advance of the experiment. Otherwise, defining what counts as success afteryou have carried out the experiment, that is initiated the programme of workplace changes, is likely to be influenced by what you see happening in the early stages of the new initiatives.
One obvious way of determining measurement outcomes is to consult the literature in the chosen field of research to see what the expert or professional convention regards as acceptable. You may, for instance, want to establish what counts as ‘improved morale at work’. Before you initiate your experiment you will need to think very carefully about the outcome measures that you will use to identify changes in employee morale.
Activity 6.1 Experimental research design
Design an experiment to investigate the hypothesis that attending staff development seminars on equal opportunities issues will affect a person’s attitudes towards racism. As you do so, follow the steps, and consider the issues set out in Figure 6.1, earlier. What ethical issues, if any, do you think that you will need to consider in this experiment?
Purposes and characteristics of the sample survey
Sample surveys are conducted in order to provide the researcher (or the sponsor of the research) with statistical information, either on a particular issue or problem that needs resolving, or to test the robustness (or not) of an existing theory. This involves measuring various phenomena, and drawing conclusions about any relationship(s) between them to establish patterns of cause and effect. For instance, in a study of industrial relations, we might compare different workplaces in terms of a number of variables that we hypothesise are likely to be associated with industrial dissent. These might be:
• the size of the firm or organisation;
• the type of industry;
• the ‘inclusiveness’ of the decision-making process;
• whether the organisation is unionised or not;
• the skill level of the employees;
• the gender mix within the organisation;
• the balance between part-time and full-time employees;
• the unemployment rate in the local area;
• and so on.
To analyse such relationships and draw widespread conclusions requires the researcher to generate large amounts of data, so that conclusions can be generalised from the sample survey to the wider population from which the survey respondents were drawn. In order to have confidence in the results generated from a sample survey, and to eliminate (or minimise) bias, the researcher should aim to maximise the response rate, and in so doing, ensure that the study is representative of the population group.
Sample surveys are a method of gathering information by means of personal interviews or questionnaires. They are sometimes referred to as ‘mass interviews’
because they are a way of collecting similar information from a large number of people at the same time. Sample surveys are based on standardised approaches, using standardised instruments, such as questionnaires. These research instruments employ fixed question and answer formats, so that there is a consistency of data collection approach, regardless of who is actually asking the questions.
In this way, the sample survey is akin to a structured dialogue between (usually two) people, in which the researcher asks a series of pre-planned (standardised) questions, and the respondent’s answers are recorded precisely on a form, and (ultimately) turned into numbers for statistical analysis. In this way the studies are said to be quantitative.
The users of survey research
Academic researchers carry out surveys to test out various research hypotheses.
For example, they may want to explore the relationship between age and
political conservatism, or why it is that some children play truant from schools, or under what circumstances people become addicted to gambling. By gathering statistical evidence, survey research may help to support a particular theory by shedding light on the connections and associations that exist between such variables. In this way, researchers look for patterns that may explain social phenomena.
Academics are not the only ones who use survey research. Other users of surveys can be broadly categorised as follows:
• The media and political parties carry out public opinion polls on voting intentions, party political leaders, and their policies.
• Government and its agencies, voluntary sector organisations, and campaigning groups use survey research to inform and influence the political, economic, and social policy-making process.
• Businesses of all sizes carry out surveys in their quest for gaining a lead in the market for their product by differentiating their product against those of their competitors.
Types of data gathered in a survey
Survey research can be used to obtain multi-faceted data from an individual:
• Behaviour – straightforward questions on what the respondent has done, is doing, and may do in the future. For example, it is possible to ask people if they voted at the 2004 European Assembly election, if they use public transport for certain journeys, or if they are vegetarian.
• Beliefs – what people think will happen. What do they believe is true or false?
What do people believe will be the effect of Britain joining the European Single Currency? Do people believe that the National Health Service is safer in the hands of the Labour Party than it was when the Conservative Party was in office?
• Attitudes – how people think and feel about certain things. For example, over the question of whether Britain should join the European Single Currency, or whether women with pre-school children should participate in the workforce.
• Attributes – these are the personal questions that concern the characteristics of the respondent, such as her or his age, sex, ethnicity, religion, and employment status. As such, these questions have the potential to be viewed as sensitive questions. They are often referred to as classificationquestions.
By employing a combination of such questions in a survey, the skilful researcher opens up the possibility of describing and explaining complex social phenomena.
Different methods of data collection in survey research
There are three main types of data collection methods for a social survey:
1. The face-to-face interview where the respondent is questioned in person by an interviewer. The main advantage of this method is that it usually results in a relatively high response rate. However, such interviewing commonly incurs high costs due to the number of interviewers that need to be employed, and it is also argued that personal interaction between the interviewer and the respondent can lead to biased responses. In a study that considers questions of child discipline and punishment, it may be that respondents will offer the ‘socially acceptable’
response – the answer that they believe the interviewer wants to hear.
2. Postal questionnaires are widely used because they are relatively cheap to administer, and they enable coverage of a wide geographic area. Also, given that they avoid direct personal contact, they have the advantage of ensuring a degree of privacy for the respondent. The main disadvantage associated with postal questionnaires is that they perform poorly in relation to response rate.
3. Telephone interviews have become more common in the past decade, as technological advances have allowed researchers to draw samples with greater accuracy. They are also very quick to administer. However, they are limited to researchers who have access to the relevant technology (such as random digit dialling technology) to carry them out.
Each of these methods of data collection has its own strengths and weaknesses in relation to design, cost, and so on, and in crude terms one’s weaknesses are often the other’s strengths. The method that is selected will depend on the type of population you aim to research, the nature of the research question, and the resources at your disposal.