Getting Started with Survey Research
Topic Overview
Making a Good Survey
Designing good survey questions, and a good survey as a whole, is an often-studied science. Below are some resources on constructing good instruments for measuring what you want to measure.
- CS6750: Human-Computer Interaction, from David Joyner at Georgia Tech, especially lessons 3.1, 3.3, and 3.6
- Methods for Testing and Evaluating Survey Questions, from Methods for Testing and Evaluating Survey Questionnaires
- Instrument Design and Development, from the Social Science Research Institute at Duke University
- Constructing the Survey, from SocialResearchMethods.net
- Survey Research: Overall Design Issues, from the Writing Studio at Colorado State University
- Survey Research: Creating Questionnaire Questions, from the Writing Studio at Colorado State University
- Designing a Survey, from Science Buddies
- Survey Design Tutorial, from StatPac
For more comprehensive information, see:
- Research Methods in Education (Chapter 14)
Sampling Tips
Even a great survey can lead to unreliable results if the sampling method is off. Read below for tips on reliable sampling methods.
- Survey Research: Choice of Instrument, Sample, from Lynda Burton of Johns Hopkins University
- Sample design for educational survey research, from Kenneth Ross of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
- Sampling, from the Pew Research Center
- Survey Sampling Methods, from Stat Trek
- Methods of Survey Sampling, from Sarah Sincero of Explorable
- Survey Sampling Methods, from StatPac
For more comprehensive information, see:
- Research Methods in Education (Chapter 4)
Scholarly Resources
These are scholarly resources useful for starting a deep dive into the topic. You’re welcome to use some of these in your assignments, although everyone will need to find many resources far beyond those listed on this web site.
For more on the reliability and usefulness of survey research, take a look at the sources below.
- Conducting Survey Research, from the Health Communication Unit at the Centre for Health Promotion at the University of Toronto
- Survey Research, from Penny Visser of the University of Chicago, Jon Krosnick of Stanford University, and Paul Lavrakas of the University of Chicago
- Conducting Research Surveys via Email and the Web, from Matthias Schonlau, Ronald Fricker, and Marc Elliott of the Rand Corporation
- Survey research: we can do better, from Susan Starr of the Medical Library Association
- Innovations in Survey Research: An Application of Web-Based Surveys, from Stephen Sills and Chunyan Song or Arizona State University
For more comprehensive information, see:
- Research Methods in Education (Chapters 8 and 14)
General Media
These sources would generally not be suitable for use in your assignments, but they may provide a useful general overview of the topic if you find yourself struggling with the more scholarly resources.
To get started with survey research, check out some of the introductory materials below. These will cover designing surveys that measure what you want to measure, getting a sample from the population that is sufficiently representative, soliciting participants in the survey, and analyzing the results.
- Designing and Conducting Survey Research, from Hannah Alford of Santa Monica College
- Survey Research, from the Writing Studio at Colorado State University
- Survey Research, from SocialResearchMethods.net
- Best Practices & Considerations When Conducting Survey Research, by Kurt Johnson of the Survey Research Center at Penn State University
- Survey Research Design, from Martyn Shuttleworth of Explorable
- 3 Types of Survey Research, When to Use Them, and How they Can Benefit Your Organization, from Rick Penwarden at FluidSurveys
- Introduction to Survey Research, from Scott Smith of Qualtrics
- Survey Research: Commentary on Survey Research, from the Writing Studio at Colorado State University