Program
INTRODUCTION TO SURVEY METHODOLOGY
Prerequisites: Graduate student status. Students in this course are expected to have taken at least one undergraduate statistics course.
1. Overview of the Course
The field of survey methodology draws on theories and practices developed in several academic disciplines — mathematics, statistics, psychology, sociology, computer science, and economics. To become an accomplished professional in the survey research field requires a mastery of research literatures as well as experience designing, conducting, and analyzing surveys.
This course introduces the student to a set of principles of survey design that are the basis of standard practices in the field. The course exposes the student to research literatures that use both observational and experimental methods to test key hypotheses about the nature of human behavior that affect the quality of survey data. It will also present important statistical concepts and techniques in sample design, execution, and estimation, as well as models of behavior describing errors in responding to survey questions. Thus, both social science and statistical concepts will be presented.
The course uses the concept of total survey error as a framework to discuss coverage properties of sampling frames, alternative sample designs and their impacts on standard errors of survey statistics, alternative modes of data collection, field administration operations, the role of the survey interviewer, impacts of nonresponse on survey statistics, the effect of question structure, wording and context on respondent behavior, models of measurement error, postsurvey processing, and estimation in surveys. The course is intended as an introduction to the field, taught at a graduate level. Lectures and course readings assume that students understand basic statistical concepts (at the level of an undergraduate course) and have exposure to elements of social science perspectives on human behavior..
2. Format of the Course
The course has three main components:
(1) Lectures-- Monday through Thursday, 8:30-11:30AM.
(2) Readings
These are companions to the lectures that give the student a fuller discussion of key concepts and research findings. Except for the first class, readings should be completed prior to the lecture covering their material.
(3) Weekly Examinations
Each week of the course will have a short examination that each student will complete in order to develop further integration of the knowledge presented in lectures and readings.
3. Grading
Grading will be based on four examinations; each examination will be given on the Thursday class, after an open period of class discussion and questions posed to the instructor. Students will be allowed 90 minutes for each examination. For students whose average grade is on the boundary of two grades, class participation will be used to set the final grade.
4. Readings
Textbook: There is one required text for the course:
Groves, R., Fowler, F., Couper, M., Lepkowski, J., Singer, E., and Tourangeau, R., Survey Methodology, Wiley, 2nd Edition.
There will also be one booklet provided free of charge:
American Association for Public Opinion Research. 2000. Standard Definitions: Final Dispositions of Case Codes and Outcome Rates for Surveys. Ann Arbor, Michigan: AAPOR.
6. Class Schedule
July 6 – Overview; Description of Class
Lecture:
Moving concepts to measures in survey design
Steps of the process of a survey
July 7 Inference in Surveys
Lecture:
Key concepts and principles of survey quality
The parallel processes of measurement inference and representational inference
Readings:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 1-2
July 8 – Sampling Frames and Coverage
Lecture:
Target populations
Undercoverage
Duplication
Clustering
Overcoverage
Readings:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 3
July 9 – Questions/Answers, First Week Examination
July 13 -- Sampling
Lecture:
Probability sampling
Simple Random Sampling
Systematic sampling
Stratification
Readings:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 3
July 14 – Sampling
Lecture:
Cluster and multistage sampling
Other probability designs
Sampling frames
Readings:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 4 (4.1—4.6)
July 15 – Sampling
Lecture:
Selection weights
Computing sampling errors
Examples of sample designs
Reading:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 4 (4.7—4.9)
July 16 – Questions/Answers, Second Week Examination
July 20 – Mode of data collection
Lecture:
Face to face
Telephone
Self-administered
Administrative records
Impact of computer assistance
Reading:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 5
July 21 – Survey Nonresponse
Lecture:
Nonresponse rates
Components of nonresponse
Nonresponse rates and nonresponse error
Survey design features affecting nonresponse rates
Reading:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 6
July 22 – Questions and Answers in Surveys
Lecture:
Overview of response behavior
comprehension
memory search
judgment
delivery of response
Readings:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 7
July 23 – Questions/Answers; Third Week Examination
July 27 – Evaluating Questions
Lecture:
Research findings on question wording, structure, and context
Focus groups
Cognitive interviews
Expert review
Pretests
Pilot tests
Reading:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 8
July 28 – Interviewing
Lecture:
Recruiting and hiring of interviewers
Interviewer training
Evaluation of interviewing performance
Reading :
Survey Methodology, Chapter 9
July 29– Post-Survey Processing; Estimation
Lecture:
Editing data
Imputation
Construction of unit weights
Variance estimation
Reading:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 10
July 30 – Questions/Answers, Final Examination
Reading:
Survey Methodology, Chapter 12