ABSTRACT
In the social sciences when we use the word survey we mean that we are in interested in collecting information in a systematic manner about a given population. The most popular methods for the collection of survey data over the years have been by postal questionnaire, structured interview and focus group. Surveys can range from the very simple description of frequency counts to complex analysis; from the very local analysis of, for example, one secondary school to national or even international comparisons of educational systems. In all cases, researchers are interested in finding patterns, regularities, similarities and differences within and between the population they are interested in and in relation to the wider society, perhaps in order to identify causal relationships or predictive patterns of behaviour. In order to do this we have to be systematic. If we choose to use a questionnaire, our sample has to be representative of the population we are interested in. Our data collection will involve asking every person in our sample the same questions, using the same words, in the same order so
that any differences that are identified are a product of real differences between people in the population and not as a result of the way we have collected our data.
