Survey Designs

Used to collect descriptive data

Study attitudes or values of a group Common practices of a group

May be used to describe elements of a specific group or generalize to a larger population May study relationships between/among variables

Survey Methods
Interviews
Investigator asks specific questions of a respondent and records responses Affords opportunity for in-depth analysis Types
Structured - investigator uses a specific set of questions Unstructured - no fixed agenda
Has flexibility to diverge from the nature of a question vs. questionnaire Go where the discussion leads you

Survey Methods
Questionnaires
Pen and paper response a pre-determined set of questions Provides anonymity and encourages honest responses Questions should be standardized (everyone answers the same question) and determined to be valid and reliable Requires self-reporting & subject to bias recall

Questionnaires
Disadvantage - may not be able to explore a response in depth
This problem may be alleviated with a good design

Question Types
Closed-ended
Respondent selects from among several choices Example - simple structure (dichotomous response)
Are you currently practicing physical therapy?
a. Yes b. No

Question Types
Response over a continuum
How important do you feel clinical research is to the practice of physical therapy?
a. Very important b. Important c. Somewhat important d. Not important e. Not sure

Question Types
Branching
1. Do you read a professional journal such as PHYSICAL THERAPY at least one time per month?
A. No > Go to question 3. B. Yes

2. How many hours do you spend reading this journal? _________ 3. .

Question Types
Rank-order
The following are characteristics of a researcher. Please order them in terms of importance from 1(most important) to 4 (least important.
_____methodical _____careful _____persistent _____on-time

Question Types
Open-ended
Describe the characteristics that you feel are important to be an effective physical therapy practitioner. _______________________________ _______________________________

Distribution
Mailings (usually with follow-up) email (usually with follow-up)

Mailings
Response rates tend to be low
Respondent not interested Incomplete responses may require discard Respondent does not fill out the survey correctly requiring discard 40% - 60% response rates common 60% - 80% often considered excellent

Because response rates tend to be low a large sample is usually required

Measurement Scales
Categorical - assigns or classifies
Gender Diagnosis Ethnic group

Continuous
Interval or ratio
age, years of experience

Ordinal
pain as minimal - moderate - severe

Measurement Scales
Likert - assess agreement
Strongly agree (SA) Agree (A) Neutral (N) Disagree (D) Strongly disagree (SD)

Measurement Scales
Visual Analogue Score (VAS)
Describe your level of pain.
No pain |------/---------------------| Severe pain

Analysis
Descriptive statistics
65% of the respondents were female 35% of the respondents were male

Frequency analysis
Chi square examines significant relationships between variables