Survey Research designs & Methods

Survey research Designs
The three types of survey design are the longitudinal design, the cross-sectional design and the successive
independent samples design
Longitudinal Research:
Longitudinal research is a research method in which we test the same group of individuals repeatedly over an extended period of time. When we want to see how people change over time, as in studies of human
development.
e.g. Survey of a group of people for 20 years to see their dietary habits changed from decade to decade.
1) In the longitudinal design, the same respondents are surveyed over time in order to examine changes in
individual respondents.
2) Because of the Correlational nature of survey data, it is difficult to identify the causes of individuals’
changes over time.
3) As people drop out of the study over time (attrition), the final sample may no longer be comparable to
the original sample or represent the population.
There are Two types of Longitudinal Research Design
Panel Studies are a particular design of longitudinal study in which the unit of analysis is
followed at specified intervals over a long period, often many years. The key feature of panel studies is that they collect repeated measures from the same sample at different points in time.
Cohort Studies: A study design where one or more samples (cohorts) are followed perceptively and subsequently status evaluations with respect to a disease or outcome are conducted to determine which
initial participant’s exposure characteristics (risk factors) are associated with it. As the study is
conducted, outcome from participants in each cohort is measured and relationship specific
characteristics determined.

Cross-Sectional Research:
In cross-sectional research, a researcher compares multiple segments of the population at the same time.
e.g. Using dietary habits the researcher might directly compare different group of people by age. The
researcher would study a group of 20 year-old individuals and compare them to a group of 30 year-old
individuals and a group of 40 year-old individuals.
1) In the cross-sectional design, one or more samples are drawn from the population(s) at one time.
2) Cross-sectional designs allow researchers to describe the characteristics of a population or the
differences between two or more populations, and Correlational findings from cross-sectional designs allow researchers to make predictions.

Successive independent samples design:
1. In the successive independent samples design, different samples of
respondents from the population complete the survey over a time
period.
2. The successive independent samples design allows researchers to study
changes in a population over time.
3. The successive independent samples design does not allow researchers to
infer how individual respondents have changed over time.
4. A problem with the successive independent samples design occurs when
the samples drawn from the population are not comparable—that is, not
equally representative of the population.
In the successive independent samples design, a series of cross-sectional surveys
are conducted over time (successively). The samples are independent because
a different sample of respondents completes the survey at each point in time.
There are two key ingredients:
(1) The same set of questions should be asked ofeach sample of respondents
(2) the different samples should be drawn fromthe same population.

             Survey Methods
Telephonic survey
In telephonic survey, Telephone numbers are utilized by trained interviewer to contact and gather information from possible respondents.
Advantages
1) High accessibility
2) Good quality control
3) Anonymous Respondents
4) Quick data processing and handling
Disadvantage
1)Time-Constrained interviews
Hard
2) Hard to reach respondents
3)Unseen product

Personal Interview
A personal interview survey is a face-to-face interview of the respondent; it’s a survey method that is utilized when a specific target population is involved. The purpose of conducting a personal interview survey is to explore the responses of the people to gather more and deeper information.
Advantages
High response rate
Tolerable longer interviews
Better observation of behaviour
Disadvantages
High costs
Time consuming

Online Survey
An online survey is a questionnaire that the target audience can complete over the internet.
Online survey is usually created as web forms with a database to store the answers and statistical software to provide analytics.
Mail Survey
A mail survey is one in which the postal services, another mail delivery service, is used to mail the survey materials to sampled survey addresses. Respondents complete questionnaires on paper and return
them via the mail.