Survey Research Design (PPT). This MS PowerPoint Presentation contains simplified discussions on the definitions, development, characteristics, types, and designs of a survey research. If loading of the ppt viewer version takes longer than expected, click the link below to download the file.
Survey Research Design (Notes)
Survey Research is a specific type of field study that involves the collection of data from a sample of elements (e.g., adult women) drawn from a well-defined population (e.g., all adult women living in the Philippines) through the use of a questionnaire (Visser, P. S., Krosnick, J. A., & Lavrakas, P.J., 2000).
It is a set of procedures in quantitative research in which investigators administer a survey to a sample or the entire population of people in order to describe the attitudes, opinions, behaviors, or characteristics of the population (Philips, P.P., Philipis, J.J., & Aaron, B., 2003).
Survey research is appropriate means of gathering information under three major conditions:
- when the goals of the research call for quantitative and qualitative data,
- when the information sought is specific and familiar to the respondents,
- when the researcher has prior knowledge of the responses that are likely to emerge
Characteristics of Survey Research
- Description. It can be used to describe phenomena and summarize them. Also, the usual goal is to get a precise measurement of such phenomena.
- Causal Explanation.It measures associations between variables; e.g., school grades and self-esteem.
- Evaluation. It can be useful for determining the degree to which a desired objective is attained as a result of a planned program, hence surveys after interventions.
- Prediction. Survey data can be used to forecast future events. (Essentials of Survey Research and Analysis, Polland, R.J., 2005).
Survey Research Designs
Experimental Survey Research Design includes surveys that can be taken before, during, and after a program, event, or intervention (compares results between control and experimental groups).
Descriptive Survey Research Design looks into the status of a given situation using a survey (examines associations of variables rather than causal relationships).
Cross-sectional Surveys involve the collection of data at a single point in time from a sample drawn from a specified population. Cross-sectional surveys do offer the opportunity to assess relations between variables and differences between subgroups in a population. For example, cross-sectional surveys are routinely conducted to assess the frequency with which people perform certain behaviors or the number of people who hold particular attitudes or beliefs.
Repeated Cross-Sectional Surveys. Additional evidence consistent with a hypothesized causal relation would be that changes over time in a dependent variable parallel changes in a proposed independent variable. One way to generate such evidence is to conduct repeated cross-sectional surveys, in which data are collected from independent samples drawn from the same population at two or more points in time. If a hypothesized causal relation exists between two variables, between-wave changes in the independent variable should be mirrored by between- wave changes in the dependent variable. For example, if one believes that interracial contact may reduce interracial prejudice, an increase in interracial contact over a period of years in a society should be paralleled by a reduction in interracial prejudice.
In a Panel Survey, data are collected from the same people at two or more points in time. Perhaps the most obvious use of panel data is to assess the stability of psychological constructs and to identify the determinants of stability.
Experiments with Surveys. Additional evidence of causal processes can be documented in surveys by building in experiments. If respondents are randomly assigned to ‘treatment’ and ‘control” groups, differences between the two groups can then be attributed to the treatment. Every one of the survey designs detailed above can be modified to incorporate experimental manipulations (Weisberg, H., Krosnick, J. A., & Bowen, B. (1989). Introduction to survey research, polling, and data analysis).