Code:

BERM.AMC.003

Study year:

2008 - 2009

Long name:

Advanced Survey Methods

ECTS:

5

Language:

English

Lecturer(s):

Tony Hak

Faculty:

RSM Erasmus University

Number of lectures:

Hours per lecture:

Goal:

The objective of this course is to provide students with the skills to design, conduct and publish excellent survey research, i.e. research in which data are collected from a population (or a sample) of individuals, households or businesses by means of a standardized questionnaire. This is an advanced course in which it is assumed that students are familiar with the basics of survey research. Students must pass a test of this basic knowledge in the first session of this course.

Course contents:

This course gives hands-on instruction about how to design and conduct a survey. Sources of sampling error as well as non-sampling error and their remedies are discussed. Special attention will be given to designing and conducting business surveys.

The main topics covered are:

Criteria for choosing survey research rather than another research design such as the case study or forms of qualitative interviewing

Sources of coverage, sampling and response error and their remedies: the concept of selection bias, sampling strategies, methods for reducing non-response, and post-hoc assessment of selection bias. The underlying assumptions of standardized questioning: the response process model and its specific characteristics in business surveys. Sources of non-sampling error and their remedies: principles of questionnaire construction, pretesting techniques, and post-hoc assessment of data error. Mode differences: how response rates and data quality are affected by the mode of questioning (face-to-face interview, telephone interview, mail questionnaire, and particularly the web survey). This course will not deal with issues of statistical analysis.

Examination:

Students design a survey during the course and report about it in the form of a research proposal. They hand in an assignment every fortnight in which they discuss their progress. The research proposal (to be handed in at the end of the course) will be graded.

Literature:

Robert M. Groves et al. (2004), Survey methodology. Wiley (ISBN 0-471-48348-6)

Additional information: