Module 11- Survey Research Flashcards
(49 cards)
1
Q
Survey Research/ Methods
A
- form of naturalistic research
- no variables are being manipulated
- asking participants to report there attitudes, behaviours and intentions
- documenting the current state of variables and there relationship
2
Q
goal of survey research
A
- produce a snap shot of opinions, attitudes or behaviours of a group of people at any given time
- generalize our findings
3
Q
Personal Interviews
A
- involves direct personal contact between the researcher and the participant
- often both are in the same room
- referred to as the GOLD STANDARD of survey research bc it has the most advantages
4
Q
Advantages of personal interviews
A
- direct contact with the participant
- can correct any misunderstandings
- researcher can probe the participant more if the response is vague
- because the researcher is present, can instil some control
- build a relationship and trust between the participant (building rapport) ; give non verbal cues to make the participant feel more comfortable
- gives the highest response rate; larger proportion of the participants agree to participate. people like to talk face to face
5
Q
what method gives the highest quality research data
A
- personal interviews
- bc of the control researchers have, ability to clear up misunderstandings and probe for details
6
Q
Disadvantages of Personal Interviews
A
- drawbacks stem from the fact that the researcher is right there in front of the participant
- interviewer effects; researcher influencing the responses of the participants
- like to talk to people who are like us; age, gender, ethnicity etc of the researcher can effect how much the participant opens up
- threats to reactivity; participants might not be entirely truthful in their responses when directly in front of the researcher
- want to give socially desirable responses
7
Q
how to avoid threats to reactivity
A
- build good rapport with the participant
8
Q
Disadvantages to personal interviews
A
- cost; most expensive survey method
- takes alot of time
9
Q
when want detailed/ rich data use
A
- personal interviews
10
Q
Telephone Interviews
A
- involves asking participants questions over the phone
11
Q
Advantages of telephone interviews
A
- short survey
- get responses from participants who are geologically dispersed
- stem from the fact that interviewers is not in direct contact with the participant
- age, gender, ethnicity is not as important
- more open to talk about personal matters
- large number of participants
- decreased cost
12
Q
Disadvantanges of telephone interviews
A
- going out of style and use because are more suspicious of answering the phone and giving personal info over the phone
- survey saturation; getting to many calls to participate. Tired of it and don’t want to participate
- don’t get as detailed responses bc it is quicker
13
Q
Specialized Population
A
- pre formed population of individuals that share some sort of characteristic of interest
ex. population of psych 235 students - more likely to answer telephone interviews especially if it pertains to a topic that align with their interests
14
Q
Mail surveys/ mail questionnaires
A
- sending the participant survey materials by mail
- participant completes it and sends the responses back to the researcher
15
Q
Online/ Internet Surveys
A
- researcher emails the questionnaire to participants and then the participant emails it back
- internet surveys becoming more popular bc researcher can design a more interactive questionnaire that is more engaging and convenient
16
Q
Advantages of Mail questionnaires
A
- participant can complete it at their own convenience
- sense of anonymity for participants
- no threat to interviewer bias
- most cost effective
- collect a large sample quickly and inexpensively
17
Q
Disadvantages of Mail questionnaires
A
- researchers have no control over anything
- don’t have control over who completes the survey
- cannot clear up misunderstandings
- cannot probe for more detailed responses
- lowest response rate
18
Q
advantages of internet questionnaires
A
- can collect a large sample, sense of anonymity, can complete at own convenience, not interviewer bias; same as mail questionnaires
- researcher can design the online survey to be more interactive (ex. pictures, graphics)
- can control which order participants are answering questions
can prompt participants if there are any unanswered questions
19
Q
disadvantages of internet questionnaires
A
- cannot control who answers it
- hard to clear up misunderstandings
- sample only is limited to people who have access to internet; makes a biased sample
- same person can complete the questionnaire multiple times
20
Q
why is it difficult to design a survey
A
- make sure the wording of questions is correct
- questions are in the correct order
- avoid bias
- maximize the reliability and validity
21
Q
Pilot Testing
A
- necessary step for survey development
- administering your test to a small group of people to ask for feedback regarding confusion and ask for suggestions
- like a test run before you collect data and analyze it
22
Q
Types of survey items/ Item wording
A
- open ended
- closed ended
- sometimes surveys involve both
23
Q
Closed Ended
A
- providing participants a pre determined list of set responses and asking participants to pick at least one
- picking from a list of answers
24
Q
advantages of closed ended
A
- easy way for participants to answer
- easy for researchers to code and analyze their data
25
disadvantages of closed ended
- no guarantee that the researcher will generate a list to encompass all the feelings a participant might feel
- the participant might feel something that is not in the list
26
Likert Scale
- closed ended scale
- used to measure attitudes
- asks participants their level of agreeableness with the statement
- better bc it gives participants more options
27
Open Ended
- allows participants to answer how they choose
- no pre determined responses
- will provide a space and ask to respond
28
Advantages of open ended
- valuable when conducting research on a new topic
- allows for participants to better relay their unique experiences
29
Disadvantages of open ended
- places more demand on the participant
- harder for researcher to code and analyze the data
30
General Rules for Item wording
1. be clear and unambiguous
2. use vocab the participants can understand
3. contingency / filter questions
4. keep threatening questions short
5. avoid leading questions
6. avoid double barrelled questions
31
want our sample to
- represent the larger population
- generalize our findings to a larger population
- external validity
32
2 types of survey error
1. sampling error
2. Non response error
33
Sampling Error
- to have a representative sample, we need to sample from the entire population
- if people are excluded from the sampling pool, then we have a sampling error
34
Non response error
- occurs when people we select from the sample decide not to participate
35
what do both sources of error result in
- sampling bias
- run the risk that our sample will not represent the entire population
36
Representativeness of the population requires
1. complete listing of the entire population; identify each member of the population
2. make sure each person who was selected for the sample actually responds to avoid non response error
37
Stategies for sampling
1. probability sampling
2. non probability sampling
38
Probability Sampling
- only sampling method where we can achieve a representative sample
- therefore using this method we can generalize our findings
- every participant has a know chance of being selected
- complete listing of everyone in the population
- sample composition based on probability and not biased
39
Single random sampling
- probability sampling method
- every participant in the population has an equal chance of being selected for
- ex. putting all the names into a hat
40
Systematic Sampling
- probability sampling method
- pre determined patten at which you will select participants from the list
- ex. selecting every 5th participant on the list
41
Stratified random sampling
- probability sampling method
- involves random sampling in a defined strata/ subdivision of the population
- often do when the strata is small, and worried that random sampling will not pick up enough of theses people
ex. know family physicians strata is small and therefore will pre determine how many are in the sample
42
Cluster sampling
- probability sampling method
- do when the population is very large
- break the population down into small, manageable clusters
- hard to use the complete listing
43
Non- Probability Sampling
- impossible to create an entire listing of all members of a population
- therefore confidence we are going to have a representative sample is going to be low from the start
- bc no complete listing the probability of each member of the pop being selected for the sample is not known
44
Snowball Sampling
- Non probability sampling method
- recruiting a few members of a population into your study and the participants refer you to more people
- potential bias is very high bc participants are likely selecting people who are like them
45
Convenience or accidental sampling
- Non probability sampling method
- take any volunteers
- cannot use this data to generalize to broader population
ex. psych participation pool
46
Purposive Sampling
- Non probability sampling method
- define before hand the characteristics of the population we want, and pick those people to be in our sample
- wont generalize to entire population, but will be important to the people with those characteristics
47
Sample Size
- larger sample provides a more precise estimate of the population (more representative of the population)
- reduces type 2 error
- makes F ratio larger
- makes smaller confidence intervals
- cost and time restraints on a large sample
48
Sample size does not impact
- generalizability
49
Generalizability relies on
- probability sampling methods only
