POLI 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Superficiality, Artificiality, Social Desirability Bias

• School: McGill University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLI 210
• Professor: Dietlind Stolle

Document Summary

Poli 210- lecture 21: survey research professor elisabeth gidengil. Generalize to the population at large: use systematic method for surveying. Using an equally systematic method for obtaining information: highly standardized question being asked the same questions. Can vary question wording and question order. Web-based survey (online: have become increasingly popular. Advantages: higher response rates than other methods, longer surveys, control over who answers and order in which questions are answered. Interviewer boas/social desirability bias: high costs e. g. travel, accommodation, meals, salaries, length of time to complete the study. Advantages: lower cost than face-to-face surveys/allows for a larger sample for a fixed cost, rapid completion, more control over quality of interviews, control over who answers and order in which questions are answered. The typical response rate for a non-academic survey is less than 10: there has been a great decline for response rates since 1997. Interviewer bias/social desirability bias: cheaper than face-to-face but not cheap, pressure on respondents to respond quickly.