring event, such as divorce that cannot be tested experimentally.
Some recent anonymous SGIC approaches have also attempted to minimize use of personalized data even further, instead using questions like 'name of your first pet.
To account for this, a researcher can compare the respondents who left the survey to those that did not, to see if they are statistically different populations.
[3] Demographic variables include such measures as ethnicity, socioeconomic status, race, and age.
[3] These self-report scales, which are usually presented in questionnaire form, are one of the most used instruments in psychology, and thus it is important that the measures be constructed carefully, while also being reliable and valid.
[3] A test-retest reliability entails conducting the same questionnaire to a large sample at two different times.
[3] Finally, there will be greater reliability when instructions for the completion of the questionnaire are clear and when there are limited distractions in the testing environment.
[3] Free response questions are beneficial because they allow the responder greater flexibility, but they are also very difficult to record and score, requiring extensive coding.
[3] Contrastingly, closed questions can be scored and coded more easily, but they diminish expressivity and spontaneity of the responder.
[3] A respondent's answer to an open-ended question can be coded into a response scale afterwards,[4] or analysed using more qualitative methods.
The model TRAPD - Translation, Review, Adjudication, Pretest, and Documentation - originally developed for the European Social Surveys, is now "widely used in the global survey research community, although not always labeled as such or implemented in its complete form".
[14] The following ways have been recommended for reducing nonresponse[15] in telephone and face-to-face surveys:[16] Brevity is also often cited as increasing response rate.
A 1996 literature review found mixed evidence to support this claim for both written and verbal surveys, concluding that other factors may often be more important.
[19] Other studies showed that quality of response degraded toward the end of long surveys.
[20] Some researchers have also discussed the recipient's role or profession as a potential factor affecting how nonresponse is managed.
[21] Survey methodologists have devoted much effort to determining the extent to which interviewee responses are affected by physical characteristics of the interviewer.
Main interviewer traits that have been demonstrated to influence survey responses are race,[22] gender,[23] and relative body weight (BMI).
The explanation typically provided for interviewer effects is social desirability bias: survey participants may attempt to project a positive self-image in an effort to conform to the norms they attribute to the interviewer asking questions.
