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

2. Admin… Thanks for your work to date, many are trying hard and doing well in the course Remember, you need to contribute to both the weekly discussion post and the Get Write section,

3. Surveys Surveys have often been misunderstood by some researchers who have been socialized in the experimental tradition. Many times, hostility appears between some theoreticians and practitioners with respect to the strong emphasis placed on the experimental tradition as an ideal in social science research.

4. Surveys, 2 Part of this methodological argument may result from a lack of full appreciation of the nature of survey research methods and their potential as tools in investigating many important questions facing the criminal justice system.

5. Surveys, 3 The notion of a survey connotes images of a poll or simple tally ( count of opinion), but survey research has many purposes and can address many scientific problems beyond a simple count of opinion. Descriptive survey research may use statistical probability theory to assess sampling error.

6. Surveys, 4 Analytic survey research attempts to explore questions of cause and effect similar to traditional experimental research. The experimenter utilizes research design before the fact to remove the effects of rival causal factors, whereas the survey researcher tries to remove these rival factors after the fact ( after the data have been collected) through the use of statistical analysis.

7. Surveys, 5 A basic quality of survey research that is at times forgotten and is responsible for much potential error in interpretation of findings is that in most instances surveys record either expressed attitude or claimed behavior and seldom the behavior itself.

8. Topics Appropriate to Survey Research 1 Counting crime – asking people about victimization counters problems of data collected by police Self-reports – dominant method for studying the etiology of crime Frequency/type of crimes committed Prevalence (how many people commit crimes) committed by a broader population 8

9. Topics Appropriate to Survey Research 2 Perceptions and attitudes – to learn how people feel about crime and CJ policy Policy proposals – search for ways to respond to crime that are supported by the general public Targeted victim surveys – used to evaluate policy innovations & program success Other evaluation uses – e.g., measuring community attitudes, citizen responses, etc. 9

10. 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) 10

11. 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 11

12. 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 12

13. 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 13

14. 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 14

15. 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 15

16. 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 16

17. Computer-Based Self-Administration Via fax, email, Web site/page Issues representativeness mixed in with, or mistaken for, spam requires access to Web sampling frame? 17

18. Tips on Self-Report Items Convince subjects you will guarantee confidentiality and anonymity Minimize possible social undesirability you are asking respondents to admit Phrase questions in non-judgmental manner Bear in mind “fading memory” when setting time frame 18

19. 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 19

20. Computer-Assisted Interviews Reported success in enhancing confidentiality Reported higher rates of self-reporting Computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI) – interviewers read questions from screens and then type in answers from respondents Computer-assisted self-interviewing (CASI) – respondent keys in answers, which are scrambled so that interviewer cannot access them 20

21. 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; ease of hangup 21

22. Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) A set of computerized tools that aid telephone interviewers and supervisors by automating various data collection tasks Easier, faster, more accurate but more expensive Formats responses into a data file as they are keyed in Can automate contingency questions and skip sequences 22

23. Comparison of the Three Methods 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 23

24. 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 24

25. 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 25

26. 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 26