SOC101 Lecture 3: Lecture 3.docx

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC101
• Professor: Barry Mc Clinchey

Document Summary

Pseudo surveys refer to those done for purposes other than social scientific research. A questionnaire is any set of questions administered to a group of people whereas a survey is a properly designed set of questions. Make sure the question has an answer for everybody. It is often difficult to pose unambiguous questions that may be interpreted differently. Sociologists must avoid double-barrelled questions and take care when posing threatening questions. Positioning respondents at a distance and placing potentially threatening questions near the end of the survey are useful strategies for dealing with threatening questions. In order to make statements about a large population, sociologists may draw a random sample of that population to minimize intentional and unintentional bias. A random sample is one in which everyone in the population has an equal chance of being selected. Although sample size is an important aspect of sampling, the manner in which it is chosen is vital to having confidence in research findings.