Advanced Questionnaire Design

Description:

Introduction/Overview

Comments from participants about the course:

“The course was thoroughly engaging and informative. The instructor’s enthusiasm for the subject is truly contagious and I find myself eager to begin applying this theory to my own work.”

“The trainer was fantastic - incredibly nice and knowledgeable.”

“The course was really great and I enjoyed it a lot.”

Course requirements: This course extends question design with alternative tools (including AI with CHATGPT4o) for certain steps and alternative methods of data collection (which complement or replace a survey questionnaire) for other steps.

It is useful to look at questionnaire design in a new way. How can we improve quality? This course is NOT about learning to write survey questions, but instead focuses on alternative tools and alternative methods of data collection. For example, instead of making improvements to question comprehension from a cognitive side, the linguistic side will be explored including a workshop with online tools and seeing what answer CHATGPT4o gives to this multi-step workshop. The next part of the course focuses on the lack of accuracy in factual retrospective self-reported data and possible solutions through decomposition; event history calendars; internet enabled devices, wearables, apps and sensors; and additional tasks on mobile phones.

The course then goes more deeply into the unreliability of single subjective survey questions with the solutions of a factorial (vignette) approach and multi-item scales. Material on coding open-ended questions and translations is also included along with exploring how CHATGPT4o can be applied to these topics.

Learning objectives

By the end of the workshop, participants will:

• Be familiar with the use of linguistic tools for developing survey questions
• Be knowledgeable about how human memory works, what the implications of that are to questionnaire design and alternative methods of data collection that either complement or REPLACE the survey questionnaire
• Be familiar with two solutions to the unreliability of single subjective survey questions: vignettes and multi-item scales
• Be able to use CHATGPT4o to assist with question design, coding and translations

Topics

• Four cognitive stages a respondent passes through in answering a survey question
• Comprehension from the linguistic side using online tools
• Workshop 1 - Improving a survey question using online linguistic tools
• How would ChatGPT4o improve that survey question?
• Some issues with factual questions and more about memory
• Workshop 2 - Memory experience
• Basic aids to recall
• Alternative methods of data collection to minimise memory error: Part 1 - Decomposition and calendars
• Alternative methods of data collection to minimise memory error: Part 2 - Event history calendars
• Alternative methods of data collection to minimise memory error: Part 3 - Internet Enabled Devices, Wearables, Apps and Sensors; Additional Tasks on Mobile Phones
• Workshop 3 - Event history calendar experience
• Workshop 4 - Critiquing a survey question posing memory difficulties as well as other issues
• What do subjective question measure? Stability and instability of attitudes
• Workshop 5 - Critiquing a subjective question
• Alternative methods of data collection: factorial surveys / vignettes
• Workshop 6 - On vignettes
• Alternative methods of data collection: Designing multi-item scales
• Workshop 7 - Writing multi-item scale
• What you would do next for multi-item scale development
• What motivates respondents to distort their answers to sensitive questions
• Mini appendix with sensitive question solutions
• Coding open questions
• Workshop 8 on coding
• How would ChatGPT4o code this data
• Questionnaire issues with translations
• How would ChatGPT4o translate this survey question

Who will benefit

Participants wanting to further their knowledge about alternative tools and methods of data collection for questionnaire design.

Course tutor

Dr Pamela Campanelli is a Survey Methods Consultant and runs The Survey Coach business. She is also a Chartered Statistician and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. She has worked at the University of Michigan, the U.S. Bureau of the Census, ISER at the University of Essex, and NatCen Social Research. She has both led and been a team member on ESRC grants (one on survey nonresponse and one on measurement error in mixed mode surveys). She regularly teaches short courses in the UK and abroad for government departments, survey research companies, universities, as well as for various other institutions and businesses. She believes in delivering courses that are lively and engaging and foster an informal and interactive atmosphere.

n.b. This course runs over three consecutive afternoons:

Part 1 - 8 July - 12.30 pm to 4.45 pm

Part 2 - 9 July - 12.30 pm to 4.45 pm

Part 3 - 10 July - 12.30 pm to 4.45 pm

Cost:

£360 for SRA members, £470 for non-members

Website and registration:

Register for this course

Region:

International

Keywords:

Frameworks for Research and Research Designs, Data Collection, Data Quality and Data Management , Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis, Quantitative Data Handling and Data Analysis, Mixed Methods Data Handling and Data Analysis, ICT and Software, Research Management and Impact, Research Skills, Communication and Dissemination

Related publications and presentations from our eprints archive:

Frameworks for Research and Research Designs
Data Collection
Data Quality and Data Management
Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis
Quantitative Data Handling and Data Analysis
Mixed Methods Data Handling and Data Analysis
ICT and Software
Research Management and Impact
Research Skills, Communication and Dissemination

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