SURVEY DESIGN

FR. ROBERT KIZITO OLOO

REG. NO. 1039630

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Survey is a type of design in which investigators/researchers administer a
survey sample or to the entire population to describe the attitudes, opinions,
behaviors or characteristics of the population. Surveys gather data at a
particular period in time with the intention of describing the nature of existing
conditions or identifying standards against which existing conditions can be
compared or determining the relationships that exists between specific events.
 Definition
 Survey is a type design that gathers data at a particular point in time with
the intention of describing the nature of existing conditions, or identifying
standards against which existing conditions can be compared, or
determining the relationships that exist between specific events.
 Definition

 Survey is a type design that gathers data at a particular point in time with
the intention of describing the nature of existing conditions, or identifying
standards against which existing conditions can be compared, or
determining the relationships that exist between specific events.
 2.0 THE HISTORY OF SURVEY DESIGN

Gathering data on individuals has a long history, with various censuses dating back to

antiquity. The first documented census occurred in China more than 4000 years ago

Several references to census-taking in relation to taxation occur in the Christian Bible.

Originally, data on individuals were collected primarily for reasons of taxation and

military service. Converse, J. M. (1987).

 Nominal censuses began in Great Britain in 1801, Denmark in 1834, Sweden
in 1860, and Norway in 1865. According to Converse, J. M. (1987), the first
national census was undertaken in the USA in 1790, Canada in 1871, and
Australia in 1881. Simultaneously, other non-state organizations in Britain,
Germany, France, the USA an else where began collecting ‘vital statistics’ data
for purposes such as monitoring disease and creating insurance tables.
. As Igo (2007),points out, ‘Western countries in the nineteenth century
witnessed a wave of surveying by private citizens and philanthropists,
producing a veritable “avalanche of numbers” in the service of industrial and
social reform’. In addition, there is evidence that in the 1800s surveys were
being conducted within academic circles.
For example, Max Weber, a sociologist and political scientist most famous
for his work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, took
part in six data collection Endeavors involving the administration of
questionnaires to individuals. The first, carried out in 1890, included the
study of workers’ attitudes.
Shortly after moving to London in 1875, the shipping magnate Charles
Booth became passionately interested in the problems of poverty and
unemployment plaguing the city that ‘politically and administratively had
scarcely advanced beyond the Middle Ages’ Fried and Elman,( 1968). He
engaged in debates and discussions with politicians, socialists, and social
workers who were unable to adequately answer his key concern: ‘exactly
how the poor lived, exactly how discontented they were, how concretely
they might be helped’, Fried and Elman,( 1968).
. In order to gather information about the poor who did not have children, Booth
extended his data collection endeavors to include sources such as Poor Law statistics,
registered lodging houses documented in police reports, Fried and Elman, (1968),
and what we might today call ‘focus groups’ with colleagues of diverse political
persuasions, Englander and O’Day, (1995). Through a detailed analysis of the data,
Booth and his small team of colleagues and staff constructed an eight category
economic classification system and eventually created a definition of the ‘poverty
line’. Booth and his team set out to conduct a massive endeavor interviewing
members of households and lodging residences.
His work has been credited with leading to the development of modern-day
sampling methods
Lazarsfeld, (1962). Curiously, the first social science study to gain best-
selling status did so based on an ‘objective’ scientific approach that was
based on ‘facts’.
According to Igo (2007), ‘the technical apparatus of social science and its
particular style of reportage, could trump the conditions of its creation’. This
study marked the beginning of the shift to the protean, Converse, (1987)
social survey. However, this approach seems more procrustean in nature,
where the multi-methodological limbs of survey research design were
severed and only the emaciated torso of ‘objective scientific facts’ remained.
Employment of “the” scientific method’ to gather only ‘the facts’, ‘rather
than. slippery opinions’ Converse. J.M (1987), became the goals of the
social surveyor
 .
Well into the 1940s ‘the “survey” was still a number of things – almost
anything empirical’, including contextual descriptions of communities,
individual and aggregate data collected in the field, and detailed data
collected on individuals through, for example, school records. Steadily, the
focus of survey research shifted to that of the individual record, the
standardization of questionnaire wording probability theory based on
random samples, which led to the use of the term ‘sample survey’
Converse. J.M, (1987). By the end of the twentieth century, ‘social
scientific methods, findings, and vocabularies were omnipresent. What had
been quite unfamiliar several generations earlier had become as natural –
and invisible – as the air the Americans breathed’ Igo,( 2007).
 3.0 Steps in conducting surveys
1. Define objectives of the survey 10. Decide how data will be delivered and collected (postal service, interview,

telephone, drop-off, email, internet)

2. Formulate research questions/hypothesis

11. Pilot and refine the instrument

3. Define the target population

12. Train the interviewers (if appropriate)

4. Define the sampling frame and sampling

13. Collect data

5. Decide the kind of survey required

14. Send reminders

6. Decide the issue/ content for focus

15. Analyze data

7. Decide the information needed to address the issue/ consent

16. Report the results

8. Decide the instrumentation and metrics (quantitative/ qualitative)

9. Generate, design, draft and format the data collection instrument (question

types)
 4.0 Types of survey

There are different types of surveys these

include:
1. Longitudinal
2. Cross-sectional
3. Trend studies
4. Case control
5. Census
4.1 Longitudinal survey Longitudinal studies include;
• Trend studies,
• The term longitudinal describes
• Cohort studies,
a variety of studies that are
• Panel studies
conducted over a period of time.

• It gathers data over an extended

period of time. A short-term

investigation may take several

weeks or months. A long-term

study can extend over many

years.
Strengths of longitudinal studies

 Strengths of longitudinal studies

trends, for example in psychology and politics.
 They are effective in determining variable patterns
 They are highly flexible- the focus they use can be
overtime.
shifted while researchers are collecting data
 They ensure clear focus and validity- leads us to
 They can provide high accuracy when observing
circumstances or and end state would come to be.
changes
 They are effective in doing research on development
 Weaknesses

1. They require huge amounts of

time
2. They risk gathering data that is
not 100% reliable- especially
when data is collected at
multiple points
3. They risk experiencing panel
attrition
4. They require a large sample size
5. They can be more expensive
compared with cross-sectional
studies.
4.2 Cross-sectional survey

This is a study where different respondents are studied at one or more

different points in time.

Strengths of cross-sectional study

 Used to prove/disapprove assumptions,

 Not costly to perform and does not require a lot of time,

 Captures a specific point in time,

 Contains multiple variables at the time of the data snapshot,

 The data can be used for various types of researches,

 Many findings and outcomes can be analysed to create new theories/studies or in-depth

research.
 Disadvantages of cross sectional study

 Cannot be used to analyze behavior over a period of time

 Does not help to determine cause and effect

 The timing of the snapshot is not guaranteed to be representative

 Findings can be flawed or skewed if there is a conflict of interest with the funding source.

 May face challenges of putting together the sampling pool based on the variables of the population

being studied.
 4.3 Trend studies
This is a type of survey where the researcher examines changes in trends over time.
Trend studies focus on the same population of people and they use opinion poll
surveys to look at their attitudes over time.

Strengths
 They are effective in determining variable trends overtime.

 They are effective in doing research on development trends, for example in psychology and

politics.

 They are highly flexible- the focus they use can be shifted while researchers are collecting data

 They can provide high accuracy when observing changes

 Weaknesses

1. They require relatively more time

2. They risk gathering data that is not 100% reliable- especially

when data is collected at multiple points

3. They require a large sample size

4. They are quite expensive

 4.4 Case control
Also known as case referent study. It is a type of observational study in which two existing groups
differing in outcome are identified and compared on the basis of some supposed causal attribute.

Strengths Weaknesses

 Relatively inexpensive  They are observational in nature and do not provide the same

level of evidence as randomized controlled trials.

 Have pointed the way to a number of important discoveries and

advances.  Results may be confounded by some factors and give opposite

results to better studies

 Used in the study of rare diseases
 May be difficult to establish the timeline of exposure
 Less costly and shorter in duration
 It has a difficulty of obtaining reliable information about and
 Have greater statistical power
individuals’ exposure over time

 Are placed low in the hierarchy of evidence

 4.5. Census
This is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population, for
example national housing and population census.

Strengths Weaknesses

 Gives room for clarity  It is costly/ expensive

 Improves response rates  Time consuming

 One has time to explain more fully  Double counting which gives inaccurate details
 Conclusion

In conclusion we can say that survey as a design has a big role to play in data
collection and It is used to scan a wide field of issues, population, programs, people.
It also gathers data on a one-shot basis and hence it is economical.
References

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The Oxford Dictionary of statistical Terms: (2003) edited by Yadolah Dodge, Oxford university
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Linda K. Owens (2002), introduction to survey research design SRQ Fall 2002 seminars series.
Schulz KF, Grimes DA (2002), case-control studies: research in reverse
Rothman, K. (2002). Epidemiology: An introduction. Oxford England; Oxford university press
Louis, C, Lawrence, M, &Keith, M. (2018), Research methods in Education 8th edition. N. Y.
Routledge press.
Booth, C. (1891). Labour and Life of the People in London. London: Macmillan.
Converse, J. M. (1987). Survey Research in the United States. Roots and Emergence
1890–1960. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
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Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.