Campanelli
Survey Research Methods
Dr. Pamela Campanelli is a Survey Methods Consultant and U.K. Chartered Statistician. She received her Ph.D. in statistics from the London School of Economics, and an M.A. in applied social research and B.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, she was a Research Associate at the Office of Educational Research and Resources at the University of Michigan, a Survey Statistician at the Center for Survey Methods Research at the U.S. Bureau of the Census, Chief Research Officer at the UK Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, and Research Director at the Survey Methods Centre at the National Centre for Social Research, London. Her main interests and publications are in the study of survey error and data quality issues, with a special emphasis on questionnaire design, question testing strategies, interviewing techniques, survey nonresponse, and survey sampling. She regularly teaches short courses in these subjects at the University of Michigan Summer Institute (linked to the Joint Program in Survey Methodology), the University of North Carolina, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Neuchâtel, the University of Essex, the University of Southampton and the Swiss Summer School well as for various other institutions and private businesses (see www.thesurveycoach.com).
Contents
This course introduces students to the principles and procedures of survey research, It focuses on the design and collection phases. Topics include:
- Selecting a survey data collection mode (e.g., face-to-face, telephone, or postal)
- The role of the interviewer and how to do quantitative interviewing
- Special guidelines for self-completion surveys versus interview surveys
- An introduction to survey sampling
- Questionnaire design
- Cognitive guidelines for question construction
- Techniques for measuring the occurrence of past behaviours and events
- The effects of question wording, response formats, and question sequence on responses
- Strategies for obtaining sensitive or personal information
- Etc.
- Techniques for testing survey questions
- The collection and review of actual pretest data
- Strategies for minimising nonresponse before it happens
- Processing the questionnaire material so that it is ready for data analysis
- Other topics, depending on time
The course will have two strands. The first will consist of formal lectures with respect to the survey literature and the theoretical underpinnings of survey research. The second will be to examine survey research from a more informal and practical perspective. It will involve group workshops and exercises where participants are able to put aspects of theory into practice.
Course Objectives
- To raise participants' awareness of all the different aspects involved in the creation and implementation of a quantitative social survey.
- To facilitate participants to become "discerning consumers" of survey research who are able to recognise the advantages and limitations of survey data when reading about survey results, conducting secondary analysis on survey data or commissioning a survey.
- To facilitate participants to be able to conduct their own high quality survey.
Bibliography
Texts used for the course
- Fowler, F.J. Jr., (1995), Improving Survey Questions: Design and Evaluation, Applied Social Research Methods Series Volume 38, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Czaja, R. and Blair, J. (2005), Designing Surveys: A Guide to Decisions and Procedures, Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.
Other references which are particularly useful
- Converse , J. and Presser, S. (1986), Survey Questions: Handcrafting the Standardized Questionnaire, Sage Series No. 63, Thousand Oaks: Sage.
-
Dillman, D. (2000), Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, New York: Wiley.
- [*] Fowler, F.J. Jr. (2002). Survey Research Methods. 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- Fowler, F.J. and Mangione, T.W., (1990), Standardized Survey Interviewing: Minimizing Interviewer-Related Error, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
- [*] Scheuren, F., What is a Survey?, Washington, DC: American Statistical Association. (Available off the internet
http://www.amstat.org/sections/srms/
)
- Groves, R.M. et al (eds) (2004), Survey Methodology, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
[*] Useful to look at in advance of course
Prerequisites
There are no statistical prerequisites for this course, although participants will find it helpful to have a basic knowledge of statistics for the discussion on sampling.
Participants will find it helpful to have knowledge of Windows and SPSS for Windows.