Sample Surveys Lecture 2

SAMPLE SURVEYS

*.V.K.JAYARAGHAVENDRA RAO

WHAT IS A SURVEY?

A survey is an investigation of the behaviour/opinions of aGroup of people or a sample. A sample is one part of a whole that can be examined inorder to know what the rest is like Eg., technology survey on marginal farmers.

Research questions appropriate for a survey?

Not all research questions are appropriate for a survey, you may have a botanical survey,which is entirely different, while in sample surveys we deal with the behavioural aspectsof human beings viz.,•

Behavior •Attitude/beliefs/opinions•Characteristics•Expectations•Self classification•knowledge

Before we go into Sample survey in detail one should know the difference between anexperiment and survey

Experiment:

an experiment usually means a lab or a field experiment done mostly onother than human beings , in some cases even human beings may be the object of anexperiment as in case of medical research, it should have the following elements in order to qualify for an experiment.

1

.

subjects respond to treatment created by the researcher 2.Causality is shown by timing of treatments3.Associations between treatments are observed 4.Controlling alternative explanations5.Physical control on treatments

Survey:

usually refers to collection, classification and inferencing on the human behaviour and the predispositions towards a psychological object thereof also referred toas the attitudinal aspect of a phenomena or technology in question for agriculturalresearchers, it should have the following elements in order to qualify for a sample survey

1.Sample many respondents and ask the same question2.Measure many variables3.Test many hypothesis4.Infer temporal order from questions about past behavior 5.Survey researchers measure variables, which represent alternativeexplanations6.Survey research is correlational 7.Approximations of the rigorous test are done

NAARM LECTURE NOTE-2001

- Sample surveys

Types of surveys:Types of surveys:

There are many types of surveys popular among them are:1

.Mail and self-administered questionnaires :used by social scientists2.Telephone,email,computer-based interviews/surveys: used by market researchers3.Face to face interviews: used by market survey researchers , social scientistsetc.,4.Panel technique-select group and study attitude(opinion poll)- used by psephologists- study of political issues and trends5.PRA and special situations: for need identification of rural folks

Steps in sample surveysSteps in sample surveys

1.Design and planning phase:

this is the

most important phase of sample surveys and it shall be done in detail because once a plan is finalized for a sample survey then the rest will be only execution2.Data collection phase:

in this phase the data will be collected as per the scheme finalized during the design and planning phase

3.Data analysis and presentation:

once the data is collected it shall beanalysed using any of the social science statistical packages like theSPSS-10.1 version currently available

1.Design and planning phase1.Design and planning phase

•

Objectives of the study: spell out the objectives of the study usually in verbal form, like to identify, to analyse, to categorise, indicating what you will do withthe survey.•Decide on type of survey, respondent and population•Develop the survey instrument/questionnaire/semi structured interview schedule(PRA- take the help of judges/experts to do this

Write questions to measure variablesDecide on response categoriesOrganise question sequenceDesign questionnaire layout•

Plan a system for recording answers, items of information: that is go through thequestionnaire/schedule and plan who will interview and who will record •Pilot test the instrument and train the interviewers: test theinstrument/questionnaire/schedule in an area other than where the actual surveyis to take placeSample surveys

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•Sampling: Draw the sample by design or sampling design: the following has tobe considered before drawing the sample

Define target population: all the paddy growers who have grown paddyfor the last 5 years, on an area of more than 5 acres under tank fedirrigation methodDecide on type of sample : let us say stratified random sampleDevelop sampling frame: 10 farmers from each of the taluks from theeight districts, with 10 taluks in each district, so the sample size comes to800Decide on sample size: say n=800Select a sample: after all this finally select the sample taking the helpof revenue officials or extension workers etc.,

DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION OF DRAWING A SAMPLEWhy should we sample for a survey?

Normally people ask this question as to why one should sample for a survey, why not anyone on the roadside or under the banyan tree in a village, the importance of sample in asurvey is to :

• make sample more efficient •Manageable•Cost effective-Provide for lowest possibleCost

Terms used in sampling surveys

Population

: a large pool of cases or elements(all the cases/elements)/even the termuniverse is used

Target population

: specific pool of cases with a criteria

Sampling frame

; a specific list of all cases matching the criteria

Sample surveys

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SamplingUniversedrawSample which represents the population

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