Designing and Conducting Survey Research, 4th Edition

The industry standard guide, updated with new ideas and SPSS analysis techniques

Designing and Conducting Survey Research: A Comprehensive Guide Fourth Edition is the industry standard resource that covers all major components of the survey process, updated to include new data analysis techniques and SPSS procedures with sample data sets online. The book offers practical, actionable guidance on constructing the instrument, administrating the process, and analyzing and reporting the results, providing extensive examples and worksheets that demonstrate the appropriate use of survey and data techniques. By clarifying complex statistical concepts and modern analysis methods, this guide enables readers to conduct a survey research project from initial focus concept to the final report.

Public and nonprofit managers with survey research responsibilities need to stay up-to-date on the latest methods, techniques, and best practices for optimal data collection, analysis, and reporting. Designing and Conducting Survey Research is a complete resource, answering the “what”, “why”, and “how” every step of the way, and providing the latest information about technological advancements in data analysis. The updated fourth edition contains step-by-step SPSS data entry and analysis procedures, as well as SPSS examples throughout the text, using real data sets from real-world studies. Other new information includes topics like:

• Nonresponse error/bias
• Ethical concerns and special populations
• Cell phone samples in telephone surveys
• Subsample screening and complex skip patterns

The fourth edition also contains new information on the growing importance of focus groups, and places a special emphasis on data quality including size and variability. Those who employ survey research methods will find that Designing and Conducting Survey Research contains all the information needed to better design, conduct, and analyze a more effective survey.

Table of Contents

Part One: Developing and Administering Questionnaires
Chapter One: An Overview of the Sample Survey Process
Chapter Two: Designing Effective Questionnaires
Chapter Three: Developing Survey Questions
Chapter Four: Using Focus Groups in the Survey Research Process

Part Two: Ensuring Scientific Accuracy
Chapter Five: Descriptive Statistics: Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion
Chapter Six: The Theoretical Basis of Sampling
Chapter Seven: Confidence Intervals and Basic Hypothesis Testing
Chapter Eight: Determining the Sample Size
Chapter Nine: Selecting and Obtaining a Representative Sample

Part Three: Presenting and Analyzing Survey Results
Chapter Ten: Analyzing Cross-Tabulated Data
Chapter Eleven: Testing the Difference Between Means
Chapter Twelve: Regression and Correlation
Chapter Thirteen: Preparing an Effective Final Report