Engaging and informative, this book provides students and researchers with a pragmatic, new perspective on the process of collecting survey data. By proposing a post-positivist, interviewee-centred approach, it improves the quality and impact of survey data by emphasising the interaction between interviewer and interviewee. Extending the conventional methodology with contributions from linguistics, anthropology, cognitive studies and ethnomethodology, Gobo and Mauceri analyse the answering process in structured interviews built around questionnaires. The following key areas are explored in detail: An historical overview of survey research The process of preparing the survey and designing data collection The methods of detecting bias and improving data quality The strategies for combining quantitative and qualitative approaches The survey within global and local contexts Incorporating the work of experts in interpersonal and intercultural relations, this book offers readers an intriguing critical perspective on survey research. Giampietro Gobo, Ph.D., is Professor of Methodology of Social Research and Evaluation Methods at the Department of Social and Political Studies - University of Milan. He has published over fifty articles in the areas of qualitative and quantitative methods. His books include Doing Ethnography (Sage 2008) and Qualitative Research Practice (Sage 2004, co-edited with C. Seale, J.F. Gubrium and D. Silverman). He is currently engaged in projects in the area of workplace studies. Sergio Mauceri, Ph.D., is Lecturer in Methodology of Social Sciences and teaches Quantitative and Qualitative Strategies of Social Research at the Department of Communication and Social Research - University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’. He has published several books and articles on data quality in survey research, mixed strategies, ethnic prejudice, multicultural cohabitation, delay in the transition to adulthood, worker well-being in call centres and homophobia.

Written with the needs and goals of a novice researcher in mind, this fully updated third edition provides an accurate account of how modern survey research is actually conducted. In addition to providing examples of alternative procedures, Designing Surveys shows how classic principles and recent research guide decision-making from setting the basic features of the survey through development, testing, and data collection.

Based on the needs of business, marketing and social science students, this book provides an accessible and easy-to-follow guide to survey data analysis. The book avoids the more usual statistics-driven perspective. Rather, it provides an intuitive feel for handling survey data by emphasising that data analysis is more about understanding the research objectives, what kinds of data have been collected, how quantitative data were generated by the process of measurement, how to create a data matrix and how to transform raw data before thinking about appropriate statistical calculations. The author begins by considering what data are, the different kinds of data that surveys generate, and the tripartite format of all quantitative data. The processes of measurement and the errors that may arise are carefully explained. Coverage of the creation and analysis of a data matrix using SPSS is then provided. The author then reviews what kinds of statistical procedure are required for what kinds of data and for what purposes. The book concludes by giving a review of strategies for coping with all the kinds of practical problems that arise in survey research. Reader-friendly throughout, Data Analysis: A Guide to Market and Social Research provides numerous worked examples, end-of-chapter questions and points for further discussion to help reinforce concepts learnt. A data diskette containing the worked examples in SPSS is also provided in the back of the book. Also available is a companion website with extra features to accompany the text, please take a look by clicking below - http://www.palgrave.com/business/kent/index.asp

Designing and Doing Survey Research is an introduction to the processes and methods of planning and conducting survey research in the real world. Taking a mixed method approach throughout, the book provides step-by-step guidance on: • Designing your research • Ethical issues • Developing your survey questions • Sampling • Budgeting, scheduling and managing your time • Administering your survey • Preparing for data analysis With a focus on the impact of new technologies, this book provides a cutting-edge look at how survey research is conducted today as well as the challenges survey researchers face. Packed full of international examples from various social science disciplines, the book is ideal for students and researchers new to survey research.

In this first book of the series Survey Methods in Educational Research, we have brought together leading authors and scholars in the field to discuss key introductory concepts in the creation, implementation, evaluation and dissemination of survey instruments and their resultant findings. While there are other textbooks that might introduce these concepts adequately well, the authors here have focused on the pragmatic issues that inevitably arise in the development and administration process of survey instruments. Drawing from their rich experiences, the authors present these potential speed bumps or road blocks a survey researcher in education or the social sciences might encounter. Referencing their own work and practice, the authors provide valuable suggestions for dealing with these issues “your advisor never told you about.” And all of the recommendations are aligned with standard protocols and current research on best practices in the field of research methodology. This book is broken into four broad units on creating survey items and instruments, administering surveys, analyzing the data from surveys, and stories of successful administrations modeling the entire research cycle. Each chapter focuses on a different concept in the survey research process, and the authors share their approaches to addressing the issues. These topics include survey item construction, scale development, cognitive interviewing, measuring change with self-report data, translation issues with surveys administered in multiple languages, working with school and program administrators when implementing surveys, a review of current software used in survey research, the use of weights, response styles, assessing validity of results, and effectively communicating your results and findings … and much more. The intended audience of the volume will be practitioners, administrators, teachers as researchers, graduate students, social science and education researchers not experienced in survey research, and students learning program evaluation. In brief, if you are considering doing survey research, this book is meant for you.

This book addresses the needs of researchers who want to conduct surveys online. Issues discussed include sampling from online populations, developing online and mobile questionnaires, and administering electronic surveys, are unique to digital surveys. Others, like creating reliable and valid survey questions, data analysis strategies, and writing the survey report, are common to all survey environments. This single resource captures the particulars of conducting digital surveys from start to finish

A complete guide to carrying out complex survey analysis using R As survey analysis continues to serve as a core component of sociological research, researchers are increasingly relying upon data gathered from complex surveys to carry out traditional analyses. Complex Surveys is a practical guide to the analysis of this kind of data using R, the freely available and downloadable statistical programming language. As creator of the specific survey package for R, the author provides the ultimate presentation of how to successfully use the software for analyzing data from complex surveys while also utilizing the most current data from health and social sciences studies to demonstrate the application of survey research methods in these fields. The book begins with coverage of basic tools and topics within survey analysis such as simple and stratified sampling, cluster sampling, linear regression, and categorical data regression. Subsequent chapters delve into more technical aspects of complex survey analysis, including post-stratification, two-phase sampling, missing data, and causal inference. Throughout the book, an emphasis is placed on graphics, regression modeling, and two-phase designs. In addition, the author supplies a unique discussion of epidemiological two-phase designs as well as probability-weighting for causal inference. All of the book's examples and figures are generated using R, and a related Web site provides the R code that allows readers to reproduce the presented content. Each chapter concludes with exercises that vary in level of complexity, and detailed appendices outline additional mathematical and computational descriptions to assist readers with comparing results from various software systems. Complex Surveys is an excellent book for courses on sampling and complex surveys at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also a practical reference guide for applied statisticians and practitioners in the social and health sciences who use statistics in their everyday work.