Surveys

Surveys as a respondent for information

using verbal or written questioning
 Communicating with Respondents

• Personal interviews
• Door-to-door
• Shopping mall intercepts
• Telephone interviews
• Self-administered questionnaires
 9-3

What is a Structured Interview?

• Also called a standardized interview
• Interview schedule administered by an
interviewer
• Respondents receive exactly the same interview
stimulus
• Interviewees' replies are aggregated
• Questions are usually very specific
• Often offer the interviewee a fixed range of
answers (known as: closed, closed ended,
pre-coded, or fixed choice questions)
 9-4

Sources of Error in Survey Research

1. Poorly worded questions.
2. Way question is asked by the interviewer.
3. Misunderstanding on the part of the interviewee.
4. Memory problems on the part of the interviewee.
5. Way information is recorded by the interviewer.
6. Way the information is processed, i.e. in the process
of coding or computer data entry.
 9-5

Telephone Survey

Traditional

Computer-
administered
 9-6

Advantages of the Telephone Survey

• Lower costs than

personal interview
• Wide geographic
coverage
• Fewer interviewers
• Reduced interviewer
bias
• Fast completion time
• Random Dialing
• CATI
 9-7

Disadvantages of the Telephone Survey

• Lower response rate iPhone

• Early termination
• Higher costs if
geographically
dispersed sample
• Limited Interview
length Voice-over IP
• Inaccessible
populations
• Limited complexity of
scales
 9-8

Self-Administered Questionnaires

S E L F-A D M IN IS TE R E D
Q U E S TIO N N A IR E S

PAPER E L E C TR O N IC
Q U E S TIO N N A IR E S Q U E S TIO N N A IR E S

M A IL IN -P E R S O N IN S E R TS FA X E -M A IL IN TE R N E T K IO S K
D R O P -O FF W E B S ITE
 9-9

Mail Surveys

• Speed of data collection

– Researcher has no control over return of
questionnaire; slow
• Geographical flexibility
– High
• Respondent cooperation
– Moderate--poorly designed questionnaire will
have low response rate
 How to Increase Response Rates
for Mail Surveys

• Write a “sales oriented” cover letter

• Money helps
- As a token of appreciation
- For a charity
• Stimulate respondents’ interest with interesting questions
• Follow Up
- Keying questionnaires with codes
• Advanced notification
• Sponsorship by a well-known and prestigious institution
 9-11

Improving Response Rates

• Reminders
• Return directions and devices
• Deadlines
• Promise of anonymity
• Appeal for participation
 Internet Surveys

• A self-administered questionnaire posted

on a Web site.
• Respondents provide answers to
questions displayed online by highlighting
a phrase, clicking an icon, or keying in an
answer.
9-13
 9-14

The Web as a Survey Research Venue

Advantages Disadvantages
• Cost savings • Recruitment
• Short turnaround • Coverage
• Use of visual stimuli • Difficulty developing
• Access to participants probability samples
• Perception of • Technical skill
anonymity • System compatibility
• Access to data and issues
experiences • Possible self-
otherwise unavailable selection bias
There is no best form of survey;
each has advantages and
disadvantages.
 Selected Questions to Determine
the Appropriate Technique

• Is the assistance of an interviewer

necessary?
• Are respondents interested in the issues
being investigated?
• Will cooperation be easily attained?
• How quickly is the information needed?
• Will the study require a long and complex
questionnaire?
• How large is the budget?
 Pre-testing A Questionnaire

• A trial run with a group of respondents to

iron out fundamental problems in the
instructions of survey design
 9-18

QUESTIONNAIRE CONTENT

Design the questionnaire and ask these

questions
1. Is the question necessary ?
2. Does it cover all the information required?
3. Is the question/ point within respondents
experience ?
4. Will the respondents answer adequately ?
 9-19

Designing a questionnaire

• The general form – Structured/not

• The question sequence
• The question wording
 9-20

Guidelines for Question Sequencing

Interesting topics early

Classification questions later

Sensitive questions later

Simple items early

Transition between topics

Reference changes limited

 9-21

Question Content

Should this question be asked?

Is the question of proper scope and coverage?

Can the participant adequately

answer this question as asked?

Will the participant willingly

answer this question as asked?
 9-22

Question Wording

Shared
Adequate vocabulary Single
alternatives meaning

Criteria
Misleading
Personalized assumptions

Biased
 9-23

Levels of Measurement

Classification
Nominal

Ordinal

interval

Ratio
 9-24

Nominal Scales

• Mutually exclusive and

collectively exhaustive
categories
• Exhibits the
classification
characteristic only
 9-25

Levels of Measurement

Classification
Nominal

Classification
Ordinal
Order

interval

Ratio
 9-26

Ordinal Scales

• Characteristics of
nominal scale plus an
indication of order
• Implies statement of
greater than and less
than
 9-27

Levels of Measurement

Classification
Nominal

Classification
Ordinal
Order
Classification Distance
interval
Order

Ratio
 9-28

Interval Scales

• Characteristics of
nominal and ordinal
scales plus the
concept of equality
of interval.
• Equal distance
exists between
numbers
 9-29

Levels of Measurement

Classification
Nominal

Classification
Ordinal
Order
Classification Distance
interval
Order
Classification Distance
Ratio
Order Natural Origin
 9-30

Ratio Scales

• Characteristics of
previous scales plus
an absolute zero
point
• Examples
– Weight
– Height
– Number of children
 Method of Summated Ratings:
The Likert Scale

• An extremely popular means for

measuring attitudes. Respondents
indicate their own attitudes by checking
how strongly they agree or disagree with
statements.
• Response alternatives: “strongly agree”,
“agree”, “uncertain”, “disagree”, and
“strongly disagree”.
 Likert Scale for Measuring Attitudes
Toward Tennis

It is more fun to play a tough, competitive

tennis match tan to play an easy one.
___Strongly Agree
___Agree
___Not Sure
___Disagree
___Strongly Disagree
 Semantic Differential

• A series of seven-point bipolar rating

scales. Bipolar adjectives, such as “good”
and “bad”, anchor both ends (or poles) of
the scale.
 Semantic Differential

• A weight is assigned to each position on

the rating scale. Traditionally, scores are
7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, or +3, +2, +1, 0, -1, -2, -
3.
 Semantic Differential Scales for
Measuring Attitudes Toward Tennis

Exciting ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : Calm

Interesting ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : Dull

Simple___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ Complex

Passive ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ : ___ Active

 9-36

Semantic Differential
 9-37

Adapting SD Scales

Convenience of Reaching the Store from Your Location

Nearby ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Distant

Short time required to reach store ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Long time required to reach store

Difficult drive ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Easy Drive

Difficult to find parking place ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Easy to find parking place

Convenient to other stores I shop ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Inconvenient to other stores I shop

Products offered
Wide selection of different Limited selection of different
kinds of products ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: kinds of products
Fully stocked ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Understocked

Undependable products ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Dependable products

High quality ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Low quality

Numerous brands ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Few brands

Unknown brands ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: ___: Well-known brands
 9-38

SD Scale for Analyzing Actor Candidates

 Editing

• The Process Of Checking And Adjusting

The Data
– For Omissions
– For Legibility
– For Consistency
• And Readying Them For Coding And
Storage
 Editing

FIELD
EDITING

IN-HOUSE
EDITING
 9-41

Reasons for Editing

Accurate Consistent

Criteria
Arranged for Uniformly
simplification entered

Complete
Birth Year Recorded By Interviewer

• 1873?
• 1973 MORE LIKELY
 9-43

Coding

• Involves assigning numbers or other symbols to

answers so the responses can be grouped into
a limited number of classes or categories.
• Example:
• “M” for Male and “F” for Female
• “1” for Male and “2” for Female
• Numeric vs Alphanumeric
• Numeric versus Alphanumeric
• Open ended questions
• Check accuracy by using 10% of responses
 9-44

Coding Open Ended Questions