ABSTRACT
In the most general sense, survey research is the process of collecting data by asking people questions and recording their answers. Surveys can be conducted for a variety of purposes, two of which predominate. One purpose is the estimation of population parameters, or the characteristics of a population. For example, the goal of a survey might be to determine the percentage of people who hold supporting and opposing positions on social issues, such as nuclear power; the percentage who perform certain behaviors, such as smoking cigarettes; or the demographic characteristics of the population, such as sex, age, income, and ethnicity. The U.S. census, public opinion polls, and the periodic General Social Survey (GSS) conducted by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center are all surveys directed at estimating population parameters. The second purpose for which a survey might be conducted is hypothesis testing. Researchers might be interested in the correlations between the answers to questions or between characteristics of respondents and their answers. Surveys can be conducted specifi cally for the purpose of hypothesis testing, or researchers might use data from survey archives, such as those described in the next chapter, to test their hypotheses. Experiments can also be conducted by survey methods when the researcher manipulates independent variable by varying the information that participants receive: People in the different conditions of the independent variable receive versions of the survey that contain the information that defi nes the condition to which they are assigned.
