Introduction to Survey Research : Carrying Out the Survey

Survey research is a powerful tool to help understand how and why individuals behave the way they do. Properly conducted, surveys can provide accurate insights into areas such as attitudes, opinions, motivations, and values, which serve as the drivers of individual behavior.

This two-volume book is intended to introduce fundamentals of good survey research to students and practitioners of the survey process as well as end-users of survey information. This second volume focuses on carrying out a survey- including how to formulate survey questions, steps that researchers must use when conducting the survey, and impacts of rapidly changing technology on survey design and execution. The authors conclude with an important, but often neglected aspect of surveys-the presentation of results in different formats appropriate to different audiences.

Ernest L. Cowles is professor emeritus of sociology at California State University, Sacramento. He served as the director of the Institute for Social Research for 8 years and continues as a senior research fellow. Before becoming director of the Institute for Social Research, he directed research centers at the University of Illinois for 10 years. Beyond his academic work, he has served as a public agency administrator and consultant both within the United States and internationally. In 2015, he was presented with the Distinguished Alumni Award by the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University where he received his PhD in criminology.

Edward Nelson is professor emeritus of sociology at California State University, Fresno. He received his PhD in sociology from UCLA specializing in research methods. He was the director of the Social Research Laboratory at California State University, Fresno, from 1980 to 2013 and has directed more than 150 surveys. He taught research methods, quantitative methods, critical thinking, and computer applications. He has published books on observation in sociological research, and using SPSS, a statistical computing package widely used in the social sciences.