Types of Surveys
Cover Letters & Survey Instrument
Survey Question Construction 1
Survey Question Construction 2
Quality of the Measurement
Pretesting and Pilot Testing
100
A tool used to collect information from respondents.
Questionnaire
100
A graphic bar that gradually fills as the respondent progresses through the survey.
Progress Indicator
100
Level of measurement that is the most mathematically precise and has a true zero value.
Ratio
100
Question type that allows the respondent to select multiple responses.
Checklist
100
Reliable, not Valid
100
The "dress rehearsal" of survey administration and procedures.
Pilot Test
200
The population that the researcher is actually reasonably able to measure.
Accessible Population
200
When a researcher collects personal information about respondents but states this information will not be provided to anyone outside of the project.
Confidentiality
200
Response option that asks participants to select from a range of options such as Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree.
Likert Scale
200
The response options do not conflict or overlap with each other in any way.
Mutually Exclusive
200
The measure appears to be a reasonable way to estimate the targeted construct.
Face Validity
200
When a researcher watches respondents take a survey and notes the actions of the respondent such as hesitation, confusion, and frustration.
Behavior Coding
300
The "list" of accessible elements of the population from which the researcher conducts the draw of the sample.
Sampling Frame
300
The degree to which a survey is stressful, complex, and perceived as time consuming.
Respondent Burden
300
Using strong biased language and/or containing unclear messages that can manipulate or mislead a respondent to answer in a specific way.
Leading Question
300
Also known as bias, it occurs when the instrument is skewed toward a certain type of measurement. It affects all data collected by the skewed instrument equally.
Systematic Error
300
The degree of consistency with which two researcher interpret the same data.
Interrater Reliability
300
The amount of time it takes to complete individual items in the survey as well as the full survey.
Response Latency
400
Combining two or more different types of survey methodologies into one complex implementation.
Multimode Surveys
400
Occurs when respondents are confronted with a series of questions similar enough that they might appear redundant, so respondents stop paying attention to differences and answer each similar item in the same way.
Habituation
400
Occurs when individuals who do not respond, refuse to answer, or are unable to answer specific survey items differ from respondents who are able or willing to answer.
Nonresponse Bias
400
When response choice encompasses a range of numbers or categories defined in relevance to the question.
Bracketed Categories
400
When the instrument is truly measuring the construct it was designed to measure, and not some other construct.
Construct Validity
400
When the researcher encourages pretest respondents to think out loud and voice their ongoing mental reactions, essentially narrating their thought processes while they take the survey.
Cognitive Interview
500
Surveys in which multiple data on a wide variety of subjects are collected.
Omnibus Surveys
500
A survey item that applies only to some respondents, those who have provided a specific answer to a previous question.
Contingency Question
500
Occurs when one person translates the survey into another language, and a second person translates this version back into the original language.
Back Translation
500
When you expect a respondent to recall events that happened in the past or to count the number of times some event has occurred.
Retrospective Question
500
Consistency between two different versions of a measure that is probing the same construct - often with just slightly different wording.
Alternate Form Reliability
500
TWO things you could do to limit the bias of individuals choosing earlier options in their response.
Randomize responses or shorten the amount of responses.