ABSTRACT
Survey research is a method of data collection in which information is obtained directly from individual persons who are selected so as to provide a basis for drawing conclusions about some larger population. Surveys provide five types of information about respondents: facts, perceptions, opinions, attitudes, and behavioral reports. Survey research can be divided into 14 basic activities are conceptualizing, survey design, instrumentation, planning, sampling, training or briefing, pretesting, surveying, monitoring, verifying, coding, data processing, analyzing, and reporting. Survey researchers must be concerned with the overall organization of the survey instrument. The basic choice among types of surveys is usually among four options: personal interviews, mail surveys, telephone surveys, and Internet surveys. Surveys are monitored to ensure the validity and generalizability of results. Verification is especially important with in-person surveys, when unethical interviewers have both an opportunity and an incentive to falsify interviews and when even well-meaning ones can interview the wrong people.
