The survey

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The survey

• Broad-based information
• on a population

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Getting the lay of the land
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Telecommunications surveys
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Census v. sample survey

• When you conduct a census you measure every
  member of a population
• When you conduct a sample survey a you measure a
  subset of the population
• Sample surveys are used to estimate what a census
  would have found

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Census

• U.S. census
• Course evaluations

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A survey of judicial candidates from Kentucky

• Kentucky Partnership for Commonsense Justice
  asked all Kentucky Supreme Court and appeals
  court justice candidates about their judicial
  philosophy
• Will post responses on its website

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The sample survey

• Most telecommunications surveys are sample
  surveys because populations researchers study are
  usually very large
• a census would be very expensive and inefficient

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Sample surveys in telecommunications

• Nielsen ratings and surveys
• Arbitron ratings and surveys
• Gallup surveys
• RTNDA American Radio News Audience Survey

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An example of surveys used in a marketing effort
for ATT

• ATT 800 number portability study

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How do you collect the data?

• Personal interviews
• Phone interviews
• Mail interviews
• Computer-mediated interviews

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Why choose one over the other?

• Cost
• Response rate
• Respondent need for guidance
• Anonymity/confidentiality
• Speed
• Control over data collection

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Personal interviews
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Personal interviews

• An interviewer asks the respondent a number of
  questions face-to-face

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Source www.lynnefeatherstone.org/gallery.htm
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Advantages of the personal interview

• Interviewer can monitor respondents answers
• Interviewer can react to nonverbal cues
• Survey can include visual stimuli
• Movie posters, videos, etc.
• Interviewer can probe for deeper answers
• Response rate high
• High level of control over the interview
  situation
• Respondent identity
• Interviewer can prevent input from other people
  in household, noise and other distractions

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Disadvantages of personal interviews

• Expensive
• Slow
• Supervision of interviewing staff is difficult
• Significant potential for interviewer bias

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Telephone interviews

• An interviewer asks questions of the respondent
  over the phone
• Very common method
• Computer-automated dialing
• Computer-aided interviewing

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Advantages of telephone interviewing

• Moderate cost
• Can be carried out quickly
• Supervising interviewers is relatively easy
• Interviewers can help respondents with their
  questions and concerns
• High response rate
• Callbacks are relatively easy
• Personal touch (human voice)

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Disadvantages of telephone interviews

• Less control over the interview situation
• Cannot use visual stimuli
• No face contact
• Respondents get bored quickly
• Probes, depth limited

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• Response rate is lower than with personal
  interviews
• Unlisted numbers
• Cell phones
• Refusals
• Not-at-homes (answering machines)

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Questionnaires v. interviews

• Questionnaires are given to the respondent, and
  the respondent fills them out herself
• Distribution can happen in a wide variety of ways
• Product warranties
• Restaurants
• Doctors offices
• Magazines
• Blogs

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Mail interviews

• A questionnaire is sent through the mail,
  self-administered
• Used for radio/tv diaries, vcr tapes with ads on
  them, product warranty cards, political polls by
  representatives

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Advantages of mail interviews

• Low cost
• Wide sample possible
• No field staff to manage
• Confidentiality
• No interviewer bias
• Respondent is not rushed, can answer questions at
  her leisure
• Can include limited graphics

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Disadvantages of mail interviews

• Low response rates
• May be biased in favor of those interested in
  topic
• Respondents must interpret questions without help
  available
• Complicated questions cannot be asked (nor can
  extensive probes be used)
• No ability to be certain the respondent is who
  she says she is

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Disadvantages of mail interviews

• Respondents must be literate in the language on
  the survey
• U.S. has a high adult illiteracy rate
• English may not be the respondents first
  language
• It takes a significant amount of time to collect
  the data
• Surveys come in after the data are analyzed

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Computer-mediated interviewing

• The survey is distributed in computer file form,
  either to list of people via e-mail or
  administered to those who visit a website
• Becoming much more popular

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Advantages of computer-mediated interviewing

• Very inexpensive
• Data can automatically be included into the
  database without inputting
• Skip patterns can be programmed in
• Data can be collected quickly
• Audiovisual materials can accompany the
  questionnaire

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Disadvantages of computer-mediated interviewing

• Sample bias
• Many people dont have Internet access
• Upscale homes, workplaces
• Internet access is not the same as use
• No help available for respondent
• Respondent self-selection
• Low response rate
• Multiple response
• Groups may want to influence survey outcome

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