Improving Survey Methods


Book Description

This state-of-the-art volume provides insight into the recent developments in survey research. It covers topics like: survey modes and response effects, bio indicators and paradata, interviewer and survey error, mixed-mode panels, sensitive questions, conducting web surveys and access panels, coping with non-response, and handling missing data. The authors are leading scientists in the field, and discuss the latest methods and challenges with respect to these topics. Each of the book’s eight parts starts with a brief chapter that provides an historical context along with an overview of today’s most critical survey methods. Chapters in the sections focus on research applications in practice and discuss results from field studies. As such, the book will help researchers design surveys according to today’s best practices. The book’s website www.survey-methodology.de provides additional information, statistical analyses, tables and figures. An indispensable reference for practicing researchers and methodologists or any professional who uses surveys in their work, this book also serves as a supplement for graduate or upper level-undergraduate courses on survey methods taught in psychology, sociology, education, economics, and business. Although the book focuses on European findings, all of the research is discussed with reference to the entire survey-methodology area, including the US. As such, the insights in this book will apply to surveys conducted around the world.




Improving Survey Questions


Book Description

Questions as Measures An Overview Designing Questions to Gather Factual Data Questions to Measure Subjective States Some General Rules for Designing Good Survey Instruments Presurvey Evaluation of Questions Assessing the Validity of Survey Questions Question Design and Evaluation Issues in Perspective.




Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys


Book Description

For many household surveys in the United States, responses rates have been steadily declining for at least the past two decades. A similar decline in survey response can be observed in all wealthy countries. Efforts to raise response rates have used such strategies as monetary incentives or repeated attempts to contact sample members and obtain completed interviews, but these strategies increase the costs of surveys. This review addresses the core issues regarding survey nonresponse. It considers why response rates are declining and what that means for the accuracy of survey results. These trends are of particular concern for the social science community, which is heavily invested in obtaining information from household surveys. The evidence to date makes it apparent that current trends in nonresponse, if not arrested, threaten to undermine the potential of household surveys to elicit information that assists in understanding social and economic issues. The trends also threaten to weaken the validity of inferences drawn from estimates based on those surveys. High nonresponse rates create the potential or risk for bias in estimates and affect survey design, data collection, estimation, and analysis. The survey community is painfully aware of these trends and has responded aggressively to these threats. The interview modes employed by surveys in the public and private sectors have proliferated as new technologies and methods have emerged and matured. To the traditional trio of mail, telephone, and face-to-face surveys have been added interactive voice response (IVR), audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI), web surveys, and a number of hybrid methods. Similarly, a growing research agenda has emerged in the past decade or so focused on seeking solutions to various aspects of the problem of survey nonresponse; the potential solutions that have been considered range from better training and deployment of interviewers to more use of incentives, better use of the information collected in the data collection, and increased use of auxiliary information from other sources in survey design and data collection. Nonresponse in Social Science Surveys: A Research Agenda also documents the increased use of information collected in the survey process in nonresponse adjustment.




Survey Methods for Medical and Health Professions Education - E-Book


Book Description

Offering a practical, six-step approach to effective survey design, delivery, and analysis, Survey Methods for Medical and Health Professions Education provides a real-world framework for successful research and evaluation using surveys. Focused on medical and other health professional education research, this unique text features quick-reference checklists, high-yield explanations, and case examples throughout, making it both a foundational reference and a go-to resource for all health professions educators and researchers who use surveys. Provides a detailed and practical discussion of the steps in survey methodology, along with just enough theory to inform common decisions. Includes numerous real-world examples, both simple and complex, covering the wide range of problems researchers are likely to face. Addresses issues of survey fatigue and addresses the challenge of how to get "good data." Features "Voice of Experience" boxes—pearls based on authors’ actual experiences. Concludes each chapter with a checklist so readers can quickly ensure they have covered every necessary step of survey design and implementation. Contains a convenient glossary of terms. Offers guidance from expert international contributors in medical and health professions research. Summarizes the most current standards and understanding of survey research so that experienced and novice researchers alike can directly apply content to improve research rigor.




Handbook of Survey Methodology for the Social Sciences


Book Description

Surveys enjoy great ubiquity among data collection methods in social research: they are flexible in questioning techniques, in the amount of questions asked, in the topics covered, and in the various ways of interactions with respondents. Surveys are also the preferred method by many researchers in the social sciences due to their ability to provide quick profiles and results. Because they are so commonly used and fairly easy to administer, surveys are often thought to be easily thrown together. But designing an effective survey that yields reliable and valid results takes more than merely asking questions and waiting for the answers to arrive. Geared to the non-statistician, the Handbook of Survey Methodology in Social Sciences addresses issues throughout all phases of survey design and implementation. Chapters examine the major survey methods of data collection, providing expert guidelines for asking targeted questions, improving accuracy and quality of responses, while reducing sampling and non-sampling bias. Relying on the Total Survey Error theory, various issues of both sampling and non-sampling sources of error are explored and discussed. By covering all aspects of the topic, the Handbook is suited to readers taking their first steps in survey methodology, as well as to those already involved in survey design and execution, and to those currently in training. Featured in the Handbook: • The Total Survey Error: sampling and non-sampling errors. • Survey sampling techniques. • The art of question phrasing. • Techniques for increasing response rates • A question of ethics: what is allowed in survey research? • Survey design: face-to-face, phone, mail, e-mail, online, computer-assisted.? • Dealing with sensitive issues in surveys. • Demographics of respondents: implications for future survey research. • Dealing with nonresponse, and nonresponse bias The Handbook of Survey Methodology in Social Sciences offers how-to clarity for researchers in the social and behavioral sciences and related disciplines, including sociology, criminology, criminal justice, social psychology, education, public health, political science, management, and many other disciplines relying on survey methodology as one of their main data collection tools.




Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods


Book Description

To the uninformed, surveys appear to be an easy type of research to design and conduct, but when students and professionals delve deeper, they encounter the vast complexities that the range and practice of survey methods present. To complicate matters, technology has rapidly affected the way surveys can be conducted; today, surveys are conducted via cell phone, the Internet, email, interactive voice response, and other technology-based modes. Thus, students, researchers, and professionals need both a comprehensive understanding of these complexities and a revised set of tools to meet the challenges. In conjunction with top survey researchers around the world and with Nielsen Media Research serving as the corporate sponsor, the Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods presents state-of-the-art information and methodological examples from the field of survey research. Although there are other "how-to" guides and references texts on survey research, none is as comprehensive as this Encyclopedia, and none presents the material in such a focused and approachable manner. With more than 600 entries, this resource uses a Total Survey Error perspective that considers all aspects of possible survey error from a cost-benefit standpoint. Key Features Covers all major facets of survey research methodology, from selecting the sample design and the sampling frame, designing and pretesting the questionnaire, data collection, and data coding, to the thorny issues surrounding diminishing response rates, confidentiality, privacy, informed consent and other ethical issues, data weighting, and data analyses Presents a Reader′s Guide to organize entries around themes or specific topics and easily guide users to areas of interest Offers cross-referenced terms, a brief listing of Further Readings, and stable Web site URLs following most entries The Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods is specifically written to appeal to beginning, intermediate, and advanced students, practitioners, researchers, consultants, and consumers of survey-based information.




Introduction to Survey Quality


Book Description

Peruse the history of survey research and the essential conceptsfor data quality. With an emphasis on total survey error, theauthors review principles and concepts in the field and examineimportant unresolved issues in survey methods. Spanning a range oftopics dealing with the quality of data collected through thesurvey process, they focus on such key issues as: * Major sources of survey error, examining the origins of eacherror source most successful methods for reducing errors from thosesources * Methods most often used in practice for evaluating the effectsof the source on total survey error * Implications of improving survey quality for organizationalmanagement and costs




Improving Survey Response


Book Description

High response rates have traditionally been considered as one of the main indicators of survey quality. Obtaining high response rates is sometimes difficult and expensive, but clearly plays a beneficial role in terms of improving data quality. It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that simply boosting response to achieve a higher response rate will not in itself eradicate nonresponse bias. In this book the authors argue that high response rates should not be seen as a goal in themselves, but rather as part of an overall survey quality strategy based on random probability sampling and aimed at minimising nonresponse bias. Key features of Improving Survey Response: A detailed coverage of nonresponse issues, including a unique examination of cross-national survey nonresponse processes and outcomes. A discussion of the potential causes of nonresponse and practical strategies to combat it. A detailed examination of the impact of nonresponse and of techniques for adjusting for it once it has occurred. Examples of best practices and experiments drawn from 25 European countries. Supplemented by the European Social Survey (ESS) websites, containing materials for the measurement and analysis of nonresponse based on detailed country-level response process datasets. The book is designed to help survey researchers and those commissioning surveys by explaining how to prioritise the reduction of nonresponse bias rather than focusing on increasing the overall response rate. It shows substantive researchers how nonresponse can impact on substantive outcomes.




Survey Methodology


Book Description

Praise for the First Edition: "The book makes a valuable contribution by synthesizing current research and identifying areas for future investigation for each aspect of the survey process." —Journal of the American Statistical Association "Overall, the high quality of the text material is matched by the quality of writing . . ." —Public Opinion Quarterly ". . . it should find an audience everywhere surveys are being conducted." —Technometrics This new edition of Survey Methodology continues to provide a state-of-the-science presentation of essential survey methodology topics and techniques. The volume's six world-renowned authors have updated this Second Edition to present newly emerging approaches to survey research and provide more comprehensive coverage of the major considerations in designing and conducting a sample survey. Key topics in survey methodology are clearly explained in the book's chapters, with coverage including sampling frame evaluation, sample design, development of questionnaires, evaluation of questions, alternative modes of data collection, interviewing, nonresponse, post-collection processing of survey data, and practices for maintaining scientific integrity. Acknowledging the growing advances in research and technology, the Second Edition features: Updated explanations of sampling frame issues for mobile telephone and web surveys New scientific insight on the relationship between nonresponse rates and nonresponse errors Restructured discussion of ethical issues in survey research, emphasizing the growing research results on privacy, informed consent, and confidentiality issues The latest research findings on effective questionnaire development techniques The addition of 50% more exercises at the end of each chapter, illustrating basic principles of survey design An expanded FAQ chapter that addresses the concerns that accompany newly established methods Providing valuable and informative perspectives on the most modern methods in the field, Survey Methodology, Second Edition is an ideal book for survey research courses at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also an indispensable reference for practicing survey methodologists and any professional who employs survey research methods.




Survey Research Methods


Book Description

Textbook on survey research methods for use in social research - covers data collecting, samples, mail surveys, questionnaires, interviewing, data processing, ethics, errors, etc. References.