How to Conduct Surveys 6/e

Arlene Fink (PhD) is Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, and president of the Langley Research Institute. Her main interests include evaluation and survey research and the conduct of research literature reviews as well as the evaluation of their quality. Dr. Fink has conducted scores of evaluation studies in public health, medicine, and education. She is on the faculty of UCLA's Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and is a scientific and evaluation advisor to UCLA's Gambling Studies and IMPACT (Improving Access, Counseling & Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer) programs. She consults nationally and internationally for agencies such as L'institut de Promotion del la Prevention Secondaire en Addictologie (IPPSA) in Paris, France, and Peninsula Health in Victoria, Australia. Professor Fink has taught and lectured extensively all over the world and is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed articles and 15 textbooks.

Preface About the Author Chapter 1: Conducting Surveys: Everyone Is Doing It What Is a Survey? When Is a Survey Best? Self-Administered Questionnaires and Interviews: The Heart of the Matter The Friendly Competition A Survey Continuum: From Specific to General Use Ethics, Privacy, and Confidentiality Children and Survey Ethics International Surveys Formal Standards for Ethical Surveys Chapter 2: The Survey Form: Questions, Scales, and Appearance The Content Is the Message Define the Terms Select Your Information Needs or Hypotheses Make Sure You Can Get the Information Do Not Ask for Information Unless You Can Act on It Writing Questions Organizing Responses to Open-Ended Survey Items: Do You Get Any Satisfaction? Rules for Writing Closed Survey Questions Responses for Closed Questions Rating Scales Children and Surveys Online Surveys Plain and Simple Survey Questions and Responses Scaling Chapter 3: Getting It Together: Some Practical Concerns Length Counts Getting the Survey in Order Questionnaire Format: Aesthetics and Other Concerns Branching Questions, or the Infamous "Skip" Pattern Administration: Who Gives What to Whom? Reliability and Validity: The Quality of Your Survey Selecting and Adapting Surveys Finding Surveys on the Web The Survey Is Put on Trial: Guidelines for Pilot Testing A Far-Reaching World: Surveys, Language, and Culture Chapter 4: Sampling Sample Size and Response Rate: Who and How Many? Random Sampling Methods Stratified Random Sampling Simple Random Cluster Sampling Systematic Sampling Convenience Samples Other Convenience Sampling Methods Finding the Sample: Who Is In? Who Is Out? How Large Should Your Sample Be? Statistical Methods: Sampling for Two Groups and an Intervention Response Rate Weighting Margin of Error and Confidence Level Chapter 5: Survey Design: Environmental Control Which Designs Are Available? Cross-Sectional Survey Designs Longitudinal Surveys Experimental Survey Designs Other Survey Designs: Normative and Case Control Case Control Design Survey Design Validity Surveys, Research Design, and Internal and External Validity Surveys With Qualitative Data: Threats to Internal and External Validity Chapter 6: Analyzing and Organizing Data From Surveys What Is Typical Anyway? Some Commonly Used Methods for Analyzing Survey Data Surveying Differences: Usual Methods To Be or Not to Be: Statistician or Qualitative Analyst? Content Analysis, Open-Ended Responses, and Comments Putting the Cart in Front of the Horse: Selecting Analysis Methods Data Management Chapter 7: Presenting the Survey Results Reproducing the Questionnaire Using Tables Drawing Pie Diagrams Using Bar Graphs Using Line Graphs Drawing Diagrams or Pictures Writing the Results of a Survey Survey Reporting Checklists and Guides The Oral Presentation Slide Presentations Oral versus Written Reports: A Difference in Conversation Index

The book is very readable with an easy-to-follow structure and lots of practical advice. For example, Fink provides a useful table on the pros and cons of using different survey types. Examples taken from real-life surveys are also used to good effect throughout, helping to make the text more engaging. The summing up section at the end of each chapter is also a helpful reference for readers to know where to find what they might need and to check their own understanding. -- Jo Lea