Summary Survey Research Methods - Articles + Lectures summary (E_MKT_SRM)

SURVEY RESEARCH METHODS – SUMMARY
LECTURE 1 – INTRODUCTION TO SURVEY RESEARCH
LECTURE – INTRODUCTION TO SURVEY RESEARCH
Agenda: Introduction to Survey Research
 Getting Started with Surveys
 What is Survey Research?
 Key Take-Aways: Introduction to Survey Research

Overview of Lectures
1 Introduction to Survey Research
3 Analyzing a Survey
4 Planning a Survey
5 Construct Measurement
6 Questionnaire Design
7 Sampling and Data Collection
9 International Survey Research
10 Designing an Experimental Study
11 Wrap-up of the Course

Getting Started with Surveys
 What do you know about survey research?
 How do you ensure to conduct a “good” survey?
 What are the pitfalls to avoid in survey research?

- Clean data  important before you process and analyze the data
- Items for the questions  input from other research
 Likert, length of the scale has to be the same
- What should be in, out of survey. Questions to ask or not ask: length important
 Good length questionnaire: 5-10 minutes, how much can we ask, how difficult is
questionnaire
 too long: concentration will get down and quality of the data goes down
- Attention check

Let’s Survey...
To what extent do you consider yourself a happy person?
Possible response categories are:
1) Very happy 2) Happy 3) Neither happy nor unhappy 4) Not very happy 5) Unhappy
 not very happy and unhappy, not the same language
 social desirability: respond with answer people want to hear or be perceived
 what is happy? general, current state, have same understanding  clarify this
 neutral category depends on goal

Q1: Have you read a book (also: eBook, article, or audio book) in the past 6
months?
1) Yes 2) No
 not good question: general interest everyone would say yes  meaningless
- Don’t need this question, you need some variance in the question, otherwise don’t
have any insights

Q2: How often have you been drunk in the last year?
1) Never 2) Once 3) Several times 4) Do not know
 people would not respond honest: social desirability
- Use techniques to uncover true answer

Q3: How dissatisfied are you with your mobile phone provider?
1) Very dissatisfied 2) Dissatisfied 3) A bit dissatisfied 4) Neutral 5) Fully satisfied 6) Do
not know

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, bad way to ask question: dissatisfied is already steering you in certain direction, keep
it more neutral not in a direction
 no balance: bad thing, guide respondent to certain direction, neutral need to be in the
middle, response options should be balanced to get reliable answers

Telephone survey of 10,000 people in US about their intentions to buy a new car in the
next six months.
Q: Is the sample size large enough, and are results reliable and valid, generalizable?
- Not that valid and reliable although it’s bigger than the other sample size

Survey of 42 winners of a “slogan contest” by an insurance company about their
happiness with the prize (a very nice bottle of champagne).
Q: Is sample size large enough, results reliable and valid?

“Poorly designed and executed survey research is of little or no value”

Research Methods - Survey Research can include other Methods




→ The Right Approach is Determined by the (Research) Question!

Survey versus Experimental Research
Experiment Survey
- 2 conditions = manipulate -No manipulation
- Causality - No causality
- Narrow  look at 2 or 3 things - Broad  consider much more variables than
experiment
- Specific - More general

Going beyond Experimental Manipulations...




What is Survey Research?
 Survey: systematic method for gathering information with standardized
questionnaires from (a sample of) entities for the purpose of constructing
quantitative descriptors of the attributes of the larger population of which the
entities are members
 Systematic and Standardized
- Distinguishes itself from other techniques such as qualitative research
- Standardized  Everyone gets the same questionnaire
 (A Sample of) Entities
- Mostly a selection of the population is included in the survey  Sample not
population
- All entities can be included as well (employee survey)
 Quantitative Descriptors
- Statistics needed to analyze the responses
- Not qualitative


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,A Short History of Survey Research
 Census surveys were conducted as early as Ancient Egypt
 Survey as a formal research method was pioneered in the 1930-40s by sociologist
Paul Lazarsfeld to examine the effects of the radio on political opinion formation of
the United States
 Today, surveys provide managers with deeper insights into their customers and
employees
 Surveys can contribute to generalizing experimental findings to different persons and
settings

Time Horizon of Survey Research
 Cross-Sectional Design
- Opinion polls (e.g., to predict electoral results)
- Typical thesis survey (e.g., to understand consumer preferences or attitudes)
 Longitudinal Design
- Repeated cross-sectional (different sample each time)
- Fixed-sample panel design (the same sample each time)
- Cohort study (follow the same people over a longer period of time, usually after an
event; e.g., people graduating MSc Marketing in 2010 and follow their lives over a 10-
year time period)

The Role of Surveys in Research
Early stages of research
 Exploratory survey research
 Descriptive survey research
 Goal: Hypothesis generation
Later stages of research
 Explanatory survey research
 Goal: Hypothesis testing

What is Survey Data good for?




Examples of Academic Survey Research




4 Phases of the Survey Research Process




Key Take-Aways: Introduction to Survey Research
 A survey is a systematic method for gathering information
- with standardized questionnaires

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, - from (a sample of) entities
- for the purpose of constructing quantitative descriptors
- of the attributes of the larger population of which the entities are members.




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