Survey Design Scenario

Dr. Philip N. Howard

Department of Communication
University of Washington

PART 1

You have been given a budget of $50,000 by the National Science Foundation to add your own section of questions to the next General Social Survey. The sample is one-half male, one half female. The age groups covered range from 21-55, and the sample size will be around 1,500 people.

You are to investigate the prevalence of sexual harassment in the workplace. One closed-ended question for the entire sample costs $5000. For one gender only, the cost of one closed-ended question for the entire sample is 2,500. One open-ended question for the entire sample costs $10,000. For one gender only, the cost of one open-ended question for the entire sample is $5,000. You do not have to ask for basic demographic details because they will be covered in the core part of the survey.

Write a set of research questions that uses your budget. Be ready to discuss the hypotheses that you are testing.

PART 2

A benevolent donor to the university has given you a grant to run your study, with no cost limits. You no longer have to use the General Social Survey instrument and can administer the survey in one of four ways:

Web-based survey

Mail-out questionnaire

Telephone interview

Face-to-Face interview

However, you still need to justify your choice because different kinds of cooperation and administration are needed for each survey method. Make a research plan for organizing the survey, and be sure to address the following issues: sampling, population, questionnaire design, content, bias, and implementation. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your survey method, and make a clear argument for why the strengths outweigh those weaknesses.