1. Survey Research and Other Ways of Asking Questions1
Chapter 7:
Survey Research and Other Ways of Asking Questions

2. Guidelines for Asking Questions2
Guidelines for Asking Questions
Open-ended – respondent is asked to provide his or her own answer
Closed-ended – respondent selects an answer from a list
Choices should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive
Questions and Statements – (Likert scale)

3. 3
More Guidelines…
Make items clear – avoid ambiguous questions; do not ask “double-barreled” questions
Short items are best – respondents like to read and answer a question quickly
Avoid negative items – leads to misinterpretation
Avoid biased items and terms – do not ask questions that encourage a certain answer

4. Questionnaire Construction4
Questionnaire Construction
General questionnaire format – critical, must be laid out properly
Contingency questions – relevant only to some respondents – answered only based on their previous response
Matrix questions – same set of answer categories used by multiple questions

5. Ordering Questions in a Questionnaire5
Ordering Questions in a Questionnaire
Ordering may affect the answers given
Estimate the effect of question order
Perhaps devise more than one version
Begin with most interesting questions
End with duller, demographic data
This is opposite for in-person interview surveys

6. Self-Administered Questionnaires6
Self-Administered Questionnaires
Can be home-delivered
Researcher delivers questionnaire to home of sample respondent, explains the study, and then comes back later
Mailed (sent and returned) survey is most common
Researchers must reduce the trouble it takes to return a questionnaire

7. Warning Mailings, Cover Letters7
Warning Mailings, Cover Letters
Used to increase response rates
Warning mailings – “address correction requested” card sent out to determine incorrect addresses and to “warn” residents to expect questionnaire in mail
Cover letters – detail why survey is being conducted, why respondent was selected, why is it important to complete questionnaire
Include institutional affiliation or sponsorship

8. Other Aspects of Self-Administered Questionnaires8
Other Aspects of Self-Administered Questionnaires
Monitoring returns – pay close attention to the response rate, assign #s serially
Follow-up mailings – nonrespondents can be sent a letter, or a letter and another questionnaire; timing
Acceptable response rates – 50%? 60%? 70%?
We would rather have a lack of response bias than a high response rate

9. Computer-Based Self-Administration9
Computer-Based Self-Administration
Via fax, , web site/page
Issues
representativeness
mixed in with, or mistaken for, spam
requires access to Web
sampling frame?

10. In-Person Interview Surveys10
In-Person Interview Surveys
Typically achieve higher response rates than mail surveys (80-85% is considered good)
Demeanor and appearance of interviewer should be appropriate; interviewer should be familiar with questionnaire and ask questions precisely
When more than one interviewer administers, efforts must be coordinated and controlled
Practice interviewing

11. Telephone Surveys 94% of all households now have telephones11
Telephone Surveys
94% of all households now have telephones
Random-Digit Dialing
Obviates unlisted number problem
Often results in business, pay phones, fax lines
Saves money and time, provides safety to interviewers, more convenient (pajamas!)
may be interpreted as bogus sales calls; or the ease of hanging up

12. Comparison of the Three Methods (mailed, phone, interviews)12
Comparison of the Three Methods (mailed, phone, interviews)
Self-administered questionnaires are generally cheaper, better for sensitive issues than interview surveys
Using mail – local and national surveys are same cost
Interviews – more appropriate when respondent literacy may be a problem, produce fewer incompletes, achieve higher completion rates
Validity low in survey research; reliability high
Surveys are also inflexible, superficial in coverage

13. Specialized Interviewing13
Specialized Interviewing
Two variations:
General interview guide – less structured, lists issues, topics, questions you wish to cover; no standardized order
Standardized open-ended interview – more structured, specific questions in specific order; useful in case studies, retrieves rich detail in responses

14. 14
Focus Groups
12-15 people brought together to engage in guided group discussion of some topic
Members are selected to represent a target population, but cannot make statistical estimates about population
Most useful when precise generalization to larger group is not necessary
May be used to guide interpretation of questionnaires following survey administration

15. Should You Do It Yourself?15
Should You Do It Yourself?
Consider start-up costs
Finding, training, paying interviewers is time consuming and not cheap, and requires some expertise
Mail surveys are less expensive, and can be conducted by 1-2 persons well
The method you use depends on your research question