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

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

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 BehaviorAttitudes/beliefs/opinions CharacteristicsExpectations Self-classification Knowledge

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 Early census assessed the property available for taxation and military service It’s based on what people tell officials or what officials observe 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

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

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 Score on test meal Breakfast or no breakfast

Example No BreakfastLight BreakfastFull Breakfast k = 3 treatments. Are the average attention spans different? 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.

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