Page 47 - DMGT404 RESEARCH_METHODOLOGY

Unit 3: Research Design

4. Can all members of population be sampled?: If you have an incomplete list of the population Notes
(i.e., sampling frame) you may not be able to sample every member of the population.
Lists of various groups are extremely hard to keep up to date. People move or change their
names. Even though they are on your sampling frame listing, you may not be able to get
to them. And, it's possible they are not even on the list.
5. Are response rates likely to be a problem?: Even if you are able to solve all of the other
population and sampling problems, you still have to deal with the issue of response rates.
Some members of your sample will simply refuse to respond. Others have the best of
intentions, but can't seem to find the time to send in your questionnaire by the due date.
Still others misplace the instrument or forget about the appointment for an interview.
Low response rates are among the most difficult of problems in survey research. They can
ruin an otherwise well-designed survey effort.

Question Issues

Sometimes the nature of what you want to ask respondents will determine the type of survey
you select.

1. What types of questions can be asked?
Are you going to be asking personal questions? Are you going to need to get lots of detail
in the responses? Can you anticipate the most frequent or important types of responses
and develop reasonable closed-ended questions?
2. How complex will the questions be?
Sometimes you are dealing with a complex subject or topic. The questions you want to ask
are going to have multiple parts. You may need to branch to sub-questions.
3. Will screening questions be needed?
A screening question may be needed to determine whether the respondent is qualified to
answer your question of interest. For instance, you wouldn't want to ask someone their
opinions about a specific computer program without first "screening" them to find out
whether they have any experience using the program. Sometimes you have to screen on
several variables (e.g., age, gender, experience). The more complicated the screening, the
less likely it is that you can rely on paper-and-pencil instruments without confusing the
respondent.

4. Can question sequence be controlled?
Is your survey one where you can construct in advance a reasonable sequence of questions?
Or, are you doing an initial exploratory study where you may need to ask lots of follow-
up questions that you can't easily anticipate?
5. Will lengthy questions be asked?
If your subject matter is complicated, you may need to give the respondent some detailed
background for a question. Can you reasonably expect your respondent to sit still long
enough in a phone interview to ask your question?

6. Will long response scales be used?
If you are asking people about the different computer equipment they use, you may have
to have a lengthy response list (CD-ROM drive, floppy drive, mouse, touch pad, modem,
network connection, external speakers, etc.). Clearly, it may be difficult to ask about each
of these in a short phone interview.

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