ABSTRACT
Surveys enable us to collect a representation of the population of interest by the same information being collected from each participant (more information about population samples can be found in Chapter 4). Surveys may collect information on attitudes, perceptions or behaviour, and they may be able to access information that is not already easily available. By the use of a survey the researcher can make claims about a wider population based on the results from a sample. Surveys lend themselves to quantitative designs, and the large number of respondents required by the survey method means that statistical tests can be used. Therefore, survey results are generally reported in numerical form and are widely used within educational research. For example, headline findings from recent educational surveys include ‘Four out of ten headteachers are concerned about crumbling school buildings’ (Shepherd, 2012) and ‘83% of teachers see pupils who are hungry in the morning’ (Evans, 2012).
