| Have you ever discovered too late that your survey questionnaires did not deliver useful data? This course is about learning to write effective survey questions and combining them into a meaningful questionnaire. This course is designed to remedy that situation. This course combines practical knowledge with advice from the current survey research literature, featuring lectures and hands-on exercises.
The course covers:
- Key principles of question design (from cognitive, linguistic and practical perspectives) (with Workshop)
- Special issues for factual questions (with Workshop) – Highlights from Appendix on advanced topics for factual questions focusing on understanding memory issues and solutions.
- Special issues for subjective questions (with Workshop) – Highlights from Appendix on attitude change
- Issues in measuring validity and reliability
- Highlights from appendix on asking sensitive questions
- Combining individual questions into a questionnaire
- Special guidelines for self-completion surveys (e.g., web or paper-based surveys) versus quantitative interview surveys (face-to-face and telephone) (with Group Discussion)
- An introduction to the various methods to test survey questions
- “Open surgery” where participants can receive comments on their own questionnaires in a group setting or one-on-one with Dr Campanelli
By the end of the course participants will:
- Have a greater awareness of the different aspects involved in writing good survey questions and questionnaires, taking into account the important differences between questionnaire design for quantitative interview surveys versus self-completion surveys
- Have the tools to critique existing surveys
- Have the knowledge to be able to write their own high quality questionnaires
This course is aimed at anyone in any discipline wishing to improve their survey questionnaires. The course will benefit people who anticipate designing a questionnaire in the future but also those in the role of critiquing commissioned or existing research.
Preparatory Reading
Krosnick, J. A. and Presser, S. (2010), Questionnaire Design in J. D. Wright and P.V. Marsden (eds), Handbook of Survey Research (Second Edition), San Diego, CA: Elsevier.
It is fine to read the 2009 version submitted for publication and available at https://web.stanford.edu/dept/communication/faculty/krosnick/docs/2009/2009_handbook_krosnick.pdf.
Level:
Entry (no or almost no prior knowledge)
Cost:
The fee per teaching day is:
• £30 per day for UK/EU registered students
• £60 per day for staff at UK/EU academic institutions, UK/EU Research Councils researchers, UK/EU public sector staff and staff at UK/EU registered charity organisations and recognised UK/EU research institutions.
• £220 per day for all other participants
All fees include event materials, lunch, morning and afternoon tea. They do not include travel and accommodation costs. |
