Survey

► Survey research is used to assess people’s

thoughts, opinions and feelings.
► A descriptive method in which participants are
asked a series of question or respond to a series
of statements about some topic. (Goodwin, 2003)
► Survey methods are:
► Mail survey
► Telephonic survey
► Personal survey
► Internet survey
 Survey Methods
► Mail Surveys
The questionnaire received through in the mail. It is also
called self administered questionnaires.
►Advantages
 Inexpensive
 Wide number of people
 Respondent to fill it out at their own
convenience
 This is the only kind of survey you can do if you
have the names and addresses of the target
population.
►Disadvantages
 Response rates
 Less reliable for asking for detailed written
responses
 Cannot probe if needed. (Mertens,1999)
► Personal Interviews
 Interviews are a far more personal form of research than
questionnaires. In the personal interview, the interviewer
works directly with the respondent.
 An interview is called personal when the Interviewer asks
the questions face-to-face with the Interviewee.
 In person surveys are one-on-one interviews typically
conducted in high-traffic locations such as shopping malls.
They allow you to present people with samples of products,
packaging, or advertising and gather immediate feedback.
 Advantages
► Opportunity to probe.
► Easier for the respondent
► High response rate.

 Disadvantages
► Time consuming
► Needs training
► Expensive (Mertens, 1999)
► Telephone interview
Interview through telephone becoming famous
day by day for brief surveys
 Advantages
►gather information rapidly
►High response rate.
►personal contact between the interviewer and
the respondent
►they allow the interviewer to ask follow-up
questions.
►No field staff is necessary
 Disadvantages
►Cannot observe the body language.
►Costly (Mertens, 1999)
► Electronic Surveys
These are interviews in which the Interviewees enter their own
answers directly into a computer. Online survey is a simple,
inexpensive way to collect evidence and gather customer opinions
and preferences.

 Advantages
► Efficient
► Low cost
► Obtain survey responses from a large number of people.
► Just point and click
► Online questionnaires are paperless.
► Convenient for the responder
► Diverse sample

 Disadvantages
► How to sample people?
► Lack of control
► Response and selection biases (Mertens, 1999)
► Strengths
 Surveys are relatively inexpensive (especially self-
administered surveys).
 Surveys are useful in describing the characteristics
of a large population.
 They can be administered from remote locations using
mail, email or telephone.
 Many questions can be asked about a given topic
giving considerable flexibility to the analysis.
 There is flexibility at the creation phase in deciding
how the questions will be administered: as face-to-
face interviews, by telephone, as group
administered written or oral survey, or by
electronic means.
► Weaknesses:
 Surveys are inflexible in that they require
the initial study design (the tool and
administration of the tool) to remain
unchanged throughout the data
collection.

 The researcher must ensure that a large

number of the selected sample will reply.

 It may be hard for participants to recall

information or to tell the truth about a
controversial question.
 Clinical method or Case study
methods

► Intensive description and analysis of

individual.
► Case studies are a source of hypothesis and
ideas about normal and abnormal behavior.
 Advantages
► Case studies provide new ideas &
hypothesis, opportunities to develop new
clinical techniques & a chance to study a
new phenomena.
► Ideographic research (the study of
individuals to identify what is unique)
complement nomothetic research (the study
of groups to identify what is typical).
 Disadvantages
► Observer bias or biases in data collection
can lead to incorrect interpretations of the
case study outcomes.
► Researchers are unable to make valid causal
inferences using the case study method
because extraneous variables are not
controlled.