How to conduct surveys : a step-by-step guide / Arlene Fink.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 117-118) and index.

Conducting surveys: everyone is doing it -- What is a survey? -- When is a survey best? -- Self-administered questionnaires and interviews: the heart of the matter -- The friendly competition -- A survey continuum: from specific to general use -- Summing up -- Think about this -- Articles -- The survey form: questions, scales, and appearance -- The content is the message -- Define the terms -- Select your information needs or hypotheses -- Make sure you can get the information -- Do not ask for information unless you can act on it -- Writing questions -- Organizing responses to open-ended survey items: do you get any satisfaction? -- Rules for writing closed survey questions -- Responses for closed questions -- Rating scales -- Online survey questions -- Scaling -- Summing up -- Think about this -- Getting it together: some practical concerns -- Length counts -- Getting the survey in order -- Questionnaire format: aesthetics and other concerns -- Branching questions, or the infamous "skip" pattern -- Administration: who gives what to whom? -- The survey is put on trial -- Reliability and validity: the quality of your survey -- Guidelines for pilot testing -- Ethics, privacy, and confidentiality -- A far-reaching world: surveys, language, and culture -- Summing up -- Think about this -- Articles -- Sampling -- Sample size and response rate: who and how many? -- Random sampling methods -- Stratified random sampling -- Simple random cluster sampling -- Systematic sampling -- Convenience samples -- Other convenience sampling methods -- Finding the sample: who is in? Who is out? -- How large should your sample be? -- Statistical methods: sampling for two groups and an intervention -- Response rate -- Summing up -- Think about this -- Articles -- Survey design: environmental control -- Which designs are available? -- Cross-sectional survey designs -- Longitudinal surveys or cohorts -- Comparison group survey designs: quasi- and true experiments -- Other survey designs: normative and case control -- Survey design validity -- Surveys, research design, and internal and external validity -- Summing up -- Think about this -- Articles -- Analyzing and organizing data from surveys -- What is typical anyway? Some commonly used methods for analyzing survey data -- Surveying differences : usual methods -- To be or not to be: statistician or qualitative analyst? -- Content analysis, open-ended responses, and comments -- Putting the horse in front of the cart: selecting analysis methods -- Data management -- Creating a code book -- Summing up -- Think about this -- Presenting the survey results -- Reproducing the questionnaire -- Using tables -- Drawing pie diagrams -- Using bar graphs -- Using line graphs -- Drawing diagrams or pictures -- Writing the results of a survey -- The oral presentation -- Slide presentations -- Oral versus written reports: a difference in conversation -- Summing up -- Think about this -- Selected bibliography -- Index -- About the author.

From the Publisher: Arlene Fink's practical guide examines the nuts and bolts of interview and questionnaire design. It takes the reader through the process of deciding informational needs, choosing a questionnaire or interview format, designing a data-collection method, choosing a sample, analyzing the findings and reporting results. The book is geared to everyone who needs to learn how to do a simple survey, regardless of background. With practical exercises and informative appendices, this book is appropriate for both self-teaching and classroom use.

Machine converted from AACR2 source record.