SURVEY RESEARCH DESIGN

Survey research is the collection of data attained by asking individuals questions either in person,
on paper, by phone or online. Conducting surveys is one form of primary research, which is the
gathering data first-hand from its source. The information collected may also be accessed
subsequently by other parties in secondary research.

Survey research is used to gather the opinions, beliefs and feelings of selected groups of
individuals, often chosen for demographic sampling. These demographics include age, gender,
ethnicity or income levels. The most famous public survey focused on demographics is
the United States Census, which occurs every ten years.

CLASSIFYING SURVEYS ON THE BASIS OF SCOPE:

1. A census of tangibles: one seeks information about a small population, such as a single
school, and when the variables are concrete, there is little challenge in finding the
required answers.
2. A census of intangibles: one seeks information about constructs that aren’t directly
observable but must be inferred from indirect measures. Such constructs may include
pupil achievement or aspirations, teacher morale, parents’ attitudes toward school, or the
achievement testing program carried out by most schools.
3. A sample survey of tangibles: one seeks information about large groups. Sampling
techniques are used and the information collected from the sample is used to make
inferences about the population as a whole. The variables must be concrete in nature.
4. A sample survey of intangibles: one seeks information about constructs that aren’t
directly observable but must be inferred from responses made by the subjects to
questionnaires or interviews. For example, how someone is going to vote is an intangible,
but what is marked on a ballot is tangible.

THE SURVEY PROCESS/STEPS

The survey permits one to gather information from a large sample of people relatively
quickly and inexpensively. There are five basic steps involved in survey research:
 1. Planning: Survey research begins with a question that the researcher believes can be
answered most appropriately by means of the survey method. The researcher needs to
decide on the data-gathering technique that will be used.
2. Sampling: The researcher must make decisions about the sampling procedure that will be
used and the size of the sample to survey. If one is to generalize the sample findings to
the population, it is essential that the sample selected be representative of that population.
3. Constructing the instrument: A major task in survey research is the construction of the
instrument that will be used to gather the data from the sample.
4. Conducting the survey: Once the data-gathering instrument is prepared, it must be field-
tested to determine if it will be provide the desired data. Also included in this step would
be training of the users of the instrument, interviewing subjects or distributing
questionnaires to them, and verifying the accuracy of the data gathered.
5. Processing the data: The last step includes coding the data, statistical analysis,
interpreting the results, and reporting the findings.

DATA GATHERING TECHNIQUES

There are two basic ways in which data are gathered in a survey research: interviews and
questionnaires. Each of these has two options, thus providing four different approaches to
collecting data:
1. Personal interview: the interviewer reads the questions to the respondent in a face-to-
face setting and records the answers.
2. Telephone interview: The telephone interview has become more popular and compares
favorably with face-to-face interviewing.
3. Mailed questionnaire: Often much of the same information can be obtained by means of
a questionnaire that is mailed to each individual in the sample, with a request that it be
completed and returned at a given date. Because the questionnaire is mailed, it is possible
to include a larger number of subjects as well as subjects in more diverse locations than is
practical with the interview.
 4. Directly-administered questionnaire: This questionnaire is administered to a group of
people at a certain place for a specific purpose. Examples include surveying the freshmen
or their parents attending summer orientation at a university.
5. Survey: it deals with the brief interviews and discussion with participants about a specific
topic. Only few questions are asked to the participants for clarification of confusions.

ERRORS IN SURVEY METHOD

For a survey to succeed, it must minimize the risk of two types of error:

1. errors of observation: poor measurement of cases that are surveyed

2. errors of non-observation: omission of cases that should be surveyed

Reasons of observational errors

Potential problems that can lead to errors of observation

1. the way questions are written

2. the characteristics of the respondents who answer the questions

3. the way questions are presented in questionnaires

4. the interviewers used to ask the questions.

Reasons of observational errors

There are three sources of errors of non-observation:

1. Coverage of the population can be inadequate due to a poor sampling frame.

2. The process of random sampling can result in sampling error (difference between
the sample and the population that arise due to chance)

3. Nonresponse can distort the sample when individuals refuse to respond or cannot
be contacted. Nonresponse to specific questions can distort the generalizability of
the responses to those questions
 A COMPARISON OF SURVEY DESIGNS
Which survey design should be used when? Group-administered surveys are similar,
in most respects, to mailed surveys, except that they require the unusual circumstance of
having access to the sample in a group setting. We therefore do not need to consider this
survey design by itself; what applies to mail surveys applies to group-administered
survey designs, with the exception of sampling issues. Thus, we can focus our
comparison on the three survey designs that involve the use of a questionnaires with
individuals sampled from a larger population: mail surveys, phone surveys, in-person
surveys, and electronic surveys.
The most important consideration is the likely response rate each method will
generate. Because of the low response rates of mailed surveys, they are the weakest from
a sampling standpoint. However, researchers with limited time, money, and staff
(including most student researchers) may still prefer a mailed survey. Mailed surveys can
be useful in asking sensitive questions because respondents won’t be embarrassed by
answering in front of an interviewer.
Contracting with an established survey research organization for a phone survey is
often the best alternative to a mailed survey. The persistent follow-up attempts that are
necessary to secure an adequate response rate are much easier over the phone than in
person. However, the declining rate of response to phone interview calls is reducing the
advantages of this method.
In-person surveys can be long and complex, and the interviewer can easily monitor
the conditions (the room, noise, and other distractions). Although interviewers may
themselves distort results, either by changing the wording of the questions or failing to
record answers properly, this problem can be lessened by careful training and monitoring
of interviewers and by audio-recording the answers.

So overall, in-person interviews are the strongest design and generally preferable when
sufficient resources and a trained interview staff are available; telephone surveys have many of
the advantages of in-person interviews at much less cost, but response rates are an increasing
problem.
SURVEY RESEARCH DESIGN TYPES

1. Longitudinal/penal study

A longitudinal study, like a cross-sectional one, is observational. So, once again, researchers do
not interfere with their subjects. However, in a longitudinal study, researchers conduct several
observations of the same subjects over a period of time, sometimes lasting many years.

The benefit of a longitudinal study is that researchers are able to detect developments or changes
in the characteristics of the target population at both the group and the individual level. The key
here is that longitudinal studies extend beyond a single moment in time. As a result, they can
establish sequences of events.

2. Cross sectional study

The defining feature of a cross-sectional study is that it can compare different population groups
at a single point in time. Think of it in terms of taking a snapshot. Findings are drawn from
whatever fits into the frame.

The benefit of a cross-sectional study design is that it allows researchers to compare many
different variables at the same time. However, cross-sectional studies may not provide definite
information about cause-and-effect relationships. This is because such studies offer a snapshot of
a single moment in time; they do not consider what happens before or after the snapshot is taken.

3. Successive independent design/ trend studies

A successive independent samples design draws multiple random samples from a population at
one or more times. This design can study changes within a population, but not changes within
individuals because the same individuals are not surveyed more than once. Such studies cannot,
therefore, identify the causes of change over time necessarily. For successive independent
samples designs to be effective, the samples must be drawn from the same population, and must
be equally representative of it. If the samples are not comparable, the changes between samples
may be due to demographic characteristics rather than time. In addition, the questions must be
asked in the same way so that responses can be compared directly.

In the successive independent samples design, different samples of respondents from the
population complete the survey over a time period. The successive independent samples design
allows researchers to study changes in a population over time. The successive independent
samples design does not allow researchers to infer how individual respondents have changed
over time. A problem with the successive independent samples design occurs when the samples
drawn from the population are not comparable-that is, not equally representative of the
population.

Advantages of survey design

1. Relatively easy to administer

2. Can be developed in less time (compared to other data-collection methods)
3. Cost-effective, but cost depends on survey mode
4. Can be administered remotely via online, mobile devices, mail, email, kiosk, or
telephone.
5. Conducted remotely can reduce or prevent geographical dependence
6. Capable of collecting data from a large number of respondents
7. Numerous questions can be asked about a subject, giving extensive flexibility in data
analysis
8. With survey software, advanced statistical techniques can be utilized to analyze survey
data to determine validity, reliability, and statistical significance, including the ability to
analyze multiple variables
9. A broad range of data can be collected (e.g., attitudes, opinions, beliefs, values, behavior,
factual).
10. Standardized surveys are relatively free from several types of errors
Disadvantages of survey design

The reliability of survey data may depend on the following factors:

1. Respondents may not feel encouraged to provide accurate, honest answers

2. Respondents may not feel comfortable providing answers that present themselves in a
unfavorable manor.
3. Respondents may not be fully aware of their reasons for any given answer because of
lack of memory on the subject, or even boredom.
4. Surveys with closed-ended questions may have a lower validity rate than other question
types.
5. Data errors due to question non-responses may exist. The number of respondents who
choose to respond to a survey question may be different from those who chose not to
respond, thus creating bias.
6. Survey question answer options could lead to unclear data because certain answer options
may be interpreted differently by respondents. For example, the answer option
“somewhat agree” may represent different things to different subjects, and have its own
meaning to each individual respondent.  ’Yes’ or ‘no’ answer options can also be
problematic. Respondents may answer ”no” if the option “only once” is not available.