Designing and Conducting Survey Research: A Comprehensive Guide

by Richard A. Parker and Louis M. Rea

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 078797546X
• ISBN13: 9780787975463
• Release Date: September 2005
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 283 Pages
• Weight: 1.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 7.2" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

This has become my right-hand book

This book has been a god-send for the work I'm doing in developing a survey research series for a local non-profit. What makes it so great is that it has a very strong overall and comprehensive approach to survey research, not surveys, not analyzing surveys but the WHOLE concept of survey research. Developing, administering questionnaires - overview of survey sample process - desigining effective questionnaires (types, layout, lenght, questions) - developing survey questions (closed, open, scaled, ranked...) - utilizing focus groups (pre-testing, piloting) Ensuring scientific accuracy - descriptive stats, central tendency and dispersion - theoretical basis of sampling (stratified, clustered) - confidence intervals - determining sample sizes - selecting representative samples (general, working and sample pops) Presenting, Analyzing Survey Results - cross-tabulated data analysis - testing difference between means - regression and correlation - preparing an effective final report You will get what you need out of this to start an effective survey research program or any activity. Surveys are becoming more frequent and 'easy' way of collecting data, but if you dont know why you're collecting it and what you're going to do with it - you're wasting your time with surveys. This book presents the concept of setting up a plan of action towards research which leads to better surveys and better questions, thus data. Couple this with "Improving Survey Questions" (Fowler Jr), "How to Measure Survey Reliability and Validity" (Litwin) and "How to Analyze Survey Data" (Fink) and you will have a nice library of resources. To start the overall program evaluation process, how about "Measuring Performance in Public and Nonprofit Organizations" (Poister)?

An informative and interesting read...

I purchased this text in order to brush up on some of the basic survey techniques for some work-related research projects. It has worked wonders for our sample selection and data collection processes.

clearly written

This text is easy to read and has helped me in constructing a mail-out survey.

Well written instructions for writing and interpting surveys

This is an excellent reference book for writing survey questions, for ensuring population representation in your samples and for interpting the responses. It even includes reference statistical tables for use in analysis of survey responses. All this in a small volume that is easily understood because it is so well written! It hits the nail right on the head. If you are conducting surveys or must present results after a survey is completed, this is a "must read" book.

Well written instructions for writing and intrepting surveys

This is an excellent reference book for writing survey questions, for ensuring population representation in your samples and for intrepting the responses. It even includes reference statistical tables for use in analysis of survey responses. All this in a small volume that is easily understood because it is so well written! It hits the nail right on the head. If you are conducting surveys or must present results after a survey is completed, this is a "must read" book.