Social surveys

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  • Created by: Revisonf
  • Created on: 05-01-14 14:03
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  • Social surveys
    • Involve collecting information for a large number of people; generally through questionnaires or structured interviews.
    • Questionnaires:
      • A list of pre-set questions to which the respondent supplies answers.
        • These questions are the same for each respondent and are in the exact same order.
      • Postal questionnaires:
        • The set of questions are mailed to the respondent, who completes it and sends it back.
      • Hand-delivered questionnaires:
        • Where the researcher hands the questionnaire to the respondent and then returns to collect it.
      • Formal or structured interviews:
        • Where the interviewers reads out the questions and the respondent answers. This is a formal question and answer session.
        • These can be carried out face to face or on the telephone.
    • Closed or fixed questions:
      • Respondents are made to choose between a number of given answers. This is a very quick process.
      • The responses are fairly eay to add up and are presented in numerical forms.
      • However, closed ended questions would be unsuitable if the researcher wanted in-depth, detailed accounts.
        • Also have to make sure that the questions are worded properly so the meaning is clear.
    • Open-ended questions:
      • Enable the respondent to put down their own answers.
      • Responses are likely to be very varied and so more difficult to compare and put into statistics.
      • Would be un-suitbale if the resarcher wanted quantative data.

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