CHAPTER ONE
AN OVERVIEW OF THE SAMPLE SURVEY PROCESS

Surveys have become a widely used and acknowledged research tool in most of the developed countries of the world. Through reports presented by newspapers, magazines, television, and radio, the concept of considering information derived from a relatively small number of people to be an accurate representation of a significantly larger number of people has become a familiar one. Surveys have broad appeal, particularly in democratic cultures, because they are perceived as a reflection of the attitudes, preferences, and opinions of the very people from whom the society’s policymakers derive their mandate. Politicians rely heavily on surveys and public opinion polls for popular guidance in mapping out campaign strategies and carrying out their professional responsibilities. Commercial enterprises use survey findings to formulate market strategies for the potential widespread use, distribution, and performance of new and existing products. Television and radio programs are evaluated and scheduled largely in accordance with the results of consumer surveys. Government programs designed to provide assistance to various communities often rely on the results of surveys to determine program effectiveness. Private social organizations obtain information from their members through the use of survey techniques. Libraries, restaurants, financial institutions, recreational facilities, and churches, among many others, make use of polls to solicit information from their constituents and clientele concerning desired services.

As a research technique in the social sciences and professional disciplines, survey research has derived considerable credibility from its widespread acceptance and use in academic institutions. Many universities have established survey research institutes where the techniques of survey research are taught and surveys can be conducted within the confines of propriety and scientific rigor. Students are often encouraged to use survey research for gathering primary data, thereby satisfying the requirement of conducting original research. Professors publish countless articles and books based on the results of funded and unfunded survey research projects.

Despite the broad-based societal acceptance of survey research, there remains a lingering doubt, especially within the general population at large, concerning the reliability of information derived from relatively few respondents purporting to represent the whole. They frequently ask, for instance, “How can fifteen hundred respondents to a survey be said to represent millions of people?” or, “Why should two thousand television viewers dictate to program directors on a national scale what Americans choose to watch?” The answers to these and other such questions lie in the systematic application of the technique of scientific sample survey research.

Survey research involves soliciting self-reported verbal information from people about themselves. The ultimate goal of sample survey research is to allow researchers to generalize about a large population by studying only a small portion of that population. Accurate generalization derives from applying the set of orderly procedures that comprise scientific sample survey research. These procedures specify what information is to be obtained, how it will be collected, from whom it will be solicited, and how it will be analyzed.

If the researcher needs personal, self-reported information that is not available elsewhere and if generalization of findings to a larger population is desired, sample survey research is the most appropriate method as long as enough general information is known or can conveniently be obtained about the subject matter under investigation to formulate specific questions and as long as the population that is needed to be sampled is accessible and willing to provide self-reported information. The theoretical underpinnings of scientific sample survey research, its procedural applications, and analysis of the data it generates constitute the substance of this book.

Gathering Information through Research

Researchers must be aware that survey research is only one among several methods associated with the process of data collection. The three main techniques used to collect primary data (data collected firsthand, directly from the subjects under study) are survey research, direct measurement, and observation, all of which in one way or another can make use of sampling. Secondary research is a fourth means of data collection. It consists of compiling and analyzing data that have already been collected and exist in usable form. These alternative techniques, when they are not appropriate in and of themselves, can often be used as complements to the survey research process. A brief description of these alternative techniques follows:

• Secondary research: Certain data may already exist that can serve to satisfy the research requirements of a particular study. Any study should investigate existing sources of information as a first step in the research process to take advantage of information that has already been collected and may shed light on the study. Sources of secondary information include libraries, government agencies, and private foundations, among others.
• Direct measurement: This technique involves testing subjects or otherwise directly counting or measuring data. Testing cholesterol levels, monitoring airport noise levels, measuring the height of a building to make certain it complies with local ordinances, and counting ballots in a local election are all examples of direct measurement.
• Observation: A primary characteristic of observation is that it involves the direct study of behavior by simply watching the subjects of the study without intruding on them and recording certain critical natural responses to their environment. For example, a government official can obtain important information about the issues discussed in a speech by observing the audience’s reactions to that speech.

However, there is no better method of research than the sample survey process for determining, with a known level of accuracy, detailed and personal information about large populations. Opinions, which are the keys to public policy, are obtainable with defined and determinable reliability only through the survey research process. By combining surveys with scientific sampling, the researcher is using the only method of gaining this information to a known level of accuracy. The survey process is particularly suited to collecting data that can inform the researcher about research questions such as the following:

• How do Americans feel about proposed changes in social security regulations?
• What is the average income of people twenty-five years of age and older whose highest level of completed education is high school?
• What factors influence people’s choice of banks?
• What are the reactions among employees of a local factory concerning a newly proposed union policy?
• How do members of the New York State Bar Association feel about capital punishment?
• What do various state legislators think about a proposed mandatory balanced-budget amendment?
• What proportion of drivers observe seat belt laws?
• To what extent has the Latino community in Texas experienced job discrimination?

The particular use for which a survey is conducted determines the informational requirements of that survey. Surveys typically collect three types of information: descriptive, behavioral, and attitudinal.

Surveys frequently include questions designed to elicit descriptive information or facts about the respondent. Such important data as the respondent’s income, age, education, ethnicity, household size, and family composition are integral to most sample survey studies. These socioeconomic characteristics provide important information that enables the researcher to better understand the larger population represented by the sample.

In many survey research projects, the researcher is interested in the respondent’s behavior. Patterns of transportation use, recreation, entertainment, and personal behavior are often the desired information in sample survey studies. For example, such information as frequency of public transit ridership or use of various types of recreational and entertainment facilities is typical of behaviorally oriented information that can be obtained from sample surveys.

In addition to descriptive and behavioral information, many surveys solicit, as their primary focus, the respondent’s attitudes and opinions about a variety of conditions and circumstances. The hallmark of this type of sample survey is the public opinion poll, which seeks opinions and preferences regarding issues of social and political relevance. The primary objective of such studies is to be predictive and future oriented.

Very rarely does a study include only one of the informational categories we have noted. Scientific investigation requires that relationships be identified in terms of descriptive, behavioral, and attitudinal data so that we may fully understand the differential complexities of the population from which a sample has been drawn. For instance, in a political public opinion poll, it is much more desirable to know not only the breakdown of votes for each candidate but also such factors as the voter’s political party, age, gender, past voting patterns, and opinion on a variety of key issues. Such a survey requires the researcher to derive information from each of the above categories in one...