SOCIAL SURVEYS - RESEARCH METHOD

 

SOCIAL SURVEYS

 

Definition

The word survey is derived from two words sur or sor which means over and the word veeir or veor which means to see. In this way, the word survey means to oversee or to look over. According to Webster Collegiate Dictionary the word connotes, 

“A critical inspection, of then official, to provide exact information, often a study of an area with respect to a certain condition or its prevalence as a survey of school”.

1. Duncan Mitchell’s:

“Dictionary of Sociology”’ defines social survey this way: “The social survey is a systematic collection of facts about people living in a specific geographic, cultural, or administrative area”.

2. Bogardus:

 “A social survey is the collection of data concerning the living and working conditions, broadly speaking, of the people, in a given community”.

3. Ian Robertson:

“Surveys are frequently used in sociological research, either simply for the purpose of gathering facts {such as the political opinions of college students,) or for finding out about the relationship between facts (such as how sex, parental opinions, or social class, influence students ‘political views)”

4. E.W. Burgess: A social survey of a community is the scientific study of its conditions and needs for the purpose of presenting a constructive programme of social advance”

The social survey is concerned with the collection of data relating to some problems of great social importance with a view to find out an effective solution for it. The survey is normally limited to a fixed geographic area or confined to a defined population.

Objectives and subject matter of social survey

The following are the major objectives which social survey strives to achieve

1.                  Collection of data related to the social aspect of community: Social survey studies individuals as members of society and in this way studies social circumstances and problems.

2.                  Study of social problems, labor class and its problems: In social survey social problems and in particular, problems of the labor class like illiteracy, poverty, in sanitation, unemployment, drinking, crime, juvenile delinquency, prostitution, labor problems etc. are studied.

3.                  Practical and utilitarian view point: Studies of social survey are made from a practical and utilitarian viewpoint in order that suggestions for constructive programs in solving different problems may be offered.

In this way, the subject matter of social survey includes—

(1) demographic characteristic. (2) Social Environment. (3) activities of the members of the community. (4) opinions and attitudes.

The following are the important kinds of social survey

1.                  General or specialized surveys: Originally, social survey was taken to be two kinds –general and specialized. In the general survey the community is made the subject of study like a country, state, town or village. In the specialized or topical survey the study is confined to some special aspect only e.g. unemployment, health, cleanliness, labor welfare, child welfare etc.

2.                  Direct or indirect surveys: Direct survey is one in which the facts can be quantitatively interpreted while, on the other hand, no such quantitative interpretation is possible in the case of an indirect survey, e.g. the survey of population is direct, while on the other hand, the surveys of the state of health or the level of nutrition are indirect. Different problems of social sciences are studied by both kind of survey.

3.                  Census survey or sample survey: in the census survey the different parts of the entire area are individually studied and the figures are then complied into one. On the other hand, in the sample survey, instead of the whole is being studied, a part which represents the entire area is taken. Now this representative part is studied. Compared to the census survey, the sample survey is far less expensive and it is, therefore, very popular in the study of rural sociology which makes much use of it.

4.                  Primary or secondary surveys: in the primary survey, the survey work is started right from the beginning. In this, the survey or himself collects facts concurring with his objectives and hence the primary surveys are more reliable and pure. But, if some data have already been collected in the study of any subject a new start has not to be made. The survey conducted under these circumstances is called a secondary survey. It is obvious that when the situation is favorable to a secondary survey there is much saving of time and money.

5.                  Initial or repetitive surveys: if the survey conducted in the area is the first of its kind, it is called an initial survey while if some survey has been done in the past then the present survey is termed a repetitive survey. An initial survey involves comparatively greater effort and exertion and comparable data are not available. In repetitive survey the information obtained is more reliable and can be compared.

6.                  Official, semi-official or private surveys: As the names indicate, official survey is the survey sponsored by the government, semi-official survey is the survey conducted by universities, district boards, municipalities and other similar semi-official institutions and private survey is a survey attempted by an individual. Among these, official survey has the greatest probability of success because it is not hampered by a dearth of finances or trained personnel. Semiofficial survey is not only less economic but also more difficult. In the private survey, the problem of expenditure, time and trained personnel is even more acute. But, in spite of the fundamental difficulties, some semi-official and private surveys have yielded better results than some government surveys.

7.                  Widespread or limited surveys: surveys are given these names according to their extension or coverage. A survey covering a greater area is called widespread survey while a more delimited or less extensive survey is known as a limited survey. A limited survey is comparatively more reliable and less liable to mistakes but it carries with it the probability of some of the facts being omitted. On the other hand, a widespread survey includes many aspects of the subject under study and presents a more complete picture. But, due to its extension, it becomes less reliable because the probability of irregularities is increased.

8.                  Public or confidential surveys: it is evident from the very name that public surveys are those in which the processes and results of study are not concealed while the confidential surveys are those in which the processes and results are not revealed to people. Whether the survey is going to be public or confidential depends upon it nature and aim.

9.                  Postal or personal surveys: postal survey, as the term itself implies, is a method in which the survey or obtain the answers by sending the questionnaire by post. If the survey is to be a personal one then the surveyor has to move about the area to be surveyed and collect information. Postal survey certainly does economies upon effort and money but the information which it can obtain is very limited and lacks reliability. Although personal survey demands more time, energy and money the information obtained is correspondingly more comprehensive and more reliable.

10.              Regular or ad-hoe surveys: regular surveys are conducted after the lapse of a fixed period of time. The organization made for an ad-hoe survey is temporary and is dissolved after the survey has been completed. An ad-hoe survey, in comparison with a regular survey, supplies less extensive and less comparative information but it, all the same time, involves the expenditure of less time, money and energy.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Social Survey

 

It is a big challenge for researchers to reach all respondents. However, following are the advantages and disadvantages of surveys.

Advantages of Social Survey

 

1.      Close Contact. While studying a field an instigator has close contact with local people and for this purpose he studies more about the problematic situation.

2.      Greater Objectivity. Survey method leads to greater objectivity. Since there is close contact of the surveyor with people and observe the situation himself, therefore greater objectivity is achieved in this method.

3.      Knowledge about Social Situation. Survey method provides the opportunities of having full knowledge about a problem and its solution.

4.      Thorough study of a Problem. Through study is possible due to the find out of a problem causes and its remedies. If these are found then the whole study is possible.

5.      Useful for Administrators & Policy Makers. Social survey method is very useful for administrators and policy makers. In many countries, legislation was done to remove the causes of problems like child labour, women labour etc. administrators and policy when a social survey is conducted.

6.      Social Change & Development. Due to Social survey we find out the trends towards social change and factors resisting in its way. Thus, if these trends are developed and controlled the resisting factors, then social change and development is occurring.

7.      More Information’s & Facts. Social survey is a main source of more information’s collection. It leads to collect facts about a problematic situation and give information’s.

Disadvantages of Social Survey

1.      Specific Training. It is difficult to provide specific training to the researcher as a result, a layman cannot conduct survey because specific training is required for him to study the situation deeply.

2.      Time Consuming. Social survey method is more time consuming. The researcher have no interest in collection of data due to more time taking and the respondents are not ready to answer because they have no time. So, long time is a negative factors in survey method.

3.      More Costly. Survey is most costly and without money it is not possible. So, the higher expenditure of the researcher is a factor for less or no survey.

4.      Sampling Errors. Sampling method is used of vast area is also conducted by sampling. If sampling method is used, there must by errors in sampling.

5.      No Application to Historical Problems. Survey method is used for the current problems and have no implementation on the past or historical events.

6.      No Uniformity of Data. Data is collected from a huge field and the respondents would be different. So, there exists no uniformity in data collection through social survey method.

 

Survey can be conducted in Various Ways:

1. One type of survey lies on contacting the respondents by letter and asking them to complete the questionnaires themselves before returning it.

2. Another variation in the procedure is that, an assistant of the surveyor delivers the question­naires to the respondents, requests them to complete it, and makes an arrangement to pick them up later.

3. Sometimes questionnaires are not completed by individuals separately but by people in a group under the direct supervision of the research worker. For example, a class of students in a college or a group of women at a meeting of the “Mahila Samaj and so on, may be asked to respond to the questionnaire together.

4. In some other surveys a trained interviewer asks the questions and records the responses on a schedule for each respondent. It should be noted, these alternative procedures have different strengths and weaknesses.

Social surveys, as it is clear from the above, may depend either on questionnaires which are self-administered, or on schedules which are completed by trained interviewers, or by the research worker personally. Social surveys involves same amount of home work or office work.

For example, schedules must be prepared with sample identifications (example, the addresses of houses or firms). If a mail questionnaire is to be used, the envelopes have to be addressed, stamped and posted.

If the enquiry is based on interviews, the interviewers will have to be very carefully briefed. When the schedules are completed and returned they are processed in such a manner that they could be pro­vided for computer analysis.

 

In the book Social Survey in Town and Country Areas, Herman N. Morse has accepted the following steps in the scientific methods of social survey:

1.                  Definition of the purpose or object.

2.                  Definition of the problem to be studied.

3.                  The analysis of this problem in a schedule.

4.                  The delimitation of the area or scope.

5.                  Examination of all documentary sources.

6.                  Field work.

7.                  Arrangement, tabulation and statistical analysis of the data.

8.                  The interpretation of the results.

9.                  Deduction.

10.              Graphic expression.

Social surveys are carried on by official or non-official bodies with a  set purpose or object, for example, to explore particular facts regarding a particular  problem. This problem should also be well defined and precise. Clarity of the problem is the sine quo of all scientific research. Now each problem involves several important aspects which should be minutely studied.

Hence, after defining the problem, it should be analyzed in a schedule. Then, the researcher should delimit the area of scope or survey. Without this delimitation, survey would be neither possible nor useful.

For example, there can be no general survey of the working conditions of the laborers. Only the working conditions of the laborers at a particular factory or city may be studied. Now, actual survey starts.

This is a two fold job, first, examination of documentary sources and second, field work. Examination of documentary sources is table work and if done properly, it will save much labor besides clarifying the actual lines of field work. The field work involves on the spot inquiries from the person concerned. For this, the surveyor should visit the area of survey and gather necessary information in the pre-planned schedule. After the gathering of the data through the above mentioned steps, facts are systematically arranged, tabulated and analyzed. These results are now to be interpreted. This requires a statistically keen understanding of the problem and an objective approach. In fact, interpretation of the results is the most important steps in a survey. This interpretation helps in the deduction of useful principles. Finally, the results are graphically expressed so that the whole thing may be understood at a glance.

Limitations of Social Survey 

As in evident from the meaning and purpose of social survey, this method has certain limitations. It studies only one part of the society. In it the study of the working of the lower classes is made something of a specialty. Obviously enough, in social survey, there is no endeavor to obtain detailed information about the middle and the upper class people. But to be limited is no defect in any scientific method. The scientific method invariably studies only a delimited subject, a fact which constitutes its limitation, but it is, at the same time the secret of its success and validity. It is for this reason that the survey method yields organized, systematic and scientific information about the problem, on the basis of which, programs for social development and social reconstruction can be formed. It also protects the society from becoming disintegrated. Information regarding different aspects of social institutions and society is supplied by the use of the survey method.

Sources and types of data

In social research, it is usual to distinguish between primary and secondary data and qualitative and quantitative data

Quantitative data refers to information that appears in numerical form, or in the form of statistics.

Qualitative data refers to information that appears in written, visual or audio form, such as transcripts of interviews, newspapers and web sites. (It is possible to analyse qualitative data and display features of it numerically!)

Secondary data is data that has been collected by previous researchers or organisations such as the government. Quantitative sources of secondary data include official government statistics and qualitative sources are very numerous including government reports, newspapers, personal documents such as diaries as well as the staggering amount of audio-visual content available online.

Primary data is data collected first hand by the researcher herself. If a sociologist is conducting her own unique sociological research, she will normally have specific research questions she wants answered and thus tailor her research methods to get the data she wants. The main methods sociologists use to generate primary data include social surveys (normally using questionnaire), interviews, experiments and observations.

 

The major primary research methods

Social Surveys – are typically structured questionnaires designed to collect information from large numbers of people in standardized form.

Social Surveys are written in advance by the researcher and tend to to be pre-coded and have a limited number of closed-questions and they tend to focus on relatively simple topics. A good example is the UK National Census. Social Surveys can be administered (carried out) in a number of different ways – they might be self-completion (completed by the respondents themselves) or they might take the form of a structured interview on the high street, as is the case with some market research.

Experiments – aim to measure as precisely as possible the effect which one variable has on another, aiming to establish cause and effect relationships between variables.

Experiments typically start off with a hypothesis – a theory or explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation, and will typically take the form of a testable statement about the effect which one or more independent variables will have on the dependent variable. A good experiment will be designed in such a way that objective cause and effect relationships can be established, so that the original hypothesis can verified, or rejected and modified.

There are two types of experiment – laboratory and field experiments – A laboratory experiment takes place in a controlled environment, such as a laboratory, whereas a field experiment takes place in a real-life setting such as a classroom, the work place or even the high street.

Interviews – A method of gathering information by asking questions orally, either face to face or by telephone.

Structured Interviews are basically social surveys which are read out by the researcher – they use pre-set, standardised, typically closed questions. The aim of structured interviews is to produce quantitative data.

Unstructured Interviews, also known as informal interviews, are more like a guided conversation, and typically involve the researcher asking open-questions which generate qualitative data. The researcher will start with a general research topic in and ask questions in response to the various and differentiated responses the respondents give. Unstructured Interviews are thus a flexible, respondent-led research method.

Semi-Structured Interviews consist of an interview schedule which typically consists of a number of open-ended questions which allow the respondent to give in-depth answers. For example, the researcher might have 10 questions (hence structured) they will ask all respondents, but ask further differentiated (unstructured) questions based on the responses given.

Participant Observation – involves the researcher joining a group of people, taking an active part in their day to day lives as a member of that group and making in-depth recordings of what she sees.

Participant Observation may be overt, in which case the respondents know that researcher is conducing sociological research, or covert (undercover) where the respondents are deceived into thinking the researcher is ‘one of them’ do not know the researcher is conducting research.

 

Ethnographies and Case Studies

 

Ethnographic are an in-depth study of the way of life of a group of people in their natural setting. They are typically very in-depth and long-term and aim for a full (or ‘thick’), multi-layred account of the culture of a group of people. Participant Observation is typically the main method used, but researchers will use all other methods available to get even richer data – such as interviews and analysis of any documents associated with that culture.

Case Studies involves researching a single case or example of something using multiple methods – for example researching one school or factory. An ethnography is simply a very in-depth case study.

Longitudinal Studies – studies of a sample of people in which information is collected from the same people at intervals over a long period of time. For example, a researcher might start off in 2015 by getting a sample of 1000 people to fill in a questionnaire, and then go back to the same people in 2020, and again in 2025 to collect further information.