CONDUCTI NG SURVEYS,

EXPERI MENT S, O R
OBSERVATI O NS
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CONDUCTING SURVEYS,

PRIMARY AND
SECONDARY
EXPERIMENTS OR
OBSERVATIONS

SOURCES
When you do research, you must gather information and evidence
from a variety of sources.
Primary sources provide raw information and first-hand evidence.
Examples include interview transcripts, statistical data, and works
of art. A primary source gives you direct access to the subject of
your research.
Secondary sources provide second-hand information and
commentary from other researchers. Examples include journal
articles, reviews, and academic books. A secondary source
describes, interprets, or synthesizes primary sources.
Primary sources are more credible as evidence, but good research
uses both primary and secondary sources.
Methods of Study Designs-Observational Studies,
Surveys and Experiments
1. Observational Study:
Studies in which our variable of interest is recorded as
occurring naturally without any
experimenter’s/researcher’s interference. Suppose we
want to deduce whether students prefer listening to music
during studying for better memory. We gather some
students and ask them to record down if in the
last/previous week they listened to music while studying
for better memory. 3
Methods of Study Designs-Observational Studies,
Surveys and Experiments
2. Sample Surveys:
Here, individuals report their values for the variable
being tested themselves to the researcher through some
means. These means include person visiting from house
and recording observations, sending questionnaires
through email, telephonic interviews, internet surveys, etc.

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Common Types of Biases we come across in surveys
Bias is a big issue in the case of surveys. Unfairness in the
methodology in which collecting data/records is called bias. It is
a serious problem in surveys and results in the deduction of
wrong inference from collected data.

a. Convenience Bias or Convenience Sample:

Chosen solely in accordance with the convenience of the
person conducting the survey. Suppose you want to take
feedback, but you only take from 50 buyers for your
convenience. It is wrong because the last few buyers might have
defective products, so the best way is to choose people randomly.
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Common Types of Biases we come across in surveys
b. Volunteer/Self-selected Bias:
individuals themselves choose to be part of the survey. A
survey is going on to calculate the average income of a
particular place. The participants have to come to the survey
center and record their income. Obviously, successful and
higher-income people will go spontaneously to record their
income, but lower-income people may feel shy to disclose their
income. Now we can’t get the real estimate of the average
income of the particular place.

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Common Types of Biases we come across in surveys
c. Non-response Bias:
Where individuals fail to complete or return their survey
response form or refuse to answer. In the above example ,
lower-income people refuse to be part of the survey causing
non-response bias.

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Common Types of Biases we come across in surveys
d. Response Bias:
Individuals take the survey but don’t answer the questions
correctly. Suppose after an election, a survey is done to call the
people and ask if they have cast their votes. It was found that
the number of people who said yes is much more than the
public record.

8
Common Types of Biases we come across in surveys
e. Undercoverage Bias:
The survey doesn’t include appropriate presentation from
certain groups in a target population. Suppose the authority of a
school is conducting a survey for assessing the quality of the
teacher for each grade, but they forget to include 7th and 8th
Grade.

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Methods of Study Designs-Observational Studies,
Surveys and Experiments
3. Experimental:
An experiment is a type of research method in which
you manipulate one or more independent variables and
measure their effect on one or more dependent variables.
Experimental design means creating a set of procedures to
test a hypothesis.

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Methods of Study Designs-Observational Studies,
Surveys and Experiments
Four Steps:
1. Define your research question and variables
2. Write your hypothesis
3. Design your experimental treatments
4. Assign your subjects to treatment groups

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SURVEY TIME
Group Activity 6: Survey Time

A. Create a question (Example: What is your favorite color?).

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B. Ask your 30 classmates about the created questions.
C. Tally the result (answers to the question).

ANSWER TALLY TOTAL

D. Present the result by writing the information in a table and in a bar graph.
D.1. Table: A table should have a little title, so we will be able to understand the
results the table shows.
D.2. Bar Graph

E. Interpret the result.

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