Psychology: Survey Methods

UNIT I - Survey Method

• Components of survey method
• Practice with a field survey

Survey Research

• Survey research in psychology involves systematically gathering information from a group of individuals.
• The purpose is to understand their characteristics, attitudes, or behaviors
• Survey methods are a commonly used research tool in psychology.
• Surveys are used to collect data and describe naturally occurring phenomena in the real world.

Why Use Surveys?

• To understand experiences, opinions, and behaviors
• To assess individual differences
• To evaluate attitudes and beliefs
• To gauge the success of interventions, awareness campaigns, and preventative programs

Survey Research Uses

• Used to describe and explore human behavior in social and psychological research
• Allows for a variety of methods to recruit participants, collect data, and use various methods of instrumentation
• Uses quantitative research strategies like questionnaires with numerically rated items
• Uses qualitative research strategies like open-ended questions
• Mixed methods can be used

Types of Surveys

• Likert scales
• Open-ended questions
• Transitioning from telephone surveys to online surveys

Survey Design for Targeted Information

• Few targeted questions of students on campus can obtain information related to behaviors and preferences
• Rigorous studies use multiple valid and reliable instruments

General Survey Research

• Large population-based data collection
• The purpose is to obtain information describing characteristics of a large sample quickly
• Used to gather opinions to base programs or products for a population or group

Survey Research Rigor

• Rigorous approach with scientifically tested strategies
• Employs data collection instruments and representative samples
• Uses strategic sampling and recruitment strategies
• Considers methods of survey administration and when to initiate the survey
• Follows up with non-responders to reduce nonresponse error

Advantages of Surveys

• Efficient and quick data collection allows for identifying patterns and trends that might be invisible in smaller samples
• Used to study personal experiences related to societal attitudes, less expensive, and easy to create and administer

Disadvantages of Surveys

• May be poorly designed
• Limited answer choices can influence results
• Subject to social desirability bias and sampling bias
• Low response rates can skew results and limit generalizability

Guidelines for Conducting Surveys

• The American Psychological Association (APA) has specific guidelines for conducting survey research
• Design each question with the analysis in mind
• Avoid asking questions with known answers and focus on necessary information
• Keep surveys short, ideally under seven minutes
• Asking leading questions should be avoided
• Double-barreled questions should be avoided
• Use simple, clear words and avoid jargon or acronyms
• Reduce the number of open-ended questions
• Avoid ambiguity in questions
• Likert Scale questions should be clear, fully labeled, balanced, and consistent
• Front load the survey such that your most important question should be first

Survey Research Applications

• Used for estimating the prevalence of various mental disorders and identifying statistical relationships
• The National Comorbidity Survey, a large-scale mental health survey in the United States, had around 10,000 participants in 2002 and 2003

Applications in Psychology

• Social psychology focuses on understanding attitudes, prejudices, and social norms
• The Implicit Association Test measures unconscious biases as a sophisticated online survey
• Clinical psychologists use surveys to diagnose mental health conditions and track treatment progress
• Standardized questionnaires like the Beck Depression Inventory are essential tools in clinical practice
• Organizational Psychologists use surveys to assess employee satisfaction, organizational culture, and leadership effectiveness.
• Examples used are the Job Descriptive Index, Employee Engagement Survey
• Educational psychology uses surveys to evaluate teaching methods, student engagement, and learning outcomes.
• Surveys contribute to understanding issues such as bullying and school climate

Data Collection Methods

Questionnaires:

• Questionnaires can be self-administered or administered professionally
• They can be administered individually or in a group
• They include a series of items reflecting the research aims
• Can include demographic questions alongside valid and reliable research instruments
• Can be paper form and mailed to participants or delivered electronically

Classes of Questionnaires

• descriptive questionnaires are usually restricted to factual, biographical information
• An example is a job application
• Analytical questionnaires deal more with information related to attitudes or opinions

Types of questions to include on questionnaires:

• Open-ended questions are useful when the researcher does not have predicted answers, they are more qualitative in nature
• Close-ended questions are used when the researcher does have predicted answers, they are more quantitative in nature
• Rating questions are useful to gauge peoples' opinions
• Multiple choice questions provide multiple response options for the respondent to choose from

Possible Survey Questions:

• Do you relax after a day's work?
• How do you relax after a long day of work?
• What will be your choice of relaxation: dance, sing, swim, yoga, or listen to music?
• Rate your preferences to relax from the list above from most to least preferred

Advantages of Questionnaires

• Data can be obtained on large numbers of participants quickly and inexpensively
• The resulting sample can be very large and geographically representative
• Anonymity can be easily maintained
• Well-constructed questionnaires offer data that can be easily organized, tabulated, and analyzed

Interviews

• Interviews are an alternative approach to data collection used in survey research
• Can be conducted by phone, computer, or in person
• In-person interviews can benefit from visually identifying nonverbal responses, allowing the interviewer to clarify the intended question
• Interviewers can probe responses to obtain more information and request clarification
• This method is costly and time-intensive

Mixed Methods Survey Research

• Begins with distributing a questionnaire and following up with telephone interviews to clarify unclear responses

Survey Failure

• Occurs when the sample chosen is not representative
• In the 1936 presidential election between Alf Landon and Franklin Roosevelt, The Literary Digest predicted a Landon victory.
• Roosevelt won the election by a landslide
• This survey failed because The Literary Digest polled only those whose names appeared on lists of telephone subscribers and automobile owners

Population vs Sample

• Population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about
• Sample is the specific group of individuals that you will collect data from, a subset of the population

Selecting a Representative Sample

• Conducting research on very large populations can be difficult
• A carefully chosen, representative sample helps conduct research on a subset of the population
• The sample is the group of individuals who will actually participate in the research
• A sample represents the population when it exhibits the same characteristics as the population
• A biased sample is one in which the characteristics of the sample differ systematically from the target population
• Sampling bias may arise if sampling procedures are inappropriate

Basic Approaches to Sampling

• Probability sampling involves random selection, allowing for strong statistical inferences about the whole group
• Non-probability sampling involves non-random selection methods based on convenience or other criteria

Probability Sampling

• Probability sampling means that every member of the population has a chance of being selected.
• Mainly used in quantitative research
• If desiring representative results of the whole population, probability sampling techniques are the most valid choice

Simple Random Sample

• Each population member has an equal chance of being selected
• The sampling frame should include the whole population
• Tools like random number generators may be used
• To select a simple random sample from 3000 professors teaching in Mumbai aided colleges assign a number to every professor from this database from 1 to 3000, and use a random number generator to select 300 numbers

Systematic Sampling

• Systematic sampling is similar to simple random sampling
• Every population member is listed with a number, and individuals are chosen at regular intervals
• If all employees were in alphabetical order and you randomly chose number 6, from number 6 onwards every 10th person on the list is selected

Stratified Sampling

• Stratified sampling involves dividing the population into subpopulations that may differ in important ways.
• Ensures that every subgroup is properly represented in the sample
• Divide the population into subgroups (called strata) based on the relevant characteristic (e.g., gender identity, age range, income bracket, job role).
• Calculate how many people should be sampled from each subgroup based on poportion of population
• then use random or systematic sampling to select a sample from each subgroup
• if a company has 800 female employees and 200 male employees you sort the population into two strata based on gender, then randonly select your group size (100 for example)

Cluster Sampling

• Dividing the population into subgroups, but each subgroup should have similar characteristics to the whole sample,
• Used when substantial differences exist between clusters.
• Random sampling selects entire subgroups
• Example: a company has offices in 10 cities. One may randomly sample of 3 offices (these are the clusters)