Survey Research

Principles and Steps of Survey Research

• Survey research began in the census and was used for social research in the 19th century in the United States and Great Britain.
• In the 1920s and 1930s, researchers started to use statistical sampling, scales, and indexes, and in the 1940s, surveys became quantitative in form.
• After WWII, the government survey establishment was dismantled, but survey research centers were created in various universities.
• The logic of survey research involves inferring temporal order and statistically analyzing associations to identify causal relationships.
• The steps in conducting a survey involve developing hypotheses, deciding on the type of survey, writing survey questions, designing the layout, planning how to record data, selecting the target population, getting the sampling frame, selecting the sample, locating respondents, conducting interviews, recording data, entering data into computers, re-checking data, and performing statistical analysis.
• Good question writing involves avoiding confusion and keeping the respondent's perspective in mind.
• When writing survey questions, it is important to avoid jargon, ambiguity, emotional language, double-barreled questions, leading questions, questions beyond respondents' capabilities, false premises, asking about distant future intentions, double negatives, and overlapping or unbalanced response categories.
• Neutral language should be used to avoid prestige bias.
• Double-barreled questions should be avoided, as they consist of two or more questions mixed together.
• Leading questions should be avoided, as they lead the respondent to one response over another by their wording.
• Questions beyond respondents' capabilities should be avoided, as they create confusion, frustration, and inaccurate responses.
• Response categories or choices should be mutually exclusive, exhaustive, and balanced.