Psy 330  McBride Ch. 9
The Nuts and Bolts of Survey Research

I. Survey Research Design

A research study that uses a survey to obtain a description of a particular group of individuals

·      Define the population of interest and determine the sampling procedure.

  ·      Define the research questions: What exactly do you want to know?

  ·      Will you administer the survey instrument using a written, questionnaire format or an interview format?

  ·      How will you administer the survey (on-line, face-to-face, through the mail, etc.)?

  ·      What type of questions are you going to use?

      a.   Open-ended: Respondents are asked to answer a question in their own words.

E.g. "What is your opinion of your employer's affirmative action policies?"

b.  Restricted: Closed-ended with a limited set of response alternatives.  A list of choices is given and they check the desired alternative.

E.g. "One of the major reasons for getting married is to have children."

              Agree _________   Disagree_______

c.   Rating Scales: Respondents circle a choice, a number on a scale, or check a point on a line that best reflects their opinion.

E.g.  "The US Congress should increase spending on social programs."

Strongly disagree      Don't know   Strongly agree

·      Make sure to avoid pitfalls in constructing questions, such as the following:

a.   Double-barreled questions (that ask two different things).  E.g. "Do you believe there are equal opportunities for minorities and women at your place of employment?

b.  Loaded questions (that contain emotionally charged language). E.g. " To what extent do you think the values of the Ku Klux Klan are alive and well in the South?"

1            2            3            4            5

not                uncertain                          very much

alive                                                      alive

Above question could be rephrased as:

"To what extent do you think support for racial segregation still exists in the South?

1            2            3            4            5

very weak            uncertain          very strong

support                                          support

c.   Leading questions (that bias people to respond in a given way).  E.g. "I agree with the popular view that our current foreign policy is flawed."

better: "Our current foreign policy is flawed."

·          Ask important questions first: demographic information such as age, gender, or household income should usually be obtained last.

What are some advantages of survey research?

What are some disadvantages of survey research?

What is reliability?  What are two ways reliability can be tested for a questionnaire?

What is social desirability bias? How do researchers deal with it?