Survey research methods / Floyd J. Fowler, Jr.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fowler, Floyd J.

Series:

Applied social research methods series ; v. 1.

Applied social research methods series ; 1

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social surveys.

Physical Description:

x, 201 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm.

Edition:

Fourth edition.

Place of Publication:

Thousand Oaks : Sage Publications, [2009]

Summary:

This Fourth Edition of Floyd J. Fowler's bestselling Survey Research Methods presents the very latest methodological knowledge on surveys. It provides students and researchers who want to collect, analyze, or read about survey data with a sound basis for evaluating how each aspect of a survey can affect its precision, accuracy, and credibility. Offering a concise overview of the entire survey research process in clear and easy-to-understand language, the book is well suited to a wide range of readers, including those without strong statistical backgrounds.

Features: Includes two new chapters, "Types of Error in Surveys" and "Analyzing Survey Data," that respectively frame the kinds of errors that affect survey data and put in one place the issues related to preparing survey data for analysis. Includes expanded coverage of web-based and online surveys. Adds the latest research on the effects of nonresponse on error in survey estimates. Provides an updated discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the different strategies for collecting survey data, including multi-mode designs, recent web-based approaches and the emerging challenges of doing telephone surveys. Offers updated references and survey examples. Survey Research Methods is appropriate for undergraduate courses in research methods in the social sciences, as well as for master degree level research methods courses.

Contents:

Reasons for Surveys 1

Components of Surveys 4

Purposes and Goals of This Text 8

2 Types of Error in Surveys 11

Error Associated With Who Answers 12

Error Associated With Answers 14

Recapping the Nature of Error in Surveys 16

3 Sampling 19

The Sample Frame 20

Selecting a One-Stage Sample 24

Multistage Sampling 28

Making Estimates From Samples and Sampling Errors 37

How Big Should a Sample Be? 43

Sampling Error as a Component of Total Survey Error 45

4 Nonresponse: Implementing a Sample Design 49

Calculating Response Rates 50

Bias Associated With Nonresponse 51

Reducing Nonresponse 56

Two Other Approaches to Reducing Nonresponse Error 62

Nonprobability (or Modified Probability) Samples 63

Nonresponse as a Source of Error 66

5 Methods of Data Collection 69

Major Issues in Choosing a Strategy 70

Summary Comparison of Methods 80

6 Designing Questons to Be Good Measures 87

Increasing the Reliability of Answers 88

Types of Measures/Types of Questions 98

Increasing the Validity of Factual Reporting 105

Increasing the Validity of Answers Describing Subjective States 110

Question Design and Error 111

7 Evaluating Survey Questions and Instruments 115

Defining Objectives 116

Preliminary Question Design Steps 116

Presurvey Evaluation 118

Design, Format, and Layout of Survey Instruments 120

Field Pretests 122

Survey Instrument Length 125

8 Survey Interviewing 127

Overview of Interviewer Job 127

Interviewer Recruitment and Selection 131

Training Interviewers 133

Supervision 136

Survey Questions 138

Interviewing Procedures 139

Validation of Interviews 141

The Role of Interviewing in Survey Error 142

9 Preparing Survey Data for Analysis 145

Formatting a Data File 145

Constructing a Code 146

Approaches to Coding and Data Entry 148

Data Cleaning 151

Coding and Data Reduction as Sources of Error 152

10 Analyzing Survey Data 155

Adjusting for Sample Nonresponse and Sample Frame Deficiencies 155

Coping With Item Nonresponse 157

Adjusting for Different Probabilities of Selection 159

Calculating Sampling Errors 160

11 Ethical Issues in Survey Research 163

Informing Respondents 164

Protecting Respondents 165

Benefits to Respondents 167

Ethical Responsibilities to Interviewers 167

12 Provinding Information About Survey Methods 171

13 Survey Error in Perspective 175

The Concept of Total Survey Design 175

Error in Perspective 176.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 181-189) and indexes.

ISBN:

9781412958417

1412958415

OCLC:

214322650