Survey Research Questions (continued from last day) &

Unobtrusive Measures

Textbook: Ch 8 (Questions), Ch12 (especially question types), and Ch.10

Today’s Lecture Topics

• Questionnaire Design, Question Order Effects• Unobtrusive (non-reactive measures)

The Research Process

Babbie (1995: 101)

Questionnaire Construction & Other Design Issues

• Length ?– Response rates drop for longer self-administered

questionnaire and interviews• Question order & logic– Introduce the survey– Organize into topics – Avoid lengthy background questions & threatening

questions• Question wording & context effects– Bibby examples of Ipsos Reid poll on people abused by

catholic priests (pp. 167-8)

Box 8.4: Question Order

8.4 (Q 1)

8.4 (Q2)

8.4 Analysis

• Question order & wording effects analyzed by political group that wishes to abolish British Monarchy rule in Canada

http://www.canadian-republic.ca/polls.html • Question order& wording effects on poll

about trials of youth offenders as adults

Videoclip:

• Witness, Ask a silly question [videorecording] / produced, directed & written by John Kastner ; co-producer, John Martin ; produced and distributed by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Published [Toronto] : CBC Non-Broadcast Sales, [1998?]

• Bennett Library , Media Collection • Call Number: HM 261 W58 1998

Types of Questions

• Box 12.1• Typology developed for qualitative

interviewing but useful to think about for quantitative interviews too

Focus Groups

Unobtrusive Measures (non-reactive research) & using available data

Textbook Reading: Chapter 10: “Nonreactive Research and Available

Data”

Other Recommended Readings

• Eugene Webb, Donald T. Campbell, Richard D. Schwartz, Lee Sechrest Unobtrusive Measures: Nonreactive Research in the Social Sciences, Rand McNally and Co., Chicago,1969. (dedicated to "Sir Francis Galton who employed surveying hardware to estimate the bodily dimensions of women whose language he did not speak")

Main Types of Unobtrusive Measures

• Physical traces– Erosion (ex. wear on floor in museum

displays as measure of popularity of display)– Accretion (ex. garbage)

• Simple observation• Media analysis such as content analysis,

critical discourse analysis (ex. advertisements, news reports, films, music lyrics etc…)

• Analysis of archives, existing statistics & running records (ex. shoppers’ records, library borrowers’ histories)

• Simple observation

Advantages

• People don’t know they are being studied• access to “natural” behaviour• usually not disruptive because inconspicuous• free of reactive measurement effects• Often less expensive (ex. using existing

records)• May reveal ‘hidden’ patterns

Disadvantages

• Rights of research subjects– may infringe on right to privacy – no chance to refuse

• Challenges interpreting data– no testimony from people studied (to help interpret

meanings)– traces may be selective– problems knowing characteristics of people involved– hard to compare with other research

Methods

• What to Observe? – fit between units of analysis & plans for analysis– Distinguish between

• Content Analysis & discourse analysis– Can be used for both verbal & non-verbal

materials– Can also be used to analyze answers from open-

ended questions

Existing Data: Principal Sources

Note: not all of these are non-reactive• Government & International Agencies• Economic & Health Data• Biographical Sources (Who’s Who. . .)• Surveys by others (ex. General Social Survey, polls,

census)• Other sources (ex. the Human Relations Area Files)• “running statistics” (sales records, records kept for

other reasons)

Forms of Data

• printed documents• data bases• General Social Survey• data on the Web , example

http://www.statcan.ca/english/sitemap/

Advantages

• non-reactive measurement• saves time & lowers costs• expands lone researcher’s possibilities• access to information otherwise unobtainable• “macrosociological” comparisons across time • facilitates replication & increases sample size

General Methodological Issues & Disadvantages of Using Available Data

• finding and procuring available data• measurement of key concepts• evaluation of data quality • assessment of data completeness

If time: Planning Coding & Data Entry (Context Analysis & Open-ended Questions)

• Examples of coding guidelines for content analysis (word and pdf documents)– from S. Gunster (climate change study)– From B. Shroeder (war & peace journalism)