Survey Question Bank

Data collection zone - resources

• Bulletins/newsletters
• General/overview
• Scoping/design
• Ethical/legal
• Sampling
• Method/mode/instrument
• Questionnaire design
• Piloting/pre-testing
• Recruiting/retaining respondents
• Fieldwork/collection

Bulletins/newsletters

• American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR): Survey Practice
• Ipsos MORI: Understanding Research Methods
• Office for National Statistics (ONS): Survey Methodology Bulletin
• Survey Research Methods

General/overview

• American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR)
  • AAPOR: Best Practices for Survey and Public Opinion Research
  • AAPOR: Poll and Survey FAQs
  • AAPOR: Questions to Ask When Writing About Polls

• Audience Dialogue: Know Your Audience: A Practical Guide to Media Research
• NORC: What is a Survey?
• North Carolina State University, Public Administration Program: Research Designs
• ONS: Methodology Directorate
• Research Methods Knowledge Base: Survey Research
• StatPac: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Surveys
• University of Leeds, Information Systems Services: Guide to the Design of Questionnaires
• University of Reading, Statistical Services Centre: Survey Methods
• University of Toronto, The Health Communication Unit: Conducting Survey Research
• World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR): ESOMAR/WAPOR Guide to Opinion Polls

Scoping/design

• Audience Dialogue: Know Your Audience: chapter 1, part A Planning audience research
• Research Methods Knowledge Base: Selecting the Survey Method
• The Survey System: Survey Design

Ethical/legal

• UK Data Archive Create & Manage Data pages
  • Consent & ethics
  • Consent in surveys
  • Ethical/legal: Overview
  • Ethical/legal: Legislation
  • Working with research ethics committees

Sampling

• Audience Dialogue: Know Your Audience: chapter 2, part A Sampling
• FANTA-2 project: Sampling Guide
• International Household Survey Network (IHSN): Sampling - Concepts and methods
• North Carolina State University, Public Administration Program: Sampling
• Research Methods Knowledge Base: Sampling
• Statistics Canada: Sampling methods
• StatPac: Survey Sampling Methods
• STEPS Statistics Glossary: Sampling
• The Survey System: Sample Size Calculator
• University of California, Psychology: A Brief Introduction to Sampling
• Wikipedia: Survey sampling

Method/mode/instrument

• See also:
  • de Leeuw, E. (2008) 'Question Design and Measurement in Mixed Mode Research' (PPT)
  • SDMI project: The Use of Scanner Technology for Collecting Expenditure Data in Mixed-Mode Social Science Surveys

• Audience Dialogue: Know Your Audience: chapter 7 Telephone surveys
• Audience Dialogue: Know Your Audience: chapter 8 Mail surveys
• NatCen: An analysis of mode effects using data from the Health Survey for England 2006 and the Boost Survey for London
• Research Methods Knowledge Base: Plus & Minus of Survey Methods
• Sainsbury, R., Ditch, J. and Hutton, S. (1993) 'Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing' social research UPDATE, 3. Retrieved July 31, 2009 from http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU3.html.
• Thomas, R. and Purdon, S. (1994) 'Telephone methods for social surveys' social research UPDATE, 8. Retrieved July 31, 2009 from http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU8.html.
• Wei Wei, C. (2003) 'Reducing error in mail surveys' Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 8(18). Retrieved July 31, 2009 from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=8&n=18.

Questionnaire design

• See also:
  • Campanelli, P. (2008) 'What Question Testing Methods Can and Can't Tell Us' (PDF)
  • de Leeuw, E. (2008) 'Question Design and Measurement in Mixed Mode Research' (PPT)
  • Harkness, J. (2008) 'Cross-cultural surveys and translation' (PPT)
  • Sturgis, P. (2008) 'Field experiments for assessing question validity' (PPT)

• Audience Dialogue: Know Your Audience: chapter 3, part A Principles of questionnaires
• Boynton, P. and Greenhalgh, T. (2004) 'Selecting, designing, and developing your questionnaire' BMJ 328:1312-1315. Retrieved July 31, 2009 from http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/328/7451/1312.
• Farrall, S. et al (1997) 'Open and Closed Question' social research UPDATE, 17. Retrieved July 31, 2009 from http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU17.html.
• Frary, R. B. (1996) 'Hints for designing effective questionnaires' Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 8(18). Retrieved July 31, 2009 from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=5&n=3.
• HM Treasury: Guidance for Evaluation
• IHSN: Principles of questionnaire design
• MRS: Questionnaire design guidelines
• Research Methods Knowledge Base: Constructing the Survey

Piloting/pre-testing

• See also:
  • Campanelli, P. (2008) 'What Question Testing Methods Can and Can't Tell Us' (PDF)
  • Sturgis, P. (2008) 'Field experiments for assessing question validity' (PPT)

• NatCen reports for clients
  • Cognitive testing: British Social Attitudes child poverty questions
  • Cognitive testing of Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study Questionnaire
  • Services for Disabled Children Pilot Testing of the Screening and Main Questionnaire
  • Services for Disabled Children Questionnaire Testing

• ONS Data Collection Methodology: Cognitive testing
• van Teijlingen, E and Hundley, V. (2001) 'The importance of pilot studies' social research UPDATE, 35. Retrieved July 31, 2009 from http://sru.soc.surrey.ac.uk/SRU35.html
• Willis, G.B. (1999) 'Cognitive Interviewing: A "How To" Guide', presented at the 1999 Meeting of the American Statistical Association. Retrieved July 31, 2009 from http://appliedresearch.cancer.gov/areas/cognitive/interview.pdf.

Recruiting/retaining respondents (pre-contact)

• See also:
  • SDMI project: Solving the Problem of Attrition in Longitudinal Surveys

• SQB search results for "advance letter" documents

Fieldwork/collection (contact)

• See also:
  • SDMI project: Hierarchical Analysis of Unit Non-response in Sample Surveys

• Audience Dialogue: Know Your Audience: chapter 4, part A Fieldwork
• MRS: Interviewers: some key points/find out more
• SQB search results for "interviewer instructions" documents

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