The methods involved in survey data collection are any of a number of ways in which data can be collected

Data collection

Data collection is a term used to describe a process of preparing and collecting data, for example, as part of a process improvement or similar project. The purpose of data collection is to obtain information to keep on record, to make decisions about important issues, to pass information on to...

 for a statistical survey

Statistical survey

Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....

. These are methods that are used to collect information from a sample of individuals in a systematic way.

Modes of data collection

There are several ways of administering a survey. And within a survey, different methods could be used for different parts. For example, interviewer administration could be used for some items but self-administration for sensitive topics. The choice between administration modes is influenced by several factors, including 1) costs, 2) coverage of the target population, 3) flexibility of asking questions, 4) respondents’ willingness to participate and 5) response accuracy. Different methods create mode effect

Mode effect

Mode effect is a broad term referring to a phenomenon where a particular survey administration mode causes different data to be collected. For example, when asking a question using two different modes , responses to one mode may be significantly different to responses given in the other mode...

s that change how respondents answer. The most common modes of administration are listed:

Telephone

• use of interviewers encourages sample persons to respond, leading to higher response rates.
• interviewers can increase comprehension of questions by answering respondents' questions.
• fairly cost efficient, depending on local call charge structure
• good for large national (or international) sampling frame
  Sampling frame
  In statistics, a sampling frame is the source material or device from which a sample is drawn. It is a list of all those within a population who can be sampled, and may include individuals, households or institutions....
  
  s
• some potential for interviewer bias (e.g. some people may be more willing to discuss a sensitive issue with a female interviewer than with a male one)
• cannot be used for non-audio information (graphics, demonstrations, taste/smell samples)
• unreliable for consumer surveys in rural areas where telephone density is low
• three types:
  • traditional telephone interviews
  • computer assisted telephone dialing
  • computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI
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    )

Mail

• the questionnaire may be handed to the respondents or mailed to them, but in all cases they are returned to the researcher via mail.
• An advantage is, is that cost is very low, since bulk postage is cheap in most countries
• long time delays, often several months, before the surveys are returned and statistical analysis can begin
• not suitable for issues that may require clarification
• respondents can answer at their own convenience (allowing them to break up long surveys; also useful if they need to check records to answer a question)
• no interviewer bias introduced
• large amount of information can be obtained: some mail surveys are as long as 50 pages
• response rates can be improved by using mail panels
  • members of the panel have agreed to participate
  • panels can be used in longitudinal designs where the same respondents are surveyed several times

Online surveys

• can use web or e-mail. Web is preferred over e-mail because interactive HTML forms can be used
• often inexpensive to administer
• very fast results
• easy to modify
• response rates can be improved by using Online panel
  Online panel
  An Online panel is a group of selected research participants who have agreed to provide information at specified intervals over an extended period of time.A panel can be distinguished from a database in the following ways:...
  
  s - members of the panel have agreed to participate
• honesty of responses can be an issue
• if not password-protected, easy to manipulate by completing multiple times to skew results
• data creation, manipulation and reporting can be automated and/or easily exported into a format that can be read by PSPP
  PSPP
  PSPP is a free software application for analysis of sampled data. It has a graphical user interface and conventional command line interface. It is written in C, uses GNU Scientific Library for its mathematical routines, and plotutils for generating graphs....
  
  , DAP
  DAP (software)
  Dap is a statistics and graphics program, that performs data management, analysis, and graphical visualization tasks which are commonly required in statistical consulting practice....
  
   or other statistical analysis software
• data sets created in real time
• some are incentive based (such as Survey Vault or YouGov)
• may skew sample towards a younger demographic compared with CATI
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  Catí is a municipality in the comarca of Alt Maestrat, Castellón, Valencia, Spain.The municipality of Catí limits with the following municipal terms: Ares del Maestre, Morella, Chert, Tírig, Salsadella, Sant Mateu and Albocàsser all of them located in the province of Castellón.- Geography :Catí is...
  
  
• often difficult to determine/control selection probabilities, hindering quantitative analysis of data
• used in large scale industries.
• Advantage of survey development tools such as Qualtrics
  Qualtrics
  Qualtrics is a private research software company, based in Provo, UT. The company was founded in 1997 by Scott M. Smith, Ph.D.Their software enables users to create their own Web-based surveys and conduct statistical analysis...
  
  

Personal mall intercept survey

• shoppers at malls are intercepted - they are either interviewed on the spot, taken to a room and interviewed, or taken to a room and given a self-administered questionnaire
• socially acceptable - people feel that a mall is a more appropriate place to do research than their home
• potential for interviewer bias
• fast
• easy to manipulate by completing multiple times to skew results

Hybrid Methodology

Researchers can combine several above methods for the data collection. For example, researchers can invite shoppers at malls, and send willing participants questionnaires by emails.

New Development

With the introduction of computers to the survey process, survey mode now includes combinations of different approaches or mixed-mode designs.. Some of the most common methods are :

• Computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI): The computer displays the questions on screen, the interviewer reads them to the respondent, and then enters the respondent's answers.
• Audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (audio CASI): The respondent operates the computer, the computer displays the question on the screen and plays recordings of the questions to the respondents, who then enters his/her answers.
• Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI)
• Interactive voice response (IVR): The computer plays recordings of the questions to respondents over the telephone, who then respond by using the keypad of the telephone or speaking their answers aloud.
• Web surveys: The computer administers the questions online.