Module Directory

This module introduces students to the principles and practices of modern survey design. The module exposes students to the considerable literature on survey methodology that informs best practices in contemporary survey research.

Survey methodology has, over the past two decades or so, developed into a more or less unified field of research and practice. It brings together insights from, inter alia, cognitive and social psychology and statistics to explain how human behaviour and survey design decisions interact to produce data of varying quality. Key to this perspective is the concept of 'total survey error'. This framework is used throughout the module to discuss the multiple sources of error that modern survey design methods aim to mitigate.

The aim of this module is:

• To provide an introduction to the theory and practice of modern survey design and measurement. The focus will be on practical transferable survey skills required to conduct professional surveys.

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Distinguish between different types of survey designs and their uses.


2. Understand and explain the total survey error framework.


3. Demonstrate an understanding of the key features of effective questionnaire design.


4. Design a questionnaire using current best practices.


5. Identify the different modes of survey data collection and the implications for cost and quality.

The initial focus of this module is on introducing social science graduates to the fundamentals of survey design and to the concept of survey error. A variety of different types of designs are introduced with their relative costs, benefits, and indications for particular types of study purposes. The focus then moves to introducing students to a variety of modes of data collection and the significance of survey mode on data quality. Different sources of measurement error are then identified and explored; respondents, questions, and interviewers. We then look at how to design questions and ways of evaluating questions to avoid eliciting measurement error. Finally, we look at the role of survey management; keeping a balance between survey errors and costs. Throughout the module, concepts and methods will be illustrated with real examples and case studies – many of them drawn from the survey work that takes place at ISER.

Module topic list

Autumn Term

• Topic 1 - week 2: Survey Quality and Survey Error.


• Topic 2 - week 3: Data Collection Modes.


• Topic 3 - week 4: Mixed Mode Surveys.


• Topic 4 - week 5: New Developments in Survey Methods.


• Topic 5 - week 6: Sources of Measurement Error – Respondents and Questionnaires.


• Topic 6 - week 7: Sources of Measurement Error – Interviewers.


• Topic 7 - week 8: Question wording.


• Topic 8 - week 9: Question and Questionnaire Evaluation Methods.


• Topic 9 - week 10: Designing Web Surveys in Qualtrix.


• Topic 10 - week 11: Survey Management.

Most modules at postgraduate level in Sociology are taught as a 2hr seminar. Most classes, labs and seminars will be taught face-to-face (assuming social distancing allows this). There may also be some online activities – either timetabled as a live online session or available on Moodle in the form of pre-recorded videos. You will be expected to watch this material and engage with any suggested activities before your seminar/class each week.

Please note that you should be spending up to ten hours per week undertaking your own private study (reading, preparing for classes or assignments, etc.) on each of your modules (e.g. 30 hours in total for three 20--credit modules).

This module [SC970] will include a range of activities to help you and your teachers to check your understanding and progress. These are: weekly assignments such as questions from the textbook, case studies, writing survey questions, and creating a web survey.

You are strongly encouraged to attend the classes/seminars as they provide an opportunity to talk with your class teacher and other students. The classes/seminars will be captured and available via Listen Again. However, if you want to gain the most you can from these seminars/classes it is very important that you attend and engage. Please note that the recording of seminars/classes is at the discretion of the teacher.

• Couper, Mick. (2008) Designing effective Web surveys, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Groves, Robert M. (c2009) Survey methodology, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley.
• Stanley Presser, Mick P. Couper, Judith T. Lessler, Elizabeth Martin, Jean Martin, Jennifer M. Rothgeb and Eleanor Singer. (2004) 'Methods for Testing and Evaluating Survey Questions', in The Public Opinion Quarterly: Oxford University Press. vol. 68, pp.109-130
• Jäckle, Annette; Gaia, Alessandra; Benzeval, Michaela. (2018) The use of new technologies to measure socioeconomic and environmental concepts in longitudinal studies: UCL Institute of Education.
• DeLeeuw, Edith. (2018) 'Mixed-Mode: Past, Present, and Future', in Survey Research Methods. vol. 12 (2)
• Leeuw, Edith Desirée de; Hox, J. J.; Dillman, Don A. (2008) International handbook of survey methodology, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Schwarz, Norbert. (2007-03) 'Cognitive aspects of survey methodology', in Applied Cognitive Psychology. vol. 21 (2) , pp.277-287
• West, Brady T.; Conrad, Frederick G.; Kreuter, Frauke; Mittereder, Felicitas. (2018) 'Can conversational interviewing improve survey response quality without increasing interviewer effects?', in Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society). vol. 181 (1) , pp.181-203
• Leeuw, Edith Desirée de; Hox, J. J; Dillman, Don A. (2008) International handbook of survey methodology, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Suchman, Lucy; Jordan, Brigitte. (1990) 'Interactional Troubles in Face-to-Face Survey Interviews', in Journal of the American Statistical Association. vol. 85 (409) , pp.232-
• Converse, Jean M.; Presser, Stanley. (c1986) Survey questions: handcrafting the standardized questionnaire, Beverly Hills: Sage Publications. vol. 63