Ch.8: Survey Research, an overview

- Researchers do not take care in designing both the survey instrument and sampling frame. - Can be well designed but could also be delivered too late or have measured the wrong thing. - Researchers intend to study actual behavior but respondents may error in answering questions about what they have done or will do. - Low response rates - Communication problems (survey errors)

Disadvantages of surveys

_______ assume the purpose of the study must be hidden from the respondent.

Disguised (indirect) questions

_______ is a category of response bias that results because some individuals tend to use extremes when responding to questions.

Extremity bias

_______ is a response that occurs because the presence of the interviewer influences respondents' answers. (auspices bias) Think playboy and Scientific American question on p.196

Interviewer bias

1. Primary data 2. Communication 3. Sample 4. Representative

Key concepts of survey research

_______ are studies in which data are collected at multiple points in time using: a) SUCCESSIVE (different) samples in a tracking study or cohort study b) the same sample in a panel study (consumer panels, retailer panels, etc) d) tracking studies

Longitudinal studies

Temporal studies are projects that require _______.

Multiple surveys over a long period

_______ is data observed or collected directly from first-hand experience.

Primary data

_______ is a statistical fluctuation that occurs because of chance variation in the elements selected for a sample.

Random sampling error

Surveys ask people for answers. If people cooperate and give truthful answers, a survey will likely accomplish its goal. If conditions are not met, nonresponse error or response, the two major categories of _______, may cause sample bias.

Respondent error

_______ are people who verbally answer an interviewer's questions or provide answers to written questions.

Respondents

_______ is the tendency for respondents to agree with all or most questions asked of them in a survey.

Acquiescence bias

The result of improper administration or execution of the research task is called an _______. This error is caused by carelessness, confusion, neglect, omission, or some other blunder.

Administrative error

-Faster data collection - Relatively inexpensive data collection - Data can be very accurate if sampling is properly done

Advantages of surveys

_______ is a longitudinal survey of the same sample of individuals or households to record their attitudes, behavior, or purchasing habits over time.

Consumer panel

Longitudinal studies are better than cross-sectional because it _______ gathers, measures, and collects data over time to implement towards achieving ones goal.

Continuously

_______ are studies in which various segments of a population are sampled and data collected at a single point in time. (think new years resolution study on p.199-200) The typical method of analyzing a cross-sectional survey is to divide the sample into appropriate subgroups. Research has a lot to do with market segmentation.

Cross-sectional studies

Processing data by computer, like any arithmetic or procedural process, is subject to error because data must be edited, coded, and entered into computers by people. The accuracy of data processed by computer depends on correct data and programming. If something goes wrong with this it is known as _______.

Data-processing error

Because survey research is _______, the term survey is most often associated with quantitative findings.

Descriptive research

_______ is a systematic error that results in an unrepresentative sample because of an error in either the sample design or the execution of the sampling procedure.

Sample selection error

A _______ is a survey that emphasizes contacting respondents who are a representative sample of the target population.

Sample survey

_______ is an innovative evidence-based investigative tool for enhancing witness statements which facilitates recall and protects memory.

Self-administered interview

_______ is bias in responses caused by respondents' desire, either conscious or un-conscious, to gain prestige or appear in a different social role. ''save face''

Social desirability bias

_______ imposes a limit on the number of allowable responses.

Structured questions

A _______ is a method of collecting primary data based on communication (questions and answers) with a representative sample of respondents.

Survey

a) Personal interviews b) Telephone interviews c) Self-administered interviews

Survey research communication methods

_______ are errors resulting from: - Imperfections in the research design that leads to respondent error, or - Mistakes in executing the research - Includes all sources of error other than those produced by the random sampling procedure, these errors or biases are also called non-sampling errors.

Systematic sampling error

- Cross sectional studies - Longitudinal studies

Temporal classification

_______ is a type of longitudinal study that uses successive samples to compare trends and identify changes in variables such as consumer satisfaction, brand image, or advertising awareness. (used to reduce response bias resulting from a prior interview)

Tracking study

- Acquiescence bias - Extremity bias - Interviewer bias - Auspices bias - Social desirability bias

Types of administrative error

- Sample selection error - Interviewer error - Interviewer cheating - Data processing error

Types of administrative error

_______ assume the respondent is willing to answer. (straight forward questions)

Undisguised (direct) questions

_______ does not restrict respondents' answers.

Unstructured questions