Shakir Web Blog: Online Paid Surveys

Thursday 6 December 2012

Online Paid Surveys

Online Paid Surveys Biography

In statistics, survey methodology is the field that studies the sampling of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies. Other types of survey are used for scientific purposes. Surveys provide important information for all kinds of research fields, e.g., marketing research, psychology, health professionals and sociology.[1] A survey may focus on different topics such as preferences (e.g., for a presidential candidate), behavior (smoking and drinking behavior), or factual information (e.g., income), depending on its purpose. Since survey research is always based on a sample of the population, the success of the research is dependent on the representativeness of the population of concern (see also sampling (statistics) and survey sampling).

Survey methodology seeks to identify principles about the design, collection, processing, and analysis of surveys in connection to the cost and quality of survey estimates. It focuses on improving quality within cost constraints, or alternatively, reducing costs for a fixed level of quality. Survey methodology is both a scientific field and a profession. Part of the task of a survey methodologist is making a large set of decisions about thousands of individual features of a survey in order to improve it.[2]

The most important methodological challenges of a survey methodologist include making decisions on how to:[2]

Identify and select potential sample members.

Contact sampled individuals and collect data from those who are hard to reach (or reluctant to respond).

Evaluate and test questions.

Select the mode for posing questions and collecting responses.

Train and supervise interviewers (if they are involved).

Check data files for accuracy and internal consistency.

Adjust survey estimates to correct for identified errors.

Online Paid Surveys