Are you at the data collection part of your research, if yes, then you must be wondering about different types of methods that are used for data collection? Survey Research is one of those said methods. Survey research is the research method that is used when you want to acquire insight into topics of interest from a specific group of people. This method involves asking the predefined group questions on one or several issues.
Steps to Conduct an Effective Survey
As surveys are a flexible method of data collection they can be used in many different types of research. You need to follow these six steps to carry out an effective survey:
- Determine who you want to participate in the survey
- Decide the type of survey
- Design the survey question and layout
- Distribute the survey
- Analyse the responses
- Write up the results
To make the process of understanding the data collection method easier, we have come up with this step-to-step guide and tips that will provide you with insight into how an excellent investigation is carried out.
What are surveys used for?
Before we delve deeper into the art of conducting surveys, let’s first embark on a brief journey to know what surveys are used for. Surveys are a method that is utilised in many different fields, all these fields have different motivations for conducting surveys such as to find out about the characteristics, preferences, opinions or beliefs of a specific group of people.
Surveys can be used in cross-sectional research, when data is gathered once, and longitudinal studies, where the same sample is surveyed multiple times over a long period of time.
Some common uses of surveys research include:
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Now it’s time, to begin with what we are here for:
Step 1: Define the population and sample
Before you start with your survey, it is of the utmost importance that you have a clear research question that defines what you are trying to investigate. Through this research question, you will get to determine who will be going to be the target participants.
Population
As your survey should aim to provide results that can be generalised to the whole population, you must carefully describe exactly who you want to draw conclusions about
Sample
It is nearly impossible to survey the entire population of your research. Instead, you will usually survey a sample from the population. The population size affects the sample size. The number of responses required can be calculated using an online sample calculator.
There are several sampling methods that enable generalisation to large populations. The sample should, however, generally strive to be a representative sample of the population. Your sample size and representativeness will determine how valid your results are.
Step 2: Decide which type of survey you will be using
You will stumble upon two types of surveys when you are in the process of collecting data. You will need to decide which one suits your research the best, sometimes some researcher uses both to get the result they need to progress with their research.
- A questionnaire is a type of survey where a list of questions are asked and it is distributed by post, or in person.
- An interview, in this type of survey research, used telephonic or in-person mode to ask questions and record the responses.
Step 3: Design the survey questions
The next step is to decide the question that you will ask and the way you will ask them. Some of the important things to consider are:
- The type of questions
- The content of the questions
- The phrasing of the questions
- The ordering and layout of the survey
Open-ended vs Closed-ended questions
You will come across two types of survey questions: open-ended and closed-ended. Many surveys are a combination of both as well. Let’s discuss these a little in detail to understand the difference.
- Closed-ended questions have a predetermined set of answers to choose from. It includes
- A binary answer(e.g. yes/no)
- A scale (e.g., a Likert scales)
- A list of options with a single answer possible
- A list of options with multiple answers possible
They are best suited for quantitative research. They provide you with numerical data that can be statistically analysed to find patterns, trends and correlations.
- Open-ended questions are best suited for qualitative research. These types of questions don’t come with any predetermined answers. Instead, the person taking it answers it in their own words. They are commonly used in interviews but can be used in questionnaires as well. You can also use them as follow-up questions to get answers in more detail to a closed question.
One more thing to remember when drafting a survey is to make sure that the questions are arranged in a logical order. start with easy and non-sensitive questions and divide a questionnaire into sections if your survey covers many different themes and topics.
Step 5: Analyse the survey results
Now comes a little tricky part. There are a number of ways you can analyse the result of the survey. First, you have to process the data, usually with the help of a computer program to sort all the responses. You should also cleanse the data by removing incomplete or incorrectly completed responses.
If you are open-ended questions, you will have to code the responses by assigning labels to each response and organising them into categories or themes. You can also use more qualitative methods, such as thematic analysis, which is especially suitable for analysing interviews.
Statistical analysis is usually conducted using programs like SPSS or Stata. The same set of survey data can be subject to many analyses.
Step 6: Write up the survey results
And the final step after you have collected and analysed data, you need to include your findings in your thesis, dissertation, or research paper.
You will include all the details about how you conducted the survey in your methodology section such as the type of questions that were used, the sampling method, when and where the survey took place and the response rate. In the appendix, you can include the full survey and refer to it in the text.
Then comes the time to introduce the analysis you have worked on by describing how you prepare the data and the statistical methods you used to analyse it. And you will add the key results from your analysis in your result section. You will provide your explanation and interpretation of the results in the discussion and conclusion sections.
Tips for Good Survey Research
These tips can help you in drafting excellent survey research that will provide conclusive results.
- Define the purpose of the survey from the get-go. Make sure that you have a clear objective for your study as it is the last thing you want to end up with a set of results that have no direction.
- Keep the survey nice and short. Long surveys can be a buzzkill, and in order to keep the respondent’s intrigue until the end make it short and focused.
- Speak the right language. Avoid using too much technical jargon and complicated concepts. Make it simple which means your question should be precisely worded, go straight to the point and follow a logical order.
Hope this guide will help you with your own research endeavour. Best of Luck!
