CHAPTER 10 Survey Research You will learn: 1) The main ingredients of GOOD SURVEY research 2) The LIMITATIONS of the survey method CHAPTER 10 Survey Research Survey Research

Introduction The survey is the most widely used data-gathering technique in sociology, and it is used in many other fields as well It’s easy to conduct a survey that yields misleading or worthless results Good surveys require thought and effort Surveys can be well made or poorly made and can be used in appropriate or in appropriate ways

Research Questions Appropriate for a Survey Surveys produce: 1) Quantitative information about the social world 2) Describe features of people/social world Survey used to explain and explore Surveys are appropriate for research questions about self-reported (beliefs/behaviors) Surveys are strongest when the answers people give to question measure variable Surveys have many variables (often with multiple indicators) and test several hypotheses

The following can be asked in a survey Overlapping categories Behavior Attitudes/beliefs/opinions Characteristics Expectations Knowledge Self-classification

A History of Survey Research The modern survey can be traced back to old forms of the census A census includes information on characteristics of the entire population It’s based on what people tell officials or what officials observe Early census assessed the property available for taxation and military service Later, officials used the census to assign the number of elected representatives The survey used for social research in USA and UK began with social service professions documenting the conditions of urban poverty At first, survey were overviews of an area based on questionnaires and other data. Scientific sampling and statistics were absent Social survey grew into: modern quantitative survey research and qualitative field researcher in a community

Social research became more professional, objective, and nonpolitical Four forces greatly reshaped the social survey into modern quantitative survey research in USA 1) Researcher applied statistically based sampling techniques and precise measurement to the survey 2) Researcher created scales and indexes to gather systematic quantitative data on attitudes, opinions, and subjective aspects of social life 3) Others found uses for the survey and adapted it to a variety of applied areas (e.g., marketing, Journalists, Religious, Government agencies, Social scientists There was a major reorientation of most empirical social research, which created respectable “scientific” methods modeled after the natural sciences Social research became more professional, objective, and nonpolitical This orientation was stimulated by 1) A competition among researcher and universities for status, prestige and funds 2) Researchers turning away from social reform ideals after the end of Progressive era 3) A program of major private foundations to fund the expansion of quantitative, positivist social research

- After World War II, some members of the US congress feared that others might use survey results to advance social policies (helping the unemployed, promoting equal rights for African Americans) - The survey research was expensive and involved many people - Within 3 years of the end of World War II, national survey research institutes had been established in France, Czechoslovakia, and UK) - About 18% of articles published in sociology journals used the survey method 1939-1940; this rose to 55% by 1964-1965

Five factors contributed to the postwar growth of survey research: 1- computer. Today, the computer is an indispensable tool for analyzing data from most surveys. 2-organizations. New social research centers with an expertise and interest in quantitative research were established at US universities. About 50 such centers were created in the years after 1960. 3-Data storage. The collection, storage and exchange of information thousands of participants. 4-Funding. For (1960-1970), the US federal government has expanded funds for social science research. 5-Methodology. Researchers created improved statistics for analyzing quantitative data and taught them to a new generation of researchers.

Today, quantitative survey research is a major industry both within and outside universities (e.g., The professional survey industry probably employs over 60000 people in USA alone. About 6000 professional survey researchers design and analyze surveys) Researchers use surveys for basic research in universities and research centers. Researchers in many fields (communication, education, economics, political science, social psychology, and sociology) conduct and analyze surveys. Many USA universities have centers for survey research: The survey Research Center at the University of California at Berkeley, The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago The Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan

Several applied areas rely heavily on survey: government, marketing, private policy research, and mass media. Governments at the national and local levels conduct surveys to inform policy decisions. Private-sector survey research can be divided into three types of organizations: Opinion polling organizations (e.g., Gallup, Harris, Roper, Yankelovich and Associates) Marketing firms (e.g., Nielsen, Market Facts, Market Research Corporation) Nonprofit research organizations (e.g., Mathematica Policy research, Rand Corporation)

In the past three decades, The quantitative survey has become A widely used technology for social research (inside and outside universities) Knowledge about how to conduct a good survey Explosion of survey applications has outpaced developments in the survey technique as a method to quantitatively measure human social life.

The Logic of survey research What’s a Survey? Survey researchers measure variables that represent alternative explanations (i.e., control variables) They think in of alternative explanations when planning a survey and measure the alternatives with control variables Survey research is often called correlational. Survey researchers use control variables and correlations in statistical analysis. They approximate the rigorous test for causality that experimental achieve with their physical control over temporal order and alternative explanations.

Example A group of people is randomly divided into an experimental and a control group (alternative explanations). The control group is given an aptitude test after having eaten a full breakfast. The experimental group is given the same test without having eaten any breakfast. Experimental unit = Factor = Response = Levels = Treatments: person meal Score on test Breakfast or no breakfast Breakfast or no breakfast

Example Is the attention span of children affected by whether or not they had a good breakfast? Twelve children were randomly divided into three groups and assigned to a different meal plan. The response was attention span in minutes during the morning reading time. No Breakfast Light Breakfast Full Breakfast 8 14 10 7 16 12 9 13 17 15 k = 3 treatments. Are the average attention spans different?

Steps in Conducting a Survey? The survey researchers follows a deductive approach. He or she Begins with a theoretical (or applied) research problem Ends with empirical measurement and data analysis