The questions are usually structured and standardized. The structure is intended to reduce bias (see questionnaire construction). For example, questions should be ordered in such a way that a question does not influence the response to subsequent questions. Surveys are standardized to ensure reliability, generalizability, and validity (see quantitative marketing research). Every respondent should be presented with the same questions and in the same order as other respondents.
In organizational development, carefully constructed survey instruments are often used as the basis for data gathering, organizational diagnosis, and subsequent action planning. Some OD practitioners (e.g. Fred Nickols) even consider survey guided development as the sine qua non of OD.
Advantages of Surveys
The advantages include:
• It is an efficient way of collecting information from a large number of respondents. Very large samples are possible. Statistical techniques can be used to determine validity, reliability, and statistical significance.
• Surveys are flexible in the sense that a wide range of information can be collected. They can be used to study attitudes, values, beliefs, and past behaviours.
• Because they are standardized, they are relatively free from several types of errors.
• They are relatively easy to administer.
• There is an economy in data collection due to the focus provided by standardized questions. Only questions of interest to the researcher are asked, recorded, codified, and analyzed. Time and money is not spent on tangential questions.
Disadvantages of Surveys
The disadvantages include:
• They depend on subjects’ motivation, honesty, memory, and ability to respond. Subjects may not be aware of their reasons for any given action. They may have forgotten their reasons. They may not be motivated to give accurate answers, in fact, they may be motivated to give answers that present themselves in a favorable light.
• Surveys are not appropriate for studying complex social phenomena. The individual is not the best unit of analysis in these cases. Surveys do not give a full sense of social processes and the analysis seems superficial.
• Structured surveys, particularly those with closed ended questions, may have low validity when researching affective variables.
• Survey samples are usually self-selected, and therefore non-probability samples from which the characteristics of the population sampled cannot be inferred.
Advantages of Self-administered Questionnaires
The advantages include:
• They are less expensive than interviews.
• They do not require a large staff of skilled interviewers.
• They can be administered in large numbers all at one place and time.
• Anonymity and privacy encourage more candid and honest responses.
• Lack of interviewer bias.
• Speed of administration and analysis.
• Suitable for computer based research methods.
• Less pressure on respondents
Advantages of Researcher Administered Interviews
The advantages include:
• Fewer misunderstood questions and inappropriate responses.
• Fewer incomplete responses.
• Higher response rates.
• Greater control over the environment that the survey is administered in.
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