Upon completion of this chapter, the student should be able to: - Illustrate how surveys may be used for descriptive, explanatory, and exploratory purposes.
- Differentiate questions from statements by definition and example.
- Outline the conditions under which open-ended and closed-ended questions are used.
- List and illustrate several guidelines for asking effective questions.
- Explain why social desirability is a problem in asking questions.
- List three guidelines for good questionnaire format.
- Describe the role of contingency questions and list three principles for their use.
- Describe the role of matrix questions and list the principles for their use.
- Explain why the order in which questions are asked is important and describe how this principle is differentially applied in questionnaires and interviews.
- List three principles for providing instructions for respondents of surveys.
- List three methods for distributing self-administered questionnaires.
- List three principles for mail distribution and return of questionnaires.
- Present an argument for monitoring returns, and show how this can be done with the return rate graph.
- List three principles regarding follow-up mailings.
- State the response rates that Babbie considers adequate, good, and very good.
- Present four advantages of interviews over questionnaires.
- Restate the five general rules for successful interviewing.
- Discuss the role of specifications in training interviewers.
- List the advantages and problems with telephone surveys.
- Show how computer-assisted telephone interviewing overcomes some of the weaknesses of the telephone survey.
- Describe several variations for using computers for administering self-administered questionnaires.
- Describe the advantages of online polling and offer some advice for successful online polling.
- Contrast self-administered questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, and telephone interviews, and describe when each is most appropriate.
- Assess the strengths and weaknesses of survey design.
- Give two examples of secondary analysis and/or data archives, and summarize the advantages and disadvantages of this approach.
- Describe how ethics enters into the use of survey research.
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