Descriptive Research: Survey

Submitted to: Submitted by: Dr. Deepika Upadhyaya Anjali Sharma

Department of Management Studies Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati University, Ajmer

Content Introduction of SurveyExample of SurveySurvey methods QuestionnaireType of questionsPersonal InterviewTelephone Interview

Survey Definition: Survey is a technique of descriptive research

that is used to determine the opinions of a specified population.

Basically Surveys are method of data collection in which information is gathered through oral or written questioning.

Examples:• The 15th Indian Census which was conducted on 1st

April 2010 by Government of India.• Various Polls at the time of Elections.

Census Survey form of India

Survey Methods Types of Survey

No direct contact to respondent

Direct contact to respondent

Questionnaire Personal Interview Telephone Interview

Questionnaire This type of descriptive research uses the questions as

research tool for data collection. Basically Questionnaire is usually a paper & pencil tool in

which various type of questions are asked to respondent by the researcher .

In this, results are simply dependent up on what people say, do, believe, like, dislike etc. It is most frequently used in this type of research.

Types of Questions:

QuestionContent

Open-ended Close-ended

Dichotomous MultipleResponses Scales

Open Ended QuestionsAn open-ended question is designed to encourage a full,

meaningful answer using the respondent's own knowledge or feelings.

Open-ended questions are also known as unstructured questions or free-response or free-answer questions.

Open-ended questions typically begin with words such as "Why" and "How", or phrases such as "Tell me about...".  Often they are not technically a question, but a statement which asks for a response.

Close-ended QuestionsThis type of questions often takes the form of

ranking, scaled items or categorical responses.In this format Multiple choice questions are

given, where respondents are restricted to choose among any of the given multiple choice answers.

This is further divided in three types of questions.

Dichotomous Questions: These questions have restrictive alternatives and provide the respondents only with two answers. These could be ‘yes’ or ‘no’, ‘like’ or ‘dislike’, ‘similar’ or ‘different’, ‘married’ or ‘unmarried’ etc.

Multiple-choice Questions: In this type of questions respondent is given a number of response alternatives. He might be asked to choose the one that is most applicable.

Scale Questions: These type of questions are classify in terms of their level of measurement. In this the respondents are asked to rank order their preferences by using an ordinal question.

Example of open ended questions:

How would you evaluate the work done by the present government?What is your reaction to this new custard powder? I like Nescafe because _______________________.

Example of Dichotomous questions:

Are you diabetic Yes/NoWhat kind of cola do you drink? Normal/Diet Your working hours in the organization are Fixed/Flexible

Example of Multiple Response question:• How much do you spend on grocery products? Less than Rs 2500/- Between Rs 2500-5000/- More than Rs 5000/- Example of Scales:• Existing systems are very effective.

Very much agree

Somewhatagree

Neutral

Not much agree

Not at allagree

Personal InterviewIt is same as the questionnaire but all the questioning is

done orally instead of writing.In this case response rate is higher than questionnaire but

sample which is used is smaller than questionnaire.Easier to explain questions.It is very time consuming and expensive.

Telephone InterviewTelephone interview have the same structural

characteristics as normal interviewing technique, except that it is conducted by telephone.

It is less time consuming with moderate cost.It has higher response rate than personal interview.It has the risk of “Broken-off” interviews.

Thank you