Slides

1. PO 375
Fall 2016

6. George Gallup

8.  Forms of Survey Research:
 Face-to-Face Surveys
 Mail Surveys
 Telephone Surveys
 Internet Surveys
 Interviewing
 Personal commmunications with individuals
 Structure of setting varies

9.  Exploratory
 Acquire new information
 Descriptive
 Measure population of interest
 Explanatory
 Test hypotheses
 Verify observed patterns in data

11.  Goal: Make valid and reliable inferences about
a population of interest w/ a sample
 How do we do this?
 “Law of Large Numbers”
 Randomly selected and independent observations
 Larger the sample size, the more likely it is that the
sample mean is close to the population mean

13.  What is validity? What is reliability?
 Validity: True and accurate measure
 Reliability: Consistent results across individuals
 Types of Error:
 Random Error – Occurs by Chance
 Systematic Error – Occurs by Design
 Research Goal: Minimize Error!

16.  #1: Survey Design
 #2: Sampling and Pre-Testing
 #3: Survey Evaluation
 #4: Data Collection
 #5: Data Collation and Management
 #6: Data Analysis

20.  Traditional Mode of Surveying / Interviewing
 Respondent’s Natural Surrounding
 Home or Business
 StructuredQuestionnaire
 Interviewer Presence: Pros and Cons
 Pro: Provide Context to Respondents
 Con: Social Desirability Effects

22.  #1: Low Cost
 #2: Reduction in Error
 #3: Greater Anonymity
 #4: Consider Answers / Consultations
 #5: Accessibility

23.  #1: Simple Questions
 #2: No Opportunity to Probe Respondents
 #3: No Control over Questionnaire
 #4: Low Response Rate

24.  “KISS”Test – “Keep it Simple, Stupid”
 Personalize Survey
 “Dear Austin” vs. Respondent”
 Get Sponsor
 Offer Monetary Incentives:

26. ADVANTAGES
 Moderate Cost
 Speed
 High Response Rate
 Quality
DISADVANTAGES
 Social Desirability
 “Broken” Interviews
 Less Information
 Cell Phones

28.  Too early to judge overall effectiveness
 What are the advantages to this mode?
 Rise of Internet Polling prevented by:
 Access
 “Click-In” Polls

30.  Closed-Ended Questions
 Open-Ended Questions
 Double-Barreled Questions
 Ambiguous Questions
 Leading Questions
 Filter Questions

31.  Combines two questions into one
 Example: Do you agree with the statement
that the situation in Iraq is deteriorating and
that the United States should increase the
number of troops in Iraq?

32.  Question that contains a concept that is not
clearly defined
 Examples:
 What is your income?
 How many children do you have?
 Do you prefer Brand A or Brand B?

33.  Encourages respondents to choose
particular response because the
question indicates researcher expects it
 Example: Don’t you think that global
warming is a serious environmental
problem?

35.  Helping “the needy” versus
those “on welfare”
 “Socialized medicine” versus
“National Health Insurance”
 “Going toWar” versus
“Fighting againstTerrorism”

37.  #1: Saliency - Earlier questions brings up
something in response to later question
 #2: Redundancy – Ensure that respondent
will not repeat themselves
 #3: Consistency
 #4: Fatigue – Leads to quick answers to later
questions

38.  Branching and Filter Questions
 Sorts respondents into subgroups
 Directs subgroups to answer different questions

40.  Asking individuals a series of questions and
recording their responses
 Can be structured or unstructured
 Identical Questions vs. No Specific Questions
 Multiple Choice vs. Open-Ended / “Essay” Questions
 Degree of Freedom of Expression by Respondent
 Degree of Freedom by Interviewer