Surveys
and Coding
I.
Types of Surveys
A.
Mail
B.
Face-to-face
C.
Telephone
D.
Group
E.
Electronic
II.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Surveys
A.
Reliability
B.
Validity
C.
Generalizability
1.
Random vs. Nonrandom
2.
Sample Size
3.
Response Rate
D.
Cost
III.
Guidelines for Questions and Responses
B.
Specific recommendations for questions
1.
Review the literature
2.
Multiple questions for difficult concepts
3.
Use clear, unambiguous, and neutral terms
4.
Be specific
5.
Avoid double negatives
6.
Avoid double-barreled questions
7.
Don’t push-poll
8.
Make deviance acceptable
9.
Pretesting
C.
Specific recommendations for responses
1.
Mutually exclusive
2.
Exhaustive
3.
Mix-up agreement and disagreement
4.
Numerical is (often) better than categorical
5.
Be consistent for all items in an index
6.
Think about open vs close-ended
7.
Think about “Don’t Know”
D.
Group Exercises
1.
Operationalizing Ideology (first conceptualize)
2.
Operationalizing Job Satisfaction (first
conceptualize)
IV.
Guidelines for Questionnaires
A.
Cover Letter
B.
Flow of Questions
C.
Keep it clear
D.
Get all info but keep it short as possible
E.
Follow-ups
V.
Coding Responses
A.
Create a code-book
B.
Input data as numbers into computer
1.
Reverse code if necessary
C.
Constructing indexes
VI.
Sampling
A.
Definitions
B.
Types of Samples
1.
Random (Probability) Sampling
a)
Simple Random Sample
b)
Systematic Sample
c)
Stratified Sample
d)
Multistage, Cluster Sample
2.
Non-Random (Non-probability) Sampling
a)
Availability
b)
Quota
c)
Snowball