Computer Assisted Survey Information Collection - Essay Example

Computer Assisted Survey Information Collection Introduction Surveys are very important in making decisions about issues. A survey allows an individual, group of individuals or an institution to obtain primary information that can be used to decide about a subject. Surveys were traditionally used for academic reasons whereby a scholar tried to understand a certain subject. Today, a survey is very important in many institutions. Surveys are used in government institutions to obtain information that can be used in making government policies. Non-governmental organisations and humanitarian organisations also use surveys for policy making. Researches have become very important in business. Surveys are used to get information about the market and other business related information. In police departments, a survey is very important for collecting information from the public. To collect and analyse the data from the public, data collection and analysis methods have to be used. Overview Various data collection methods are available for data collection. To collect data, various considerations should be made. In a research, a high number of respondents imply that the research will give better results. However, the cost of the research is also factored. Taking information from many respondents implies that the research will be more costly (Pearce, Axinn, 2006, 89). The geographical coverage of the survey is another major factor that is considered when planning the survey. Information from a small geographical region is easy to collect and does not involve a high cost. Getting a response from a wide geographical region is not easy; the cost and time would be high. Doing a survey involvers cost. In most researches, the anticipated cost is set and the person doing the research must stick to the cost set. It is not possible to receive responses from all the members of a population on which a research is done. The researchers have to decide on the criteria through which to select part of the population as the respondents to the survey. A survey is a systematic way of collecting facts about a population. The method differs from the conventional method of making implications about a population by using opinions. The data collected from a population through a survey is presented in a way that implications can be made from the data collected. The facts collected in a survey can be presented in two ways; as quantitative data or qualitative data. Quantitative is data which can be quantified; presented in numerical form (Couper, 1998, 56). On the other hand, qualitative data is data that cannot be presented in numerical from but represents facts from the population. Thus, in planning for data collection in a survey, the type of data that will be collected is determined. Qualitative data is easy to collect and analyse. Qualitative data is usually difficult to collect and analyse since it depends on the person making the survey. In collecting data from a population, it is proper to consider the respondent to the survey. The age, level of education, occupations and other factors of the population have to be considered. For example, in collecting data from children, the researcher may be used to use the children’s parents or guardians as respondents. The level of education may determine the accuracy of the information obtained from a survey. Each category of people has their behaviour and habits. In planning for data collection methods, the research should study the habits and use a method that is most appropriate in the categories. Occupations of the individual to be used for information are critical. The research should ensure that the data collection method is appropriate for all categories of individuals in different occupations and the data is correct. Technological advancements have changed the method of collecting and analysing data in a survey. Information technology has changed the social and economical way of life for many people. In consequence, it has come with new and easy methods of collecting and analysing data in a survey. Use of technology can enable a researcher to save a lot in data collection. Thus, technology is a major factor to be considered in planning and executing a social research. Sampling is one of the most important elements of a survey. Sampling is the criteria used in determining the portion of the population from whom to collect data from. Making a survey on a large population such as all members of the public in Britain may not be easy. It is expensive to receive a response from every member of the population thus; a certain portion of the population has to be chosen from the entire population (Pearce, Axinn, 2006, 67). In sampling, information obtained from the sample is used to make inferences on a certain subject of study from the population. In choosing a sample from the population, care is taken to ensure all members from the population of which the research is made are well represented in the sample. In a study where one thousand responds are already determined, the researcher has to decide on the criteria on which to distribute the responds in the areas where the research is done. The sampling made at the beginning of the research would determine the viability of the research; failure at this stage would end up with results that are biased. If the results from the survey are intended for making decisions over an issue, biased results would mislead policy makers and lead to wrong decisions. There are various methods used in data collection in social sciences. In a social survey of one thousand members, various methods would be used. Use of questionnaires is the most widely used method and it would be appropriate in this survey. Observations can also be made on the target respondent and conclusions made from the observations. Interviews can also be used whereby the respondents are interviewed on their opinion over a certain issue. With the growth in technology, online surveys could be made whereby the respondent fills questionnaires over the internet. Use of telephone interviews is another method that could be used. It would save one from having to travel from one area to another. Each method used has its strengths and weakness. Sampling Obtaining opinions on the police from the public requires prior planning. In the survey, the researcher will have to determine the way in which the research will be conducted before the actual survey begins. There are various methods of sampling that can be used in a sample survey. Some of the methods are easy while others are complex (Fowler, 2002, 78). The simple random sampling method is the simplest method that can be used in a survey. In this method, random numbers are used to determine the respondents to the survey. The names of the anticipated respondents and their addresses could be used to pick a random sample of one thousand respondents that would be used in the survey (Couper, 1998, 78). Although this method is simple, it might not be able to take into consideration various factors that should be considered in the survey. In the sampling, it would be important to consider the age, geographical distribution and other factors that may determine the opinion on the subject of study. People of different ages may have varied opinions on an issue in the police department. The opinion of the youth and the elderly may be very different. In sampling, a criterion should be set to determine the number of people and different ages to be included in the sample survey. On the other hand, people from regions in Britain may have differing opinions over the issue on police that is being surveyed (Fowler, 2002, 123). For good results for the survey, a sampling criterion should be set to determine how the various regions in the country would be represented in the one thousand samples that are used in the survey. The sampling method used in data collection also determines the method of analysis that can be used on the data collected. Sampling is the primary step in a survey and it determines the validity of the survey. Failure in this area leads to failure of the whole process of the survey and may result to results that could be misleading in decision making. Simple random sampling is the best in this survey in the police department. The sampling is easy to arrange and analyze once data obtained. The participants will be randomly chosen from a list and the appropriate data collection applied. Questionnaires A questionnaire is the most appropriate data collection method in this survey on police. Questionnaires are one of the oldest methods used in collecting data in a research. A questionnaire is a series of questions and other prompts that assist in gathering information over a subject of study. Conventionally, the series of questions were written on a paper and spaces left for the respondent to fill. Today, the questionnaires are either paper based or electronic. The questionnaires are also categorised as either structured or unstructured. Structured questionnaires are questionnaires that give results that can be transformed to quantitative data. The questionnaires are comprised of closed questions which when answered, produce data that can be analysed using the quantitative data analysis method. The other type of questionnaire is an unstructured questionnaire. These types of questionnaires have open questions that do not limit the response of the respondent. The data received from such a questioner will result in qualitative data that cannot be analysed by using quantitative analysis methods. Instead, qualitative data analysis is used in the analysis of this data. Semi structured questioners can also be used (Pearce, Axinn, 2006, 87). These types of questionnaires are intermediate between the structured and unstructured. The data received from such questionnaires are analysed by both qualitative and quantitative methods. The type of questionnaire to used, either structured, unstructured or semi structured, is determined by the kind of survey being made. In this survey, all the different types of questionnaires will be used. The respondents to the questionnaires also determine the type of questionnaires. The details of the information to be obtained are also considered in determining the kind of questioners to be used. Structured questioners have an advantage in that they are easy to analyse. In structured questionnaires, the respondent is given various options to respond to. Thus, the responses to the questions are limited hence the results from all the questionnaires have similar responses. This has an advantage in that the respondent is guided on how to respond to the question. In unstructured questionnaires, the respondent is not limited on the kind of response to give (Fowler, 2002, 78). The open questions used allow the respondents to give details of the questions asked. Thus, unstructured questionnaires allow more information to be received. The disadvantage of this type of questionnaires is that the information received may not be easy to analyse. In addition, the survey made by using this method may take a relatively longer time as compared to structured questionnaires. Semi structured questionnaires makes use of the strength of structured and unstructured questionnaires. In the survey on police department, Questionnaires will allow the questions to be prepared before and enable the right results to be obtained. The preliminaries would be to understand the kind of information that is needed from the members of the public. From the information needed, the questions are then structured. The questions should enable the researcher to obtain the kind of information that is required from the survey. Depending on the information, open or closed questions are formulated. Open and closed questions have their strengths and weakness. An open question is a question that prompts an opinion over an issue (Pearce, Axinn, 2006, 56). The responses to these questions are not predetermined and thus a response from the respondent may be very different. These types of questions are important when the researcher wants to receive various opinions over a subject of study or when the researcher wants to solicit subjective data. Open questions on the other hand have predetermined responses. Responses to the question are structured in form of multiple choices. The responses to the questions are limited to the options in the multiple choices. Written questionnaires This is the most popular method of collecting data and most appropriate in this survey. The questions to the questionnaire will be put on a paper or a form. The questionnaires will then be presented to the respondent and the respondent fills in the questioners in response to the questions in the questionnaire. The method is cheap as compared to other methods of questionnaires. The researcher does not have to travel to the respondent’s place of residence or place of work; the questionnaire can be sent through the mail (Couper, 1998, 67). Enough time can be allowed to the respondent. This will allow the respondent time to think over the questions and give good results. This method is familiar to most people since it is the most used data collection method. Thus, many of the respondents may not have problems in responding to the questionnaires. Computer assisted questionnaires Since most of the people in the country use computers in their day to day life, Computer assisted questionnaires could be helpful in obtaining the opinion on police. Information technology has been used in social research (Sue, Ritter, 2007, 121). Written questionnaire can be sent through the email (Couper, 1998, 68). Using this method in the research on the police department will require the questionnaires to be sent to the identified respondent through the email. The respondents will fill the questionnaires and send them back. This method is advantageous in cutting the cost of the survey. The method helps in cutting the cost of paper and the cost of travel. In addition, the method takes less time than the conventional method of questionnaires. This method will allow the opinions on police from many people across the country to be obtained. Personal questioners Personal questionnaires will be appropriate in obtaining the opinion of the children and elderly in the survey. Personal questionnaires are similar to written questionnaires. The only difference is that the researcher assists the respondent in filling the questionnaires. The children and elderly who participate in the survey may require to be guided in the survey. Personal questioners will allow the questions to be elaborated or rephrased for the children to understand. The advantage to these types of questionnaire is that there is a low probability of the questionnaire being wrongly filled out (Fowler, 2002, 66). The researcher is able to guide the respondent on the responses made. Clarification on the questions in the questionnaire can be easily made. In addition, the researcher is able to sense any biasness in the response and respond to them appropriately. The disadvantages of this method are that it is expensive and time consuming. Using the method in the survey of over one thousand respondents, the researchers have to approach each of the respondents and assist them in filling the questionnaires. This would be expensive and would take a lot of time. In addition, many researchers will be required in the method. Face to face Interviews Interviews are not a preference in this study but can be used for a selected respondent. The opinion of people in leadership over the police is very important. Face to face interview may be used. This method will allow details of the response to be obtained. An interview is a method of data collection in social research that involves the researcher questioning the respondent on the subject of study (Pearce, Axinn, 2006, 45). Open and closed questions are used in this method. Open questions are preferred in interviews although they have their disadvantages (Fowler, 2002, 56). Use of open questions may prolong the interview and may lead to discussions of irrelevant issues to the subject in study. An interview aims at collecting the opinion of the respondent. The researcher has to make arrangements on how he can meet with respondents. A questionnaire can be used to guide the researcher on the kind of questions to ask in the interview. The responses from the respondent are recorded. The information obtained from the specified respondent will be summarised. The opinion from the interviews will be important in comparing the results obtained from the questionnaires. Telephone interview For the respondent that can not be physically reached, telephone interviews could be used. This method is not preferred in this survey since the non verbal information from the respondent will not be able to be noted. However, this method is cost and time effective and will be used in the survey to meet the deadlines Web based survey Although web based surveys are very common in social surveys, it is not preferred in this survey. This type of survey is conducted over the internet. A web based template is used for interactions with the respondents. Personified computer applications can be prepared for the specific survey (Spitz, Nile, Adler, 2006, 98). Most web based surveys make use of questioners. Computer softwares are used to prepare online questionnaires that can be used to receive information from the respondents. Use of web based surveys save the time required in the survey (Spitz, Nile, Adler, 2006, 67). This method is not preferred in this survey since the validity of the information will be hard to verify. In addition, this survey has a limited number of participants which will be hard choose in the web based survey. Justification for use of Questionnaires Ease in Data analysis Data collected using questionnaires is easy to analyse. Data obtained from a survey may not be useful without being analysed. The data obtained from the survey must be analysed using various methods so as to make decisions from the data. The data obtained from the surveys are categorised into quantitative and qualitative data (Nichols, 1991, 87). Qualitative data is analysed using the qualitative data analysis method. Qualitative analysis entails obtaining the mean, median and other statistical measures (Nichols, 1991, 234). Qualitative data analysis methods are used to analyse qualitative data obtained from the survey. Qualitative data cannot be expressed in numerical terms and needs more advanced methods to get the meaning from the data. Use Statistical analysis Questionnaires can be framed to give quantitative data that can be analysed using statistical methods. Quantitative data obtained in a survey can be analysed using statistical methods. Statistical methods will enable the researcher to summarise the information from the survey and make it possible for implications to be made from the research. A central measure of tendency is the basic analysis that is done using this method. This involves the calculations of the mean, median and mode (Pearce, Axinn, 2006, 123). The mean of a response represents the opinion of all the respondents. Hypothesis testing is another important statistical analysis that can be made on the data obtained from the survey. This method tests the validity of a hypothesis made during the survey. Use of data analysis tools Questionnaires are easy to use with statistical analysis tools. Various tools are available for analysis of the data obtained from the survey. Statistical tools such as Excel and SPSS are very important in processing data from social surveys (Pearce, Axinn, 2006, 141). Information obtained via structures and questionnaires are easily analysed by using tools. Use of data analysis tools will make it easy to make implications from the survey on police. Conclusion Social surveys are very important in obtaining information from the public. This primary source of data is preferred for its ability to give correct and updated information. Social surveys are conducted before institutions make major decisions. To be successful, surveys require active participation of the respondent. The researcher plays a major role in ensuring the information obtained from the survey is valid. Prior preparation involves making decisions on the data collection methods to be used in the survey. The most appropriate data collection method in the survey on police will be questionnaires. Written, personal and computer assisted questionnaires will be most appropriate in obtaining opinions of various members of the public. Interviews may also be used to get opinions of leaders in various positions and the information obtained will be compared with the information from the questionnaires References Couper (1998):- Computer assisted survey information collection:-New York:- Wiley-IEEE; Pearce, Axinn (2006):- Mixed method data collection strategies;-New York:- Cambridge University Press; Fowler (2002):- Survey research methods:- SAGE; Spitz, Nile, Adler (2006):- Web-based survey techniques:- Transportation Research Board; Sue, Ritter (2007):- Conducting online surveys:- Sage Publications; Bryman, Cramer (1999):- Quantitative data analysis for social scientists:- Taylor & Francis; Nichols (1991):- Social survey methods:-New York;- Oxfam; Read More