ABOUT THE COURSE

The goal of this course is to introduce participants to the construction and analysis of social surveys. In the first part of the course, participants will be taught the tools needed to 1) create effective and reliable questions, 2) craft questionnaires that could be used in multiple settings (e.g., telephone, written, web-based), 3) test questionnaires to ensure their effectiveness, and 4) design implementation strategies that will increase the likelihood of good response rates. TARGET PARTICIPANTS:This course is intended for a wide audience, including: graduate students who read or do research involving statistical analysis; workers in a variety of fields (e.g., public health, social sciences, biological sciences, public policy) who read or do research involving statistical analysis; faculty members who teach statistics, read or do research involving statistical analysis, supervised graduate students who use statistical analysis in their research, peer review research articles involving statistical analysis, review grant proposals for research involving statistical analysis, or are editors of journals that publish research involving statistical analysis; and people with basic statistical background who would like to improve their ability to evaluate research relevant to medical treatments for themselves or family members.

COURSE CONTENTModule 1 • Ethical Considerations: Overview of ethics related to working with human subjects and designing questions and surveys. • Modes of Survey Administration: Overview of major survey modes, including face-to-face, telephone and self- administered (e.g., mail and internet) surveys. Module 2 • Question Construction: Discussion of the strategies and methods for design questions that meet the criteria for good measurement. Review of different question types of possible answer categories • Multi-Item Measurement: Overview of different types of multi-dimensional measurement techniques and how they are employed in surveys. Module 3 • Questionnaire Construction: Discussion of the logic of questionnaire design; this portion of the class will introduce examples of designs and how they are employed in different settings.  Module 4 • Sampling: An overview of the different processes for selecting respondents for different types of surveys. This portion will include a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of different sample designs. • Pretests and Cognitive Interviews: Provides an introduction to the questionnaire testing methods researchers employ before finalizing a survey and putting it into the field for data collection.