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Questions as Measures An Overview Designing Questions to Gather Factual Data Questions to Measure Subjective States Some General Rules for Designing Good Survey Instruments Presurvey Evaluation of Questions Assessing the Validity of Survey Questions Question Design and Evaluation Issues in Perspective.
Surveys are a cornerstone of social and behavioral research, and with the use of web-based tools, surveys have become an easy and inexpensive means of gathering data. But how researchers ask a question can dramatically influence the answers they receive. Sheila B. Robinson and Kimberly Firth Leonard’s Designing Quality Survey Questions shows readers how to craft high quality, precisely-worded survey questions that will elicit rich, nuanced, and ultimately useful data to help answer their research or evaluation questions. The authors address challenges such as crafting demographic questions, designing questions that keep respondents engaged and avoid survey fatigue, web-based survey formats, culturally-responsive survey design, and factors that influence survey responses. Additionally, “Stories from the Field” features provide real world experiences from practitioners who share lessons learned about survey design, and end-of-chapter exercises and discussion questions allow readers to apply the information they’ve learned.
This state-of-the-art volume provides insight into the recent developments in survey research. It covers topics like: survey modes and response effects, bio indicators and paradata, interviewer and survey error, mixed-mode panels, sensitive questions, conducting web surveys and access panels, coping with non-response, and handling missing data. The authors are leading scientists in the field, and discuss the latest methods and challenges with respect to these topics. Each of the book’s eight parts starts with a brief chapter that provides an historical context along with an overview of today’s most critical survey methods. Chapters in the sections focus on research applications in practice and discuss results from field studies. As such, the book will help researchers design surveys according to today’s best practices. The book’s website www.survey-methodology.de provides additional information, statistical analyses, tables and figures. An indispensable reference for practicing researchers and methodologists or any professional who uses surveys in their work, this book also serves as a supplement for graduate or upper level-undergraduate courses on survey methods taught in psychology, sociology, education, economics, and business. Although the book focuses on European findings, all of the research is discussed with reference to the entire survey-methodology area, including the US. As such, the insights in this book will apply to surveys conducted around the world.
Intended at helping readers prepare and use reliable and valid survey questions, this title shows readers how to: ask valid and reliable questions for the context; determine whether to use open or closed questions; and, choose the right type of measurement (categorical, nominal or ordinal) for responses to survey questions.
Erin Ruel′s 100 Questions (and Answers) About Survey Research covers the entire survey research process, starting with developing research questions and ending with the analysis and write-up. It includes the traditional survey topics of design, sampling, question writing, and validity; includes a chapter on research ethics; covers the important topics of preparing, cleaning, and analyzing data; and ends with a section on how to write up survey results for a variety of purposes. Useful as a supplementary text in the classroom or as a reference guide for anyone starting a new survey project, the guidance is presented in a FAQ style to allow readers to jump around the book, so as to accommodate the nonlinear and iterative nature of research.
This text reviews the literature on crafting survey instruments, and provides both general principles governing question-writing and guidance on how to develop a questionnaire.
Surveys That Work explains a seven–step process for designing, running, and reporting on a survey that gets accurate results. In a no–nonsense style with plenty of examples about real–world compromises, the book focuses on reducing the errors that make up Total Survey Error—a key concept in survey methodology. If you are conducting a survey, this book is a must–have.
Vera Toepoel’s practical, how-to guide to doing surveys online takes you through the entire process of using surveys, from systematically recruiting respondents, to designing the internet survey, to processing the survey data and writing it up. This book helps students and researchers in identifying possible strategies to make the best use of online surveys, providing pro’s and con’s, and do’s and don’ts for each strategy. It also explores the latest opportunities and developments that have arisen in the field of online surveys, including using social networks, and provides expert guidance and examples of best practice throughout. Suitable for those starting a research project or conducting a survey in a professional capacity, this book is the ideal go-to reference for anyone using internet surveys, be it a beginner or a more experienced survey researcher.
The definitive resource for survey questionnaire testing and evaluation Over the past two decades, methods for the development, evaluation, and testing of survey questionnaires have undergone radical change. Research has now begun to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various testing and evaluation methods, as well as to estimate the methods’ reliability and validity. Expanding and adding to the research presented at the International Conference on Questionnaire Development, Evaluation and Testing Methods, this title presents the most up-to-date knowledge in this burgeoning field. The only book dedicated to the evaluation and testing of survey questionnaires, this practical reference work brings together the expertise of over fifty leading, international researchers from a broad range of fields. The volume is divided into seven sections: Cognitive interviews Mode of administration Supplements to conventional pretests Special populations Experiments Multi-method applications Statistical modeling Comprehensive and carefully edited, this groundbreaking text offers researchers a solid foundation in the latest developments in testing and evaluating survey questionnaires, as well as a thorough introduction to emerging techniques and technologies.
This valuable book examines the complex psychological processes involved in answering different types of survey questions. Drawing on both classic and modern research from cognitive psychology, social psychology, and survey methodology, the authors examine how survey responses are formulated and they demonstrate how seemingly unimportant features of the survey can affect the answers obtained. The book provides a comprehensive review of the sources of response errors in surveys, and it offers a coherent theory of the relation between the underlying views of the public and the results of public opinion polls. Topics include the comprehension of survey questions, the recall of relevant facts and beliefs, estimation and inferential processes people use to answer survey questions, the sources of the apparent instability of public opinion, the difficulties in getting responses into the required format, and the distortions introduced into surveys by deliberate misreporting.
