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SRA Training

Essentials of Survey Research Design
Summary: This course gives a “taster” of each of the key quality areas for a survey (choosing a mode of data collection, sampling, questionnaire design, piloting, coding and data processing, and minimising nonresponse). In addition, there is an introductory session which invites participants to look at the survey as a whole and consider trade-offs in survey design. The course will cover both the practical side of survey implementation as well as crucial tips from what is known in the survey methodology literature.
Objectives:

By the end of the workshop, delegates will:

  • have a better awareness of the key aspects involved in the creation and implementation of a quantitative survey
  • be able to critique aspects of existing surveys
  • have introductory knowledge about conducting a good quality survey of their own.
Topics:

Content includes:

  • An overview of survey design
  • Choosing a mode of data collection
  • What to look for in a good sample design
  • Fundamental principles of questionnaire design
  • Some essentials of piloting
  • An overview of fieldwork quality, coding and data processing
  • Some tips for improving response rates
Who will benefit? People who are new or fairly new to survey research and wish to conduct their own survey or commission a survey
Learning outcomes:

Participants will achieve an awareness of the critical issues in the implementation of a survey, which can then be used to assess existing surveys or aid in creating new ones.

Course tutor: Dr. Pamela Campanelli is a Survey Methods Consultant and U.K. Chartered Statistician. She received her Ph.D. in statistics from the London School of Economics, and an M.A. in applied social research and B.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, she was a Research Associate at the at the University of Michigan, a Survey Statistician at the U.S. Bureau of the Census, a Chief Research Officer at the UK Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, and a Research Director at the Survey Methods Centre at the National Centre for Social Research, London. Her main interests and publications are in the study of survey error and data quality issues, with special emphasis on questionnaire design, question testing strategies, interviewing techniques, survey nonresponse, and survey sampling. In addition to her consultancy work, she regularly teaches short courses for the SRA, CASS, the CCSR, the RSS, for Central government departments, for survey research companies, for UK universities, for the University of Michigan Summer Institute (linked to the Joint Programme in Survey Methodology, and for the University of Hong Kong, as well as for various other institutions and businesses (see www.thesurveycoach.com).
Date & Location: 3rd March 2010, 09:00-9:30 to 17:00

Location: Cardiff
Programme Greeting from Course Tutor - Download Programme (pdf) and booking form (doc)

 
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