1- Survey

Why Should I Care?

Surveys are very common. However, many are not done well. There are many traps most people don’t know about that reduce their scientific validity.

Definitions

Survey: the act of measuring objects.objects or phenomena.

Social survey:  a research technique that obtains information fromobserves a sample of individuals by asking questions and analyzing the responses.

Questionnaire: an instrument made of a written set of questions organized in a sequence appropriate to the purpose of a survey, or psychological test.

Interview: an instrument made of a loose set of questions, mostly designed to produce an open-ended conversation.

Watch - Ask A Silly Question - CBC Documentary - 1997
https://curio.ca/en/catalog/a4b8ee23-1dbe-41e6-ad06-0ab78dc40812

 

Usefulness

Allows for a “real-time” expression of opinions and attitudes on a particular topic.

In politics, allows to identify shifts in opinions, and relate them to a particular event (speech, riot, etc.)

Business people need them to prepare marketing strategies, advertising campaigns, etc.

Objects of Measurement

Type of Object	Yes	No	Maybe	Example
Personal Characteristic	X			Eye colour, Height, Accent
Socio-Demographic Characteristic	X			Religion, Language, Income, Gender, Ethnicity, Marital Status
Opinion	X			I don’t like Rice Krispies Cereal
Motivations			X	Fear, Hope, Ambition, Greed
Ideology	X			Right-Wing, Left-Wing
Biases / Prejudice	X		X	I trust tall people more than short people
Preferences	X		X	Commercial example: pricing, marketing
Personal History / Background	X		X	Immigration, Settler, Indigenous, Divorce
Family Dynamics	X		X	Number of siblings, Rank in Family, Class
Cultural History	X		X	Military History, Political History, Class
Perception / Self-Perception	X		X	Other people are smarter than me
Aptitude /Ability	X		X	Can hit 3-point shot. Can manipulate others
BehaviourBehavior / Actions		X		Domestic Violence. Narcissist. Kind.
Personality	X			Agreeable, Irritable, Outgoing
Moods / Emotions	X			Sad, Happy
Performance			X	Productivity, Quality
Level of Knowledge	X			School test. Diagnostic quiz.

Sampling

Hopefully _random___RANDOM and _large____.LARGE, especially when using a questionnaire.

PossibleThis is possible using phonebooksa list of the population such as listsa oflocal population,phonebook, butwhich notis sodifficult muchto throughachieve _emailwith email and internet_internet .surveys.

With interviews, samples are non-random and tiny.rather small.

Types of Surveys

1. Cross-sectional: compare many independent variables to a dependent variable
2. Longitudinal: compare a few variables over time
   • Trend: similar samples taken at different time points
   • Panel: same sample followed through time

Instruments

1. Questionnaire: set question list, closed-ended questions, larger sample
   • In-person
   • Telephone
   • Internet
   • Group
2. Interview: starting question list, open-ended questions, smaller sample
   • Field interview
   • Formal Face-to-face interview

Scientific Power

Exploratory: possible but not likely if the topic is taboo or difficult to discuss.

Mostly descriptive studies, which focus on who,5Ws. where, how and what.

But mayMay also be used for explanatory studies which validate hypotheses and their causal relationships (why)., using cross-sectional tables.

Warning – “Surveys” are alsooften used by corporations as a commercial ploy to engage a sales pitch, or to build an email mailing listslist for future advertising.