Robert M. Groves - Survey Methodology

WILEY SERIES IN SURVEY METHODOLOGY

Established in Part by WALTER A. SHEWHART AND SAMUEL S. WILKS

Editors: Robert M. Groves, Graham Kalton,J.N K. Rao, Norbert Schwarz, Christopher Skinner

A complete list of the titles in this series appears at the end of this volume.

Copyright 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Survey methodology / Robert Groves [et al.]. 2nd ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-470-46546-2 (paper)
1. SurveysMethodology. 2. Social surveysMethodology. 3. Social sciencesResearchStatistical methods. I. Groves, Robert M.
HA31.2.S873 2009
001.433--dc22
2009004196

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

We wrote this book with a specific purpose in mind. We are all survey methodologistsstudents of the theories and practices of the various data collection and analysis activities that are called survey research. Surveys (in a form that would be recognizable today) are approximately 6080 years old. Over the past two decades, a set of theories and principles has evolved that offer a unified perspective on the design, conduct, and evaluation of surveys. This perspective is most commonly labeled the total survey error paradigm. The framework guides modem research about survey quality and shapes how practicing survey professionals approach their work. The field arising out of this research domain can appropriately be called survey methodology.

We increasingly noticed a mismatch, however, between the texts related to surveys and how the science of surveys was evolving. Many survey research texts focused on the application of tools and deemphasized the theories and science underlying those tools. Many texts told students to do things that were no longer or never supported by the methodological research in the area. In short, there were books that emphasized how to do surveys but neglected the science underlying the practices that were espoused.

Most harmful we thought was the impression conveyed to those who read the texts that surveys were merely a recipe-like task; if step-by-step instructions were followed, high quality would be guaranteed. In contrast, we saw surveys as requiring the implementation of principles in unique ways to fit a particular substantive purpose for a particular target population.

These issues became particularly important to us when the demand for a one semester graduate level (and senior undergraduate level) course became obvious at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology (JPSM), a consortium graduate program funded by the U.S. Federal statistical agencies in which the authors teach. The students would often have advanced education in another field (e.g., economics, statistics, or psychology) but no formal exposure to the field of survey methodology. We planned a 14-week lecture course with exercises and examinations that began in the Fall of 1998, and we immediately suffered from the absence of a text that could accompany the lectures and motivate the exercises.

We began to envision a text describing the basic principles of survey design discovered in methodological research over the past years and the guidance they offered for decisions that are made in the execution of good quality surveys. We wanted to include exercises that would help integrate an understanding of the field. We wanted to convey that the field is based on experimental and other research findings and that practical survey design was not a mere matter of judgment and opinion but rather the result of a body of research findings.

We drafted this book over several years. After we wrote the first couple of chapters, we hit a dry spell, which was ended when our colleague Nancy Mathiowetz kicked us back in gear. We appreciated her energy in getting us going again.

The manuscript profited greatly from the critique of our student colleagues. The text had a dry run in the Summer of 2003 in a class at the University of Michigan Survey Research Center Summer Institute in Survey Research Techniques, entitled Introduction to Survey Research Techniques, taught by Maria Krysan and Sue Ellen Hansen. We thank these instructors for helping improve the manuscript. We learned much from the criticisms and ideas of both Krysan and Hansen and the students in the class: Nike Adebiyi, Jennifer Bowers, Scott Compton, Sanjay Kumar, Dumile Mkhwanazi, Hanne Muller, Vuyelwa Nkambule, Laurel Park, Aaron Russell, Daniel Spiess, Kathleen Stack, Kimiko Tanaka, Dang Viet Phuong, and Christopher Webb.

It is fair to say that this book strongly reflects the lessons taught by many of our own mentors. One deserves special mention. All of the authors were friends and students of Charlie Cannell (some formally; all informally). Charles F. Cannell began his survey career with Rensis Likert at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Program Surveys. Cannell later joined Likert and others in founding the University of Michigan Survey Research Center in 1946. He was the first director of field operations at the Center and had a long and distinguished career in survey methodology. In memory of Charlie and his work, the Institute for Social Research (the larger institute of which the SRC is part) established the Charles F. Cannell Fund in Survey Methodology. All royalties that result from the sales of this text will be contributed to this fund. The endowment from the fund is designated for support of young scholars developing their research careers in survey methodology. We can think of no better use.