Page 266 - Statistics for Dummies

250
Part V: Statistical Studies and the Hunt for a Meaningful Relationship
By the way, did you notice how large the “Other reasons” category is? This

large, unexplained percentage indicates that the survey can be more specific
and/or more research can be done regarding why crime victims don’t report
crimes. Maybe the victims themselves aren’t even sure.
Behind the Scenes: The Ins
and Outs of Surveys
Surveys and their results are a part of your daily experience, and you use
these results to make decisions that affect your life. (Some decisions may
even be life changing.) Looking at surveys with a critical eye is important.
Before taking action or making decisions based on survey results, you must
determine whether those results are credible, reliable, and believable. A good
way to begin developing these detective skills is to go behind the scenes and
see how surveys are designed, developed, implemented, and analyzed.
The survey process can be broken down into a series of ten steps:

1. Clarify the purpose of your survey.
2. Define the target population.
3. Choose the type and timing of the survey.
4. Design the introduction with ethics in mind.
5. Formulate the questions.
6. Select the sample.
7. Carry out the survey.
8. Follow up, follow up, and follow up.
9. Organize and analyze the data.
10. Draw conclusions.

Each step presents its own set of special issues and challenges, but each step
is critical in terms of producing survey results that are fair and accurate. This
sequence of steps helps you design, plan, and implement a survey, but it can
also be used to critique someone else’s survey, if those results are important
to you.

Planning and designing a survey

The purpose of a survey is to answer questions about a target population.
The target population is the entire group of individuals that you’re interested

3/25/11 8:13 PM
24_9780470911082-ch16.indd 250 3/25/11 8:13 PM
24_9780470911082-ch16.indd 250