SURVEY RESEARCHSurveys can provide us accurate, reliable, and valid
data, but to do this they require serious effort and
thought. General public familiarity with the survey
technique and the ease of conducting a survey can
be a drawback. Despite their widespread use and
popularity, without care, surveys can easily yield
misleading results. As the issue of social desirabil-
ity bias (discussed later in the chapter) described
in the chapter’s opening box shows, the survey
methodology requires diligence. In this chapter, you
will learn about survey research as well as its
limitations.
Survey research grew within a positivist
approach to social science.^1 As Groves remarked,
“Surveys produce information that is inherently sta-
tistical in nature. Surveys are quantitative beasts”
(1996:389). Most surveys ask a large number of
people (usually called respondents) about their
beliefs, opinions, characteristics, and past or present
behaviors (see Expansion Box 1, What Is Asked in
a Survey). For this reason, surveys are appropriate
when we want to learn about self-reported beliefs or
behaviors. Most surveys ask many questions at once,
thereby measuring many variables. This allows us
to gather descriptive information and test multiple
hypotheses in a single survey
We can use surveys for exploratory, descriptive,
or explanatory research. However, we should be
cautious when asking “why” questions of respon-
dents (e.g., Why do you think crime occurs?).^2
Such questions may tell us about people’s beliefs
and subjective understandings, but people often
have incomplete, mistaken, or distorted views. We
do not want confuse what people say or believe
about why things occur with actual cause-effect
relations in the social world.
A HISTORY OF SURVEY RESEARCH
The modern survey goes back to ancient forms
of the census.^3 A censusis government-collected
information on characteristics of the entire popula-
tion in a territory. For example, the Domesday Book
was a census of England conducted from 1085 to
1086 by William the Conqueror. The early census
assessed property for taxation or young men for
military service. After representative democracy
developed, officials used the census to assign elected
representatives based on the population in a district
and to allocate funds for public improvements.
Surveys for social research started with nine-
teenth century social reform movements in the
United States and Great Britain. Surveys helped
people document urban conditions and poverty pro-
duced by early industrialization. The early surveys
were descriptive and did not use scientific sampling
or statistical analyses. For example, between 1851
and 1864, Henry Mayhew published the four-
volume London Labour and the London Poorbased
on conversations with street people and observa-
tions of daily life. Later studies by Charles Booth’sEXPANSION BOX 1
What Is Asked in a SurveyAlthough the categories overlap, the following can
be asked in a survey:- Behavior.How frequently do you brush your teeth?
Did you vote in the last city election? When did you
last visit a close relative?
2.Attitudes/beliefs/opinions.What type of job do you
think the mayor is doing? Do you think other peo-
ple say many negative things about you when you
are not there? What is the biggest problem facing
the nation these days?
3.Characteristics.Are you married, never married,
single, divorced, separated, or widowed? Do you
belong to a union? What is your age?
4.Expectations.Do you plan to buy a new car in the
next 12 months? How much schooling do you think
your child will get? Do you think the population in
this town will grow, decrease, or stay the same?
5.Self-classification.Do you consider yourself to be
liberal, moderate, or conservative? Into which social
class would you put your family? Would you say you
are highly religious or not religious?
6.Knowledge.Who was elected mayor in the last
election? About what percentage of the people in
this city are non-White? Is it legal to own a personal
copy of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifestoin this
country?