Survey Research
The Basics
- Keith F Punch - University of Western Australia, Australia
The focus of this book is on small-scale quantitative surveys studying the relationships between variables. After showing the central place of the quantitative survey in social science research methodology, it then takes a simple model of the survey, describes its elements and gives a set of steps and guidelines for implementing each element. The book then shows how the simple model of the quantitative survey generalizes easily to more complex models. It includes a detailed example of both simple and complex models, which readers should find very helpful.
It is directed primarily at beginning researchers - upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in any area of social science, who often have to do small scale surveys in projects and dissertations. Beyond this, it will be of interest to anybody interested in learning about survey research. It is written in non-technical language, aiming to be as accessible as possible to a wide audience.
`It's rare to come across a book with a research theme that has immediate relevance to nurses of all grades from trainees on undergraduate courses to senior academic staff. Survey Research: The Basics is just such a book' - Nurse Researcher
I have recommended this book to my Masters students as a great introduction to Survey research. It helps to demystify quantitative methods for students who may wish to adopt a mixed-methods approach to their own research.
Great resource. However, the course is a survey of research methods and this text would be more suitable for a quantitative methods course.
A clear text which provides a coherent path for researching, creating and analysing survey data. We will use this for our Dissertation students, for Researching Education (in Year 2) and I will be recommending it to postgraduate students who have no experience of surveys. Chapter 6 is particularly useful as an excellent outline for how to write up survey data in a systematic and professional way.
