Surveys in Social Research, 5th Edition (Social Research Today Series)

Cover......Page 1
Title page
......Page 4
ISBN 1865086118......Page 5
Brief Contents
......Page 6
Detailed contents
......Page 7
Boxes, figures, web pointers and tables
......Page 12
Preface
......Page 18
Part I: THE SCOPE OF SURVEY RESEARCH
......Page 20
Form of data......Page 22
Methods of analysis......Page 23
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH......Page 24
PRACTICE VS IDEAL TYPES......Page 26
THE INTERACTION OF THEORY AND RESEARCH......Page 28
THE PROCESS OF THEORY CONSTRUCTION......Page 29
Establishing the meaning of observations......Page 30
Plausibility and the need for theory testing......Page 31
Six stages in theory testing......Page 32
THE NEED FOR THEORY AND OBSERVATION......Page 34
Sociological perspectives......Page 36
THE ROLE OF DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH......Page 37
THE CENTRALITY OF THEORY......Page 39
TYPES OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS......Page 41
Explanation: searching for causes or consequences......Page 42
Explanation: exploring a simple idea......Page 43
USING THE INTERNET TO REVIEW EXISTING INFORMATION AND RESEARCH......Page 44
RESEARCH DESIGN......Page 49
Explanatory research......Page 50
The classic experimental design......Page 51
Panel design......Page 52
Retrospective panel design......Page 53
Retrospective experimental design......Page 54
One group post-test only design......Page 55
REFINING RESEARCH QUESTIONS: A CHECKLIST......Page 56
Part II: COLLECTING SURVEY DATA
......Page 60
CLARIFYING THE CONCEPTS......Page 62
How to clarify concepts......Page 63
DEVELOPING INDICATORS......Page 66
How to develop indicators......Page 69
Reliability......Page 71
Validity......Page 72
The problem of meaning......Page 73
DEVELOPING INDICATORS: A CHECKLIST......Page 74
5 Ethics and data collection
......Page 77
Voluntary participation......Page 78
Informed consent......Page 79
No harm......Page 80
Anonymity and confidentiality......Page 81
Sponsors......Page 83
The public......Page 84
DATA COLLECTION ETHICS CHECKLIST......Page 85
SOME SAMPLING CONCEPTS......Page 88
Simple random sampling (SRS)......Page 90
Systematic sampling......Page 91
Stratified sampling......Page 93
Multistage cluster sampling......Page 94
Types of internet surveys......Page 96
The use of internet samples......Page 98
SAMPLE SIZE......Page 99
NON-RESPONSE......Page 102
WEIGHTING SAMPLES......Page 103
How to weight a sample on two or more characteristics......Page 104
SECONDARY ANALYSIS......Page 105
NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING......Page 107
SAMPLING CHECKLIST......Page 109
SELECTING AREAS......Page 113
QUESTION CONTENT......Page 114
Discrimination......Page 115
WORDING QUESTIONS......Page 116
Open and closed formats......Page 118
Exhaustiveness (or inclusiveness)......Page 119
DEVELOPING RESPONSE ALTERNATIVES FOR CLOSED-CHOICE QUESTIONS......Page 120
Scores......Page 121
Ranking......Page 122
Binary choice formats......Page 123
No opinion and don’t know responses......Page 124
NUMBER OF RESPONSE CATEGORIES......Page 125
Acquiescent response sets......Page 126
Contingency questions......Page 127
Instructions......Page 128
Order of questions......Page 129
Setting up for coding......Page 130
Questionnaire length......Page 131
Layout......Page 132
Three stages of pilot testing questions......Page 133
Pilot testing questionnaires......Page 135
How to pilot test......Page 136
QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN CHECKLIST......Page 137
Telephone interviews......Page 141
Internet surveys......Page 142
COMPUTER-ASSISTED QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION......Page 144
FOUR METHODS COMPARED: STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES......Page 145
Response rates......Page 146
Obtaining representative samples......Page 147
Survey method effects on questionnaire design......Page 148
Implementing the survey......Page 149
MULTI-MODE METHODS OF ADMINISTRATION......Page 150
MAXIMISING RESPONSE RATES IN PERSONAL INTERVIEWS......Page 151
Techniques for personal interviewing......Page 152
MAXIMISING RESPONSE RATES IN POSTAL SURVEYS......Page 153
The cover letter......Page 154
Follow-ups......Page 155
Identification numbers......Page 156
Gaining cooperation......Page 157
SMOOTH IMPLEMENTATION OF TELEPHONE SURVEYS......Page 158
ENSURING QUALITY IN INTERNET SURVEYS......Page 159
QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION CHECKLIST......Page 160
Part III: SETTING UP THE DATA FOR ANALYSIS
......Page 164
CLASSIFYING RESPONSES......Page 166
Multilevel classification schemes......Page 167
Multiple answers......Page 170
Coding multiple responses to closed questions......Page 172
Multiple responses to open questions......Page 173
Coding missing data......Page 174
ALLOCATING COLUMN NUMBERS TO EACH VARIABLE......Page 175
CHECKING FOR CODING ERRORS......Page 177
ENTERING DATA......Page 178
CODING CHECKLIST......Page 179
CHANGING CATEGORIES......Page 182
Approaches to collapsing categories......Page 183
Rearranging categories......Page 185
Reverse coding......Page 186
Conditional transformations......Page 188
Creating new variables with arithmetic transformations......Page 189
Standardising using z-scores......Page 190
Adjustments with ordinal level variables......Page 192
Checking for missing data bias......Page 194
Minimising the effect of missing values......Page 195
DATA PREPARATION CHECKLIST......Page 196
WHY BOTHER BUILDING SCALES?......Page 199
SUMMATED SCALING: THE LOGIC......Page 200
Construct a rough scale......Page 201
Selecting the best items......Page 203
FACTOR ANALYSIS......Page 205
Selecting variables for analysis......Page 206
Extracting an initial set of factors......Page 207
Extracting the final factors—rotation......Page 209
Factor scores and scales......Page 210
Equivalence of items......Page 211
Forcing scales to have meaningful upper and lower limits......Page 212
The problem of missing data......Page 213
SCALING CHECKLIST......Page 214
LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT......Page 222
Part IV: ANALYSING SURVEY DATA
......Page 220
Ordinal level......Page 223
Which level of measurement to aim for......Page 224
DESCRIPTIVE AND INFERENTIAL STATISTICS......Page 225
Descriptive statistics......Page 226
ETHICS AND ANALYSIS......Page 227
OVERVIEW OF ANALYSIS: A CHECKLIST......Page 229
Tabular analysis......Page 231
Graphical analysis......Page 234
Distortions with graphs......Page 238
Nominal variables......Page 240
Ordinal variables......Page 242
Interval variables......Page 243
Significance tests for nominal and ordinal variables......Page 247
Interval estimates for nominal and ordinal variables......Page 250
Interval estimates for interval variables......Page 252
SELECTING THE APPROPRIATE STATISTIC......Page 253
UNIVARIATE ANALYSIS CHECKLIST......Page 256
14 Bivariate analysis: nominal and ordinal variables
......Page 260
The structure of cross-tabulations......Page 261
Percentaging a cross-tabulation......Page 263
The character of relationships......Page 264
GRAPHS......Page 266
Stacked bar chart......Page 269
Line graph......Page 271
Boxplots......Page 272
Chi-square based correlations......Page 273
PRE-based correlations......Page 275
Interpreting correlation coefficients: direction......Page 276
Statistics when both variables are ordinal......Page 277
Statistics for mixed levels of measurement......Page 278
Correlation coefficients for non-linear relationships......Page 279
INFERENTIAL STATISTICS......Page 281
Significance tests......Page 282
BIVARIATE ANALYSIS FOR NOMINAL AND ORDINAL VARIABLES CHECKLIST......Page 285
INTERVAL-LEVEL DEPENDENT VARIABLES WITH CATEGORICAL INDEPENDENT VARIABLES......Page 290
Tabular analysis......Page 291
Graphical......Page 292
Summary statistics: descriptive analysis......Page 294
Dichotomous independent variable......Page 295
Independent variables with three or more categories......Page 296
Significance of eta......Page 297
Graphs......Page 298
Regression analysis......Page 299
Regression coefficients......Page 301
Regression with non-interval variables: dichotomous variables......Page 304
When can regression be used?......Page 305
Summary statistics: inference......Page 306
RANK–ORDER CORRELATION......Page 308
CORRELATION MATRICES......Page 309
CHECKLIST FOR BIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF INTERVAL VARIABLES......Page 310
Experimental controls......Page 316
Cross-sectional designs and statistical controls......Page 317
THE PURPOSE OF ELABORATION......Page 318
TYPES OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THREE VARIABLES......Page 319
Interpreting partial correlation statistics......Page 321
Spurious relationships......Page 323
Specification......Page 327
GRAPHICAL METHODS OF ELABORATION ANALYSIS......Page 329
Line graphs using different scales on the Y-axis......Page 330
Tree diagrams......Page 332
ELABORATION CHECKLIST......Page 333
17 Multivariate analysis
......Page 337
Partial correlation......Page 338
Partial regression coefficients......Page 339
Regression for subgroups......Page 342
Multiple regression......Page 343
Cautions......Page 346
MULTIPLE REGRESSION WITH NON-INTERVAL INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: DUMMY REGRESSION......Page 347
PATH ANALYSIS......Page 349
OTHER MULTIVARIATE METHODS......Page 352
MULTIVARIATE CHECKLIST......Page 353
Religion......Page 359
PREPARING THE VARIABLES FOR ANALYSIS......Page 360
Producing the scales......Page 361
INITIAL ANALYSIS......Page 362
Workforce participation: cross-tabulation analysis......Page 364
Workforce participation: multiple regression analysis......Page 365
Stage in the family life cycle: multiple regression analysis......Page 368
Decomposing the gender gap......Page 369
explanations for further examination......Page 371
SUMMARY......Page 372
THE RESEARCH QUESTION......Page 358
Glossary
......Page 374
Bibliography
......Page 386
Index
......Page 393