Survey Research and Survey Construction
Two slides define survey research so widely that almost every method in the week becomes an instance of it, then divide it into two halves on a criterion that the same deck contradicts three slides later. Both are set out here, along with the four construction activities that are the practical core of the topic.
What survey research is, as this material defines it
The topic opens on a promise it does not keep: "We begin by looking at some of the more common methods for collecting primary data." One method follows — survey research — and the rest of the week subdivides it. The plural is never delivered.
Read as an instruction, the definition is useful in one specific way: it puts the emphasis on asking questions of respondents, which means every design decision downstream is a decision about a question, a respondent or the route between them. That is the frame the rest of the week's questionnaire and interview guidance sits inside.
The definition is wide enough to swallow the rest of the week
"Any procedures that involve asking questions of respondents" takes in a great deal. On that wording, the in-depth interviews and focus groups recommended throughout the week's qualitative approaches are instances of survey research, and so is any conversational interview.
The week's own study notes do not treat them that way — they present the six qualitative approaches as something distinct from questionnaires and surveys. And the very next slide narrows the term again, dividing surveys into questionnaires and interviews, which is a smaller claim than "any procedures that involve asking questions".
Four properties, four unfinished sentences
THE FOUR SURVEY PROPERTIES AND WHAT SITS BEHIND EACH
| Property, as printed | What it points at | What the source supplies |
|---|---|---|
| "Descriptive or explanatory" | The purpose of the survey — to describe a situation or to account for it | Neither term is explained anywhere in the week |
| "Involve entire populations or samples of populations" | Whether you approach everyone or a subset | No proportion, no size, no sampling method |
| "Capture a moment or map trends" | Whether the survey runs once or repeatedly over time | The only allusion to this choice in the week; neither of the conventional names for it is used |
| "Can be administered in a number of ways" | The route to the respondent | No way is named here; postal, internet and automated phone appear incidentally two slides later |
All four are stated as bare labels beneath the definition. They are still worth using as a specification prompt — a survey whose purpose, coverage, timing and administration route are all written down is better specified than most.
The second property is one of only a handful of places where sampling is touched in the week at all, and it touches it without supplying anything: no proportion, no method, no size. That absence is the subject of Sampling and Selecting Participants, and it is the largest single hole in the week's coverage of surveys.
Survey construction: the four activities
The construction slide is the most immediately usable thing in the topic. It states that survey construction involves four activities, in this order.
"Survey construction involves" — the four activities, as printed
Formulating questions and response categories
Both halves matter: the question and the set of answers it permits. Response formats are not covered here — three of them appear eight slides later, under levels of measurement.
Writing up background information and instruction
The only place in the week where the material around the questions is treated as part of the instrument. No content, length or wording guidance is attached to it.
Working through organisation and length
The deck's single reference to how long a survey should be — and it states no length. No number of questions, no completion time and no page limit appears anywhere in the week.
Determining layout and design
Restated later as a reminder to create a clear and easy-to-follow layout. Beyond that instruction, no layout guidance is supplied.
The sequence itself is worth keeping. Questions first, then the material that surrounds them, then order and length, then presentation — that is a sensible build order and it is one of the few places in the week where the source gives you a sequence rather than a list. The detailed question-level guidance sits on Designing a Questionnaire and The Wording of Questions.
The two areas, and the criterion that collapses them
The same slide divides surveys into two, on a criterion that is quoted here exactly because everything that follows turns on it.
Questionnaires
- "Questionnaires...involving a written response of some kind"
- The respondent produces the record
- Asserted to be inexpensive and reusable across a wide range of people
Interviews
- "Interviews....involving interviewer completing what respondent says"
- The interviewer produces the record
- No cost, duration or effort statement is attached
The cost claim, and what the next two slides do to it
The construction slide closes with a claim: "Questionnaires are not costly and the same tool can be sent to a wide range of people." No figure, no comparison and no cost basis is given for it.
Specifying a survey you can defend
The checklist below combines the source's four properties with its four construction activities and marks the two places where you will have to go outside this material. It is this page's construction; the source supplies the eight items and no procedure for using them.
Eight decisions from the source, and two it cannot supply
- Purpose: is this survey descriptive or explanatory, and which of your research questions does it answer?
- Coverage: whole population or a subset — and, from a second source, how that subset will be drawn
- Time signature: a single moment, or repeated to map a trend?
- Administration: the route to the respondent, and what that route does to who replies
- Questions and response categories: drafted together, never one without the other
- Background information and instructions: written, not assumed
- Organisation and length: decided explicitly, since the material states no length at all
- Layout and design: settled before distribution, not after the first confusion
- From elsewhere: your sampling design, which this material does not contain
- From elsewhere: how the responses will be analysed, which this week never reaches
One last piece of context worth having. The week's own delivery audit records surveys as only partly delivered against the objective that names them, and records the objective's verb — to evaluate methods of data collection — as undelivered outright, because no two methods are ever compared with each other on any criterion. What this topic gives you is a definition, four properties and a build order. It does not give you grounds for choosing a survey over anything else.
What to carry forward
- Survey research is defined here as any procedure that involves asking questions of respondents — a definition wide enough to include interviews and focus groups.
- The next slide narrows it to two members, questionnaires and interviews, without acknowledging the change.
- Four properties are given as bare labels: descriptive or explanatory, populations or samples, a moment or a trend, several administration routes. Use them as a specification prompt.
- Survey construction has a usable build order: questions and response categories, background and instructions, organisation and length, layout and design.
- The questionnaire-versus-interview split rests on who writes the answer — the same criterion the deck later uses for structured versus unstructured, producing a contradiction it never resolves.
- "Questionnaires are not costly" is asserted with no cost basis and undercut by the two slides that follow it.
Frequently asked questions
How does the supplied source define survey research?
As "an important area of measurement in social research" whose broad area "includes any procedures that involve asking questions of respondents", ranging from a written evaluation to an in-depth interview. That wording is wide enough to cover interviews and focus groups, although the very next slide narrows surveys to questionnaires and interviews only.
What are the four steps in constructing a survey?
Formulating questions and response categories; writing up background information and instruction; working through organisation and length; and determining layout and design. The source states them in that order and attaches no further guidance to any of the four.
How long should a survey be?
The material never says. "Working through organisation and length" is its only reference to length, and no number of questions, completion time or page limit appears anywhere in the week. Decide it yourself against your respondents' availability and record the decision — silence in the source is not permission to leave it open.
What is the difference between a questionnaire and an interview here?
Who writes the answer: a questionnaire involves a written response of some kind from the respondent, an interview involves the interviewer completing what the respondent says. Be aware that the same deck later uses that identical criterion to define structured versus unstructured questions, which produces a contradiction with its own later slides on structured interviews and structured questionnaires.
Are questionnaires really the cheap option?
The source asserts that they are not costly and gives no figure, comparison or cost basis. Two slides later it calls postal and internet questionnaires the least satisfactory method and permits postal use only under conditions that can require interviewing every non-responder. Cost the administration route you actually intend to use rather than relying on the assertion.
Does this material tell me how to analyse survey responses?
No. The topic reaches instrument construction and stops. The study notes ask how data will be analysed and presented and never answer it, and the following week — which carries the analysis content — was supplied as a slide deck with no study notes. Plan your analysis from a second source before you collect.
References and source attribution
- Bryman, A. 2016, Social Research Methods, 5th ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Veal, A. J. 2005, Business Research Methods: A Managerial Approach, Longman.
- O'Leary, Z. 2017, The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project, 3rd ed., Sage Publications, London.
- Naoum, S. G. 2013, Dissertation Research & Writing for Construction Students, 3rd ed., Routledge.
- The supplied teaching source: the week 10 slide deck on collecting data, whose slides on collecting primary data and survey construction are reproduced on this page, together with both copies of the week 10 study notes.
Suggested questions for Ask KEVOS
- Write the four-sentence specification for my survey: purpose, coverage, time signature and administration route.
- Is my study a survey under this material's definition, and does that label help my methodology chapter?
- Help me decide the length and organisation of my questionnaire, given the source states none.
- What do I need from a second source before my survey design is defensible?
- Draft the background information and instructions section for my instrument.