Survey Research 01 17 2013 A research question is a question about a topic that you can answer through systematically gathering data Survey Analysis involves the use of questionnaires and or statistical surveys to gather data about people and their thoughts and behaviors Tells you what the know think and feel Cannot tell you what is IN the text or what effect the text has Respondents must be willing and able to give the answer Doing survey analysis 1 Select the sample 2 Construct the questions that you want to ask o the set of questions given to people to answer the survey questions is called a questionnaire o The people who answer survey questions are called survey respondents 3 Run the survey o need a response rate of 60 that means 6 out of every 10 people returned the survey Early responders first 10 tend to be more passionate have extreme views and therefore return the survey earlier They are different than the population as a whole Middle responders are much more representative of the population as a whole and tend to have moderate views Late responders Terms for survey Population all the members of the group you want to study Sample members selected from the population interview to survey Each and every person should have an equal chance of being selected Can only make claims for the population you are studying You should look at if there is any reason to believe that the sample is systematically biased Survey s purpose To tell you what a larger population is thinking feeling or doing therefore the people who are being interviewed should be representative of the general population Sampling Frame the source material or device from which a sample is drawn It is a list of all those within a population who can be sampled and may include individuals households or institutions 01 17 2013 01 17 2013