METHODS - Survey methods
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Best Practices for Survey Research. Below you will find recommendations on how to produce the best survey possible.
https://aapor.org/standards-and-ethics/best-practices/
Writing Survey Questions https://www.pewresearch.org/writing-survey-questions/
Next, check these sites on how a survey should be done:
Methods to increase response to postal and electronic questionnaires. Edwards PJ, Roberts I, Clarke MJ, DiGuiseppi C, Woolf B, Perkins C. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2023 Nov 30;11(11):MR000008. doi: 10.1002/14651858.MR000008.pub5. PMID: 38032037; PMCID: PMC10687884. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10687884/
4 tips on great survey design https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/11/10/4-tips-on-great-survey-design/ from 2014 Best Practices for Survey Research Reports: A Synopsis for Authors and Reviewers, JoLaine Reierson Draugalis and others
Am J Pharm Educ. v.72(1); Feb 15, 2008. "This article provides a checklist and recommendations for authors and reviewers to use when submitting or evaluating manuscripts reporting survey research that used a questionnaire as the primary data collection tool." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2254236/
The rest of these sites are grouped by academic, government, private, and organization, but within each group, are presented in no particular order.
Academic sources:
Survey Design and Development for Researchers. Eliza Hallett, Department of Pediatrics. https://www.bumc.bu.edu/crro/training-education/past-seminars/ from 3/11/2020.
Trochim, William M. The Research Methods Knowledge Base, Internet WWW page, at URL: https://conjointly.com/kb/ See chapter on surveys, at https://conjointly.com/kb/survey-research/
Questionnaire Design and Surveys Sampling http://home.ubalt.edu/ntsbarsh/Business-stat/stat-data/Surveys.htm overview of many topics, kind of from a statistical point of view.
Harvard University Program on Survey Research has brief info papers here https://psr.iq.harvard.edu/book/psr-resources although I can't see the dates on any of these.
A Quick Guide to Better Surveys. James Noonan. https://scholar.harvard.edu/jmnoonan/blog/quick-guide-better-surveys October 7, 2022
Scientific Inquiry in Social Work, Matthew DeCarlo https://pressbooks.library.vcu.edu/bswresearch/ has a chapter on Survey Design https://pressbooks.library.vcu.edu/bswresearch/chapter/12-survey-design/ Just to mention, the website says the book will be ready in the Summer of 2024.
Washington State University has a site for doing Surveys https://surveys.wsu.edu One of the pages is Best Practices https://surveys.wsu.edu/surveys/best-practices/ Another interesting page is Survey Issues https://surveys.wsu.edu/surveys/survey-issues/
Designing, Conducting, and Reporting Survey Studies: A Primer for Researchers. Zimba O, Gasparyan AY. J Korean Med Sci. 2023 Dec 11;38(48):e403. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e403. PMID: 38084027; PMCID: PMC10713437. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10713437/
Imperial College, Centre for Higher Education Research and Scholarship, has a page about questionnaires https://www.imperial.ac.uk/education-research/evaluation/tools-and-resources-for-evaluation/questionnaires/ including best practices in questionnaire design.
Government Sources:
Design and Methodology Report. December 12, 2022. The 2022 Design and Methodology Report contains descriptions of the basic design of the American Community Survey and details of the full set of methods and procedures. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/methodology/design-and-methodology.html
Developing and Using Questionnaires. GAO/PEMD-10.1.7 October 1993 238 pp. One of the GAO free books. The booklet is available here http://www.gao.gov/products/PEMD-10.1.7
The National Statistical Service http://www.nss.gov.au/nss/home.NSF/sdm?OpenView has two guides: Basic Survey Design (a basic survey book) and An Introduction to Sample Surveys: A User's Guide. This last one is in the "other" section.
Air University Sampling and Surveying Handbook http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/awcerese.htm This is in the Sampling and Surveys section. 2002.
Survey steps http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/12-539-x/4058337-eng.htm from statcan (statistics Canada). guidelines and principals. 2003
Survey Methods and Practices http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/12-587-x/12-587-x2003001-eng.htm "This publication ows readers how to design and conduct a census or sample survey. It explains basic survey concepts and provides information on how to create efficient and high quality surveys. It is aimed at those involved in planning, conducting or managing a survey and at students of survey design courses." 2003
Developing and Testing Survey Questions http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/Research/DER/BSSRB/PowerPointPresentations/DevelopingTestingSurveyQuestions.htm Gordon Willlis, Ph.D. National Cancer Institute. 2014
Survey design and data collection http://www.stats.govt.nz/surveys_and_methods/methods/survey-design-data-collection.aspx includes "A guide to good survey design" from 2014 or 2015. Also includes "Methodological standard for writing and constructing a questionnaire"
Commercial or private sources:
PEW survey research http://www.pewresearch.org/methodology/u-s-survey-research/ Description of how they do it
PEW also has a page about their methods, Decoded https://www.pewresearch.org/decoded/
One interesting article from Decoded is Pew Research Center’s tips for journalists covering polls – during election season and beyond
Basics of Developing Questionnaires http://www.managementhelp.org/evaluatn/questnrs.htm Written by Carter McNamara, PhD. Part of his site: Basic Guide to Program Evaluation http://managementhelp.org/evaluation/program-evaluation-guide.htm
Creative Research Systems at http://www.surveysystem.com especially see their resources page http://www.surveysystem.com/resource.htm a page on Resources for Survey Researchers, for example, survey design.
Statpac http://www.statpac.com/surveys/ brief (very) overview of survey research, including discussion of cost, cover letters, and a nice little "Questionnaire Research Flow Chart". Qualities of a good question is longer and more detailed.
Valerie Sheppard, Research Methods for the Social Sciences: An Introduction, 2020 https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/jibcresearchmethods/ has a chapter on developing surveys https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/jibcresearchmethods/part/chapter-8-data-collection-methods-survey-research/ and another couple of chapters on sampling, and analyzing survey data.
Organizations:
The American Association for Public Opinion Research. (AAPOR) http://www.aapor.org/ has Best Practices for Survey Research http://www.aapor.org/Standards-Ethics/Best-Practices.aspx and a Transparency Initiative http://www.aapor.org/Standards-Ethics/Transparency-Initiative/Latest-News.aspx The TI "is designed to promote methodological disclosure through a proactive, educational approach that assists survey organizations in developing simple and efficient means for routinely disclosing the research methods associated with their publicly-released studies."
UN Statistical Division Household Surveys in Developing Countries http://unstats.un.org/unsd/hhsurveys/index.htm technical report with sections on Design and implementation, design effect, analysis of data, survey costs. From 2005
Doing surveys on the internet
Also see the research page on this site, which has links about research of using the web.
Don Dillman's page http://www.sesrc.wsu.edu/dillman/papers.html Some papers include Online Appendix for “Surveying the General Public Over the Internet Using Address-Based Sampling and Mail Contact Procedures” and Determinants of Item Nonresponse to Web and Mail Respondents in Three Address-Based Mixed-Mode Surveys of the General Public, both from 2012.
Conducting Research Surveys via E-mail and the Web http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1480/index.html some guidelines, lit reviews. 2001.
Using Electronic Surveys: Advice from Survey Professionals http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8&n=1 "The study reports the perceptions and recommendations of sixty-two experienced survey researchers from the American Educational Research Association regarding the use of electronic surveys."
online survey design guide http://lap.umd.edu/survey_design/index.html how to design surveys on the web.
ORGANIZATIONS WITH INFO ABOUT SURVEYS
American Statistical Association http://www.amstat.org/ and the Survey Research Methods Section (SRMS) http://ww2.amstat.org/sections/srms/ See especially SRMS's What is a Survey series described at the top of this page, and listed here http://www.whatisasurvey.info/ in html format or can download the entire file in pdf. Some are: "more about mail surveys", "margin of error", and "what are focus groups".
page last updated and checked 5/10/2017