Detailed presentation
This section is structured as follows:
DEFINITION | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHAT IS A SURVEY? What are the reasons for using a survey? A survey collects data over broad populations, by means of a standardised set of questions. Are there different types of questionnaire? There are two main types of questionnaire:
Usually, questionnaires combine both types, with a preference for structured items and few open-ended questions (yielding information which is more diverse and/or precise, but less amenable to statistical analysis). Structured questionnaires Structured items are questions which respondents must answer in a specific way by choosing from a limited and predetermined set of responses. The questionnaire format is designed to obtain information about facts, to find out whether respondents agree to a suggestion, to record their opinions on a set of assertions, etc. Structured items do not collect detailed information, but as the categories of response are predetermined, they provide the basis for efficient statistical analyses. Types of questions in structured questionnaires
In structured questionnaires, the respondent may be inclined to respond in a way which does not accurately reflect his opinion, because:
Open-ended questionnaires In open-ended questionnaires, respondents respond to a precise question and interviewers take notes. Thus, open-ended questionnaires are similar to structured interviews, as open-ended items allow a variety of approaches and depth in response. Types of responses in open-ended questionnaires
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Limitations of its use The survey is an outstanding observation tool for the collection of information from a large number of final beneficiaries.
The use of open-ended questionnaires can be an alternative to structured questionnaires when the evaluation does not need a statistical analysis of the data collected. Past experiences have shown that the information collected by this type of questionnaire eases the understanding and analysis of the population's reactions, and provides answers to the evaluation's requirements. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHERE DOES THIS TOOL COME FROM? Its origins The use of surveys and sampling techniques emerged after the First World War, during electoral forecasting. Polls institutes were the first to use surveys. Nowadays, surveys and sampling techniques represent the social sciences' reference tools. The demands from quantitative sociologists have led to the development of surveys and sampling techniques to be able to benefit from the statistical data. Its use in other fields In addition to opinion polls institutes, the marketing field is a significant user of surveys. In anthropology and ethnology, observation surveys are designed as semi-structured interviews. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHY AND WHEN IS THE SURVEY USED? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHEN AND HOW SHOULD A SURVEY BE USED? In which situations is this tool appropriate? An observation tool collecting quantitative and qualitative information The survey is an observation tool which collects:
In developed countries, opinion pollsters and market researchers often conduct surveys because they yield quantitative data, whereas in developing countries, they are less common because of constraints of costs and difficulties in implementation. As a general rule however, surveys remain an appropriate tool to collect information in studies and evaluations. Warning about its use in evaluation The evaluator will experience fewer difficulties designing a precise set of questions in project and programme evaluation than in country/region evaluation, where the process of identifying real beneficiaries and stakeholders can be difficult. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
What type of information does a survey yield? In evaluation, surveys are mainly used to assess the impact of policies and programmes on various categories of people.
Surveys are carried out:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
What are the advantages and limitations of a survey?
Despite the tool's advantages (especially comparing with other observation tools), limitations in the time span, the financial resources and the technical means can limit its use in evaluations. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Can a survey be combined with other tools? Structured questionnaires bring complementary quantitative information to other information collection tools (which only yield qualitative data), such as:
These tools can be used during the exploratory stage of a survey (to identify or detail working hypotheses) to ease the drafting of the questionnaire with:
A series of interviews or focus groups can be organised prior to a structured questionnaire, in order to highlight the context of the outcomes, and to support the understanding of the data and its interpretation (for example, to describe a custom, or explain an individual perception).
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHAT ARE THE PRE-CONDITIONS FOR ITS USE IN EVALUATION? The time span Carrying out a survey requires great care at the preparation stage, and an allocation of time in proportion to the importance of the survey, the extent of sampling and field difficulties. Human resources Setting up a survey necessitates the appointment of interviewers. Required skills for interviewers
The recruitment
Financial resources Most of the costs of surveys are remuneration of the interviewers and transportation expenses, if the survey is carried out using widely dispersed interviewees. It is not possible to specify exact amounts because expenses vary greatly with the type of country in which the survey is implemented.
Surveys belong to the category of tools which are the easiest to use, allowing the evaluator to obtain information from a large number of people. Surveys by telephone are cheaper than face-to-face surveys. Surveys by mail are the least expensive, although the response rate is usually low and limits information about the respondents profile, especially in countries where computer networks are poorly developed. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A SURVEY IN EVALUATION? Why should it be used in evaluations? Although open-ended questionnaires require skilled resources for drafting, the organisation of implementation and their analysis, the time spent in data collection on site is limited in most evaluations for financial reasons. What are the requirements for the use of a survey?
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
WHY IS THE SURVEY USED IN COUNTRY EVALUATIONS? As surveys need specific conditions for their implementation in country/region evaluations, they have proved to be more appropriate for countries at a high level of development.
Currently, surveys and questionnaires are rarely used in country/region evaluations but as surveys can provide useful analyses of impact relating to various groups (and particularly beneficiary groups), the number carried out in the future should increase. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
HOW IS A SURVEY CARRIED OUT? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
HOW IS A QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPED? What are the relevant questions for the evaluator? What is required? As the design of the questions depends on the target population, and on the information, the analyses and opinions which are sought by the evaluator, the questionnaire should start with a list of data about the study's topic, including:
This list organises the stages of the survey and the drafting of the implementation timetable. Is this question strictly necessary? Asking this implies that the purpose of a study can only be fulfilled if the question is posed. Therefore, if the answer is 'no', the question should not be included in the questionnaire. Will a single question be sufficient to obtain this information? Depending on the complexity of the information required, several questions may be necessary, which is particularly important for elements that seek to examine causality. Is the respondent in a position to answer the question? Three main reasons may account for a lack of response:
Will the respondent provide the evaluator with accurate information? This issue mainly deals with information whose nature may be sensitive, such as:
In these cases, respondents may be tempted to alter or avoid a topic. The evaluator may anticipate or avoid this reaction by the skilful choice of questions or by structuring the questionnaire. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
How should a questionnaire be structured? The questionnaire's basics
Introductory and transitional documents These documents are necessary for the clarity and the natural flow of the questionnaire. They must be adapted to the survey's type, its topic, and the socio-cultural characteristics of the sample.
Sequence of questions
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
What is a typical format for a questionnaire? Presentation of the interviewer and the survey This stage, sometimes overlooked, is useful to introduce the questionnaire to respondents. Introductory questions Introductory questions aim at arousing the interest of respondents and establishing a rapport in the case of a face-to-face survey. They convey the general scope of the topic and are formulated to obtain a positive response, even though this response may not be directly useful for the survey. Background questions Background questions are used to check whether a respondent has the required information or, if necessary, give the interviewer contact details of an informed respondent. Background questions often take the format of dichotomies. Warming-up questions Warming-up questions contribute to progressively focusing the questionnaire on the topic of the study. Usually, they take the form of straightforward questions (for example, behaviour questions). Specific questions Specific questions represent the core of the questionnaire: responses to these questions must provide the study with critical and focused information. At this stage, the respondent should be completely at ease with the interviewer and concentrate on the topic. The interviewer may ask him/her personal questions, or press him/her to reflect upon his/her motivation, opinions and judgements. Attribute questions With the help of responses to attribute questions, the evaluator describes respondents and incorporates them into sub-groups. These questions yield two types of information:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
How should a questionnaire be written and presented? The questionnaire's basics
The vocabulary
The style
Ways of introducing the questionnaire to respondents
The cover letter should be carefully prepared, especially its general appearance. |
HOW ARE DESK-BASED SURVEY TECHNIQUES CARRIED OUT? Why are desk-based survey techniques carried out? The evaluator develops a line of questioning supported by his working hypotheses, with a view to designing the questionnaire. In many cases, pre-field techniques are used to validate these hypotheses and the resulting questions. More generally, they are carried out to improve the questionnaire, prior to the start of the survey. Techniques for the validation of the questionnaire Complementary techniques may be used to validate the questionnaire and the whole drafting process. These techniques include:
These techniques enable the evaluation team to agree on the same definition of the study's key concepts. This stage is necessary for the questionnaire wording process. |
||||||||||||
HOW ARE SAMPLES DESIGNED? The constraints of the population selection The selected methodology depends on the determination of the population that constitutes the target group of the survey.
Basics for the sampling technique Sample quality is key to the reliability of the findings. The sample should reflect as closely as possible the whole population. It should be a scale model of the population. The evaluator's dilemma In programme or co-operation policy evaluation, samples are often hard to design: registry documents, professional index, etc., relating to the population under study are seldom available, and information about the population's characteristics are often non-existent, unavailable or unreliable. The situations in which the survey is to be conducted are often very difficult. The various types of sampling
How is the size of the samples determined? Basics: the findings' accuracy increases with the number of respondents.
Therefore, more extensive sampling than the survey's requirements must be scheduled, so as to anticipate possible refusals, non-attendance of a session, disruptions, etc., which often occur during the implementation of a survey. The respondent list This list should include the respondent's name, profession, contacts, and, if required, his selection characteristics. |
||||||||||||
HOW IS THE PILOT QUESTIONNAIRE CONDUCTED? Why is the questionnaire piloted? A good quality survey relies on the piloting of the questionnaire and of the survey's methodology, in order to identify problems relating to the clarity of the question wording, the ease of response, the questionnaire's length, problems encountered by the interviewers, etc. The content of the pilot questionnaire
Because surveys are expensive and difficult to administer (constraints of time), they are not usually systematically piloted during an evaluation, although this could add a qualitative dimension. |
||||||||||||
HOW IS THE SURVEY CARRIED OUT? The different types of survey The choice of a specific type of survey depends mainly on the context:
The various types of questionnaire and their particular characteristics
Advice The carrying out of surveys with beneficiaries may pose logistical problems, especially in far-reaching areas. Among other distortions, the evaluator must be careful to avoid an over-representation of the most accessible areas (for example, nearby main roads), to the detriment of remote areas which may never be selected in field inquiries. If these elements are overlooked, the evaluator may miss specific elements of social organisation, such as access to equipment and utilities. |
||||||||||||
HOW ARE THE FINDINGS ANALYSED AND TREATED? Coding questionnaires After the receipt of the completed questionnaires, the code development stage can begin. This stage is necessary for open-ended questions which call for statistical analysis. Codes should reflect the type of analysis which has been selected. Counting findings and correlations After coding the questionnaires and entering the codes in a data processor, the evaluator can process the responses which should yield findings corresponding to the working hypotheses. The treatment of responses
Analysing findings The analysis of the findings relates to the working hypotheses. Pre-field techniques and documentation collected are also used during this analysis stage. Going back to the original responses may sometimes be useful to investigate certain elements (for example, to make additional "overlapping" of responses). The different types of analysis
Numerous statistical methodologies can be developed, whose usage is more or less complex. In the evaluation field, simple treatments are often sufficient for the analysis stage, even though establishing correlations between items enriches the analysis. Margin of errors Errors almost always occur in the treatment of findings (the survey's conditions, sampling errors, constraints of time, costs, etc.) and a margin of errors should not be overlooked during the analysis of findings. Developing the survey report The survey report must include an analysis of basic findings. It may contain, for example:
The evaluator must ensure as a minimum that the survey report has:
|
||||||||||||
GLOSSARY | ||||||||||||
Sample/sampling Samples are designed to gather people who are to be effectively surveyed. People are selected from the evaluation's target population, and this selection depends on the methodology chosen for the design of the samples (see How are samples designed?). Working hypotheses Apart from assuming an empirical approach for the evaluation (which is almost impossible), scientific researches usually: (1) develop hypotheses, and (2) check them. This principle supports the survey's design. The survey's findings enable the evaluator to check the hypotheses at the core of the survey's development, to reinforce them and/or to correct them. Target group The target group represents the part of the population on which the survey focuses. A typology or descriptive variables determine it. Typology The typology is a methodology dividing a population into types or homogeneous sub-groups with specific criteria (economical, social, demographic, etc.). Within each sub-group of the typology, respondents share similar characteristics (corresponding to the typology's criteria), or even the same values for certain predetermined variables.
|
||||||||||||
EXAMPLES | ||||||||||||