Survey Research

Treadwell, D. (2013). Survey Research. In Introducing communication research: Paths of inquiry. (pp. 216-235), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Summary

This chapter focused on how to distinguish between surveys, questionnaires, and interviews.  Of particular use, was the four questions a researcher should ask to determine whether a survey is the best research method.  In addition, strategies for asking questions, increasing response rate for surveys, and pilot testing are explained.

Experience

Like other chapters in this book, the information shared here came at a good time as I was designing a survey to go out to a select group of people for a project at work.  This chapter enabled me to take a much more thoughtful approach to survey design and ended up yielding a high response rate that provided valuable information for my project.

KEYWORDS: survey, questionnaire, interview, open-ended, cross-sectional, longitudinal, pilot, response rate