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References
Groves R.M. et al. Survey methodology, Wileyinterscience, 2004
Canada national statistical agency:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/
Eurostat methodological publications
European Values Study (EVS)
INTRODUCTION :
What is a survey ?
A survey is a systematic method of gathering information from (a sample
of) entities for the purpose of constructing quantitative descriptors of the
attributes of the larger population of wich the entities are members
A survey usually originates when an individual or institution is confronted
with an information need and the existing data are insufficient
Inference
Characteristics of a
respondent
Inference
Respondent
answers to
quenstions
Statistical
computing
Characteristics of
the sample
Choose
sampling frame
Construct and
pretest a
questionnaire
Design and
select sample
Recruit and
measure sample
Code and edit data
Response
What
is the
survey
about?
Who
is the
survey
about?
Sample
Respondent
Edited
Response
Postsurvey Adjustments
Survey statistics
Measurement
Response
Edited
Response
Sampling Frame
In a simple case it is a list of all units in the target population, but sometimes it is a s
of units imperfectly linked to population members.
i.e. a list of telephone numbers when the target population is the adult population
Sample
Respondent
Postsurvey
Adjustments
Target Population
Coverage
error
Validity
Sampling Frame
Measurement
Sampling
error
Measurement
error
Sample
Nonresponse
error
Response
Respondent
Processing
error
Adjustments
error
Edited
Response
Postsurvey Adjustments
Survey statistics
Coverage of a target
population by a frame
Undercoverage
Elements in the
target
population
missing from the
frame
i.e.:non telephone
household, using a
telephone frame to
cover the full
household
population
Ineligible units
Covered population
Undercoverage
Target population
Frame population
Ineligible units
Elements in the
frame that are no
member of the
target population
i.e.:business telephone
numbers, using a
telephone frame to
cover the full household
population
Focus groups
Questionnaire pretest
Traditional
data collection methods
Mailing paper questionnaires to respondents,
who fill them out and mail them back
Having interviewers call to respondents on the
telephone and ask them the question in a
telephone interview
Sending the interviewers to the respondents
home or office to administer the questions in
face-to-face (FTF) interviews
FAX
Optical/intelligent
caracter recognition
Disk by Mail
Telephone
Face to face
SAQ
Self administered
questionnaire
Web
Computerised Self
Administered
Questionnaires
CATI
TDE
IVR
computer assisted
telephone interviewing
Touchtone
data entry
Interactive
voice response
Walkman
Audio
CASI
Video
CASI
Disk by Mail
FAX
Web
Telephone
CATI
TDE
IVR
computer assisted
telephone interviewing
Touchtone
data entry
Interactive
voice response
Face to face
SAQ
Self administered
questionnaire
Walkman
Audio
CASI
Video
CASI
Chapter III
DESIGNING
A
QUESTIONNAIRE
BUT
Respondents often take shortcuts to get
through the interview more quickly
OR
Retrieval of
information
Judgment and
estimation
Reporting an
answer
Problems in answering
survey questions
Failure to encode the information sought
Misinterpretation of the questions
Forgetting and other memory problems
Estimation strategies
Problems in formatting answer
More or less deliberate misreporting
Failure to follow instruction
with some type of rating respondents seem to shy away from the negative end of the scale
When the scale points have numerical labels, the label can affect the answer (e.g. if respondents are asked to rate their success in life)
Are you:
Married
Divorced
Widowed
Separated
Never married
A member of an unmarried couple
Note that :
The respondent may not wait to hear or read all the option; they may select the firs reasonable answer they consider (primacy effect)
The opposite coul happen: the last option the interviewer read may be the first one that respondent think about (recency effect)
Attitude questions
Attitude questions are a very commen class of survey questions. The most frequent problems
deals with the wording of questions, the question order and the format of response scales
Are you:
Married
Divorced
Widowed
Separated
Never married
Are you:
Married
Single
In a tipical
week, how
often do you
read a
newspaper?
Religious organisations
Cultural organisations
Political groups
Other
To which volountary
organisation do you
belong to?
Attitude questions
Play attention to the wording
Clearly specify the attitude object of interest
Attitude questions*
play attention to the wording
Measure the strength of the attitute
using a response scale, a separate item
or multiple items that can be combined into a scale
Attitude questions
reduce impact of question order
When asking general and specific questions about a
topic, ask the general question first
(otherwise, the answer to the general question is likely to be affected by the
number and content of specific questions)
Attitude questions
play attention to the response scale
Use closed questions for measuring aptitudes;
(open answers are difficult to code)
Now is up to you!