Sociology 2206A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Proper Length, Design Issues, Nonverbal Communication
23 Apr 2016
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The survey is the most widely used data-gathering technique in social research. Despite the popularity, it is easy to conduct a survey that yields misleading or worthless results. Survey research developed within the positivist approach to social science. The survey asks many people (respondents) about their beliefs, opinions, characteristics and past or present behaviour. They are important for research questions about self-reported beliefs or behaviours: they"re strongest when the answers people give to questions measure variables. Researchers usually ask about many things at one time in surveys, measure many variables and test several hypotheses in a single survey. The following can be asked: 1. Survey researchers sample many respondents who answer the same questions, in the same order, in the same way. They measure many variables, test multiple hypotheses and infer temporal order from questions about past behaviour, experiences of characteristics.
