Getting knowledge about peoples opinions, behaviour etc.

(a) Survey Research <http:www.s!u.ca"sreiblin#$%&'()!inalnode&.ht*l+

Survey research is one of the most common forms of research that we encounter everyday. We receive
surveys about our shopping habits by mail and surveys about our political beliefs by phone, and surveyors
also come door to door to ask us for our opinions.
Survey research is a form of research used when researchers and/or the companies that hire them need to
know more about a population. The main goal of survey research is to produce an accurate picture of the
population from which the sample is drawn'' !"#$%,p.&'(.This means that anyone who is interested in the
behaviors, attitudes, beliefs or )ust about any other demographic or psycho*graphic characteristic of a
population can use a survey to find the answers to their +uestions.
Surveys can be used in may instances. Some of these include,
public opinion polls and market research studies
analyses of social influence
measuring behaviors, attitudes, values and beliefs
gathering information to create policy
determining financial trends in consumer and business habits
determining how to best reach a potential audience
The survey is an appropriate means of gathering information under three conditions, when the goals of the
research call for +uantitative and +ualitative data, when the information sought is specific and familiar to the
respondents, and the researcher has prior knowledge of the responses likely to emerge.''
,-lthough survey research see*s to be a si*ple proposition consisting o! asking people .uestions and
then counting up their responses, social science has !or*ali/ed this process to legiti*i/e it as a
scienti!ically valid research *ethod. 0he debate around the validity o! survey research continues to
rage on in acade*ic circles.,
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(b) Questionnaire Reliability <http://www.decpoint.com/reliability.html>
Here are nine things to listen for or ask questions about:
Are there any statements or guidelines about "sample size", or the minimum number of respondents
necessary for good results. If there is no concern about minimum sample sizes, there won't be any
discussion about reliability.
If they seem to know what reliability is, do they *easure it2 -nd how do they *easure it? here
are different appro!ed ways " listen for words like #test$retest#, #equi!alent forms#, #split$half#, or
#%ronbach's Alpha#. &ou don't ha!e to know what those reliability terms mean, but your pro!ider certainly
should.
Ask if they will measure the reliability o your !uestionnaire"s results. his is far better than a test
of reliability performed at another time and place. It will gi!e you concrete e!idence of whether your
results can be trusted.
Ask them if their questionnaire controls or dierent response patterns of the respondents. 'id you
e!er notice that some teachers gi!e mostly %'s and ('s with few A's, while other teachers gi!e mostly A's

and only a few ('s and %'s) *eople fill out questionnaires the same way " some are #black and white#
using lots of high and low responses, while others use two or three bo+es only. ,ust like an A grade from
an easy teacher is different than an A from a hard teacher, a reliable questionnaire knows that a #-# from
one respondent is not be the same as a #-# from another.
Ask them if their questionnaire controls or the eect o a issue"s position in the sur!ey. It is known
that people spend more time thinking about their answers at the beginning and get tired toward the end of
a sur!ey. 'oes their questionnaire present different !ersions so each issue appears both early and late in
the sur!ey)
Ask if they are able to detect collusion " when a group of respondents agree in ad!ance how they will
answer the questionnaire, to make the results come out a particular way.
Ask if they measure the #ariability o each !uestion or issue, to know on which issues people agree
and on which they disagree.
Ask if they can identiy respondents who ha#e diiculty understandin$ the !uestions or
instructions because of literacy or language issues.
%hat is Reliability& and %hy 'oes (t )atter?
If you buy an unreliable questionnaire, it's like trying to measure the length of something with a rubber tape
measure. &ou can mark off inches or centimeters !ery precisely, but the tape must be a material that is infle+ible
in the direction of measurement. .teel or fiberglass work wonderfully for this purpose. hey coil or fold up, but in
the direction of measurement, they are rigid. /ot so if the material is rubber. &ou could make your marks at
precise inter!als, but the fle+ibility of the material would destroy its reliability. Questionnaires that use ratin$
scales to record people"s opinions are li*e rubber tape measures. 0or more on this, please read 1hat's
1rong 1ith 2ating .cales).
/on$technically speaking, a reliable questionnaire is one that that would $i#e the same results if you used it
repeatedly with the same group. hat may sound funny because most organizations don't administer a
questionnaire to the same group twice. (ut if they did, they would learn how reliable their questionnaire is,
because a reliable sur!ey will gi!e the same results on uesday as it did the pre!ious 3onday. Instead of doing it
twice, statisticians ha#e de#ised tests o reliability for questionnaires. hese tests let us know whether the
results are meaningful.
2eliability is a property of the measuring instrument. If you are like many people, you probably get on your
bathroom scale in the morning, look at the weight displayed, then step off, and do it again. &ou ha!e learned that
what is displayed by a bathroom scale the first time is not always e+actly the same as the second, but it is usually
!ery close.
1hat if one morning you weighed yourself, then a second time, and the second weight displayed was 4 lbs.
hea!ier than the first) &ou would probably step off, then weigh yourself a third time. 1hat if it was now 5 lbs.
lighter than the first) 1ould you still be concerned about your weight) 6r would you be more concerned about
finding out what's #wrong# with the scale) 1hat's wrong is that your scale has become unreliable. &ou can see
unreliability by repeatedly measuring the same thing. And when you know the scale is unreliable, you don't e!en
try to measure your weight, you concentrate on fi+ing the scale first.
6nly when you know your questionnaire is reliable, can you begin to discuss !alidity 7see the site for more
problems related to sur!eys8.