1. Journalism 614: Survey Research

2. Survey Research Structured interview of:
Sample of individuals in order to generalize to a larger population
Survey modes:
Face-to-face
Paper-and-pencil
RDD telephone
Direct mail
Internet

3. Advantages & Disadvantages
Generalizability - external validity
Representativeness - unbiased sample
Customizability - wide variety of research questions
Time - 6 months from start to finish
Cost - Face-to-face vs. Telephone vs. Mail
Hard to find facilities and experts
Causality - Non-experimental design

4. Time and Survey Design Static designs: Longitudinal designs:
Cross-sectional Survey - Poll
Longitudinal designs:
Trend studies - Multiple Polls
Cohort studies – Study of Group Change
Panel studies – Study of Individual Change

5. Cross-sectional Study
Static snapshot
Slice of population at one point in time
E.g., an opinion poll
Inherent limitation:
Inability to capture change over time
Usually giving correlations not causal inferences

6. Cross Section Example

7. Trend Studies Measures changes over time
Sequential cross-sections of the population
E.g., Changes over time in:
Political knowledge levels
Concern about global warming
Presidential approval rating

8. Trend Example

9. Cohort Studies Tracking changes in a group as they age
Baby boomers (born during the post–World War II baby boom, approximately between 1946 and 1964)
Generation X
Millennials
Measure change across the aging process
Do millenials become more conservative?
Why can’t you answer this question with a cross-sectional design?
Untangle lifecycle vs. cohort differences

10. Cohort Example

11. Panel Studies Goes a step further:
interviewing the same people more than once
Captures change in individuals over time
E.g., NES Election Study
Pre-election and post-election
Can begin to explain which individuals are changing and why they are changing
The respondent mortality problem:
Are those who drop out different?

12. Panel Example

13. Misconceptions
Single time-point >>> Longitudinal, Panel Designs
Must be face-to-face >>> Can use telephone, mail
Interviewers read questions >>> Self-administered
Individuals as unit of observation >>> Family
Non-experimental >>> Can embed experiments
Atheoretical >>> Can test hypotheses
Surveys are a very flexible research technique

14. Reliability of Survey Research
Stability:
In panel designs, test-retest correlations
Reproducibility:
In open-ended questions, coder agreement
Internal Consistency:
In scales, the consistency of item response

15. Validity of Survey Research
Face Validity:
Do items capture concepts?
Content Validity:
Are relevant dimensions represented by indicators?
Convergent Validity:
Are multiple indicators correlated?
Divergent Validity:
Do indicators allow us to differentiate from other concepts?
Do indicators differentiate between distinct concept dimensions?

16. Stages in Survey Research
General Research Questions
Specific Research Questions
Sampling Design
Questionnaire Development
Interviewer Training
Pretest
Fieldwork - Test
Content Coding
Analysis Computation
Report Writing

17. Questionnaire Construction
Length:
:30 for telephone, longer for personal/self-administered
Ordering:
Put an easy question first, funnel toward specific
Save sensitive question for the end
Transitions:
Ease them from one section to another
Probes:
Further information, elaboration

18. Training Interviewers
Two parts:
1. Basic interviewing skills
2. Specific interview schedule, questionnaire

19. Motivations and Barriers
Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations:
expression, boredom, loneliness, politeness, curiosity, loyalty
Barriers:
Suspicion, fear, inadequacy, privacy, distractions, time to answer
Overcoming Barriers:
confidentiality, listening, probing, repeating, focus, and practice