METHODS OF DATA GENERATION

SAMPLE SURVEYS
 SAMPLE SURVEYS

Domesday book was a famous census of England

conducted in 1085 to 1086 by William the conqueror

SURVEY= an investigation of the behaviour/opinions of th

Group of people or a sample

Sample=one part of a whole that can be examined in ord

Know what the rest is like

Eg., technology survey on marginal farmers

Research questions appropriate for a survey?

•Behavior

•Attitude/beliefs/opinions

•Characteristics

•Expectations

•Self classification

•knowledge
Experiment:

2. subjects respond to treatment created by the

researcher

3. Causality is shown by timing of treatments

4. Associations between treatments are

observed

5. Controlling alternative explanations

6. Physical control on treatments

Survey:
2. Sample many respondents and ask the
same question
3. Measure many variables
4. Test many hypothesis
5. Infer temporal order from questions about
past behavior
6. Survey researchers measure variables
which represent alternative explanations
7. Survey research is correlational
8. Approximations of the rigorous test are
done
 Types of surveys

1. Mail and self administered questionnaires

2. Telephone,email,computer based
interviews/surveys
3. Face to face interviews
4. Panel technique-select group and study
attitude(opinion poll)
5. PRA and special situations
Steps in sample surveys

4. Design and planning phase

5. Data collection phase

6. Data analysis and presentation

1. Design and planning phase

• Objectives of the study

• Decide on type of survey, respondent and pop

 1. Design and planning phase

•Develop the survey instrument/questionnaire/semi

Structured interview schedule(PRA
Write questions to measure variables
Decide on response categories
Organise question sequence
Design questionnaire layout
1. Design and planning phase

•Plan a system for recording

answers,items of informn

•Pilot test the instrument and train the

interviewers
 1. Design and planning phase
(sampling)

• Draw the sample by design or sampling design

Define target population

Decide on type of sample

Develop sampling frame

Decide on sample size

Select a sample
 Sampling

Universe

draw

Sample which represents the population

Why should we sample for a survey?ROLE
• make sample more efficient
•Manageable
•Cost effective-Provide for lowest possible
Cost
 Terms used in sampling surveys

Population: a large pool of cases or elements(all

the

cases/elements)/even the term universe is used

Target population: specific pool of cases with a

criteria

Sampling frame ; a specific list of all cases

matching the criteria

Sampling element: unit of analysis or case

Sampling ratio: is the ratio of the sample to the

 Terms used in sampling surveys

Sampling design= Rule to draw the sample

Random sample= is not a haphazard sample but based

On the laws of probability

 How large should your sample size be?

•Smaller the popn bigger the sample size and

vice versa

•1000 popn-30 percent should be the sample

•10,000 popn 10 percent should be the

sample

•For large population 1,50,000 –1 percent

sample

•For very large population(10 million and

Principle of sampling

Small sample –small increase produce big gains

50-100-errors reduce to 2.1% from 7.1%

1000-2000-errors reduce from 1.6-1.1%

 Sample size depends upon

1. Degree of accuracy

2. Degree of variability

3. Number of variables examined

When above increases increase sample size

 NON PROBABILITY PROBABILITY SAMPLE
SAMPLE
(sampling frame)
(no sampling frame)
Haphazard: select anyone Simple: true random
convenient procedure

Quota: select anyone in Systematic ; select every kth

predetermined groups person

Purposive ; select anyone in Stratified ; randomly select

hard to find target popn people in predetermined
groups

Snowball: select people Cluster : take multistage

connected to one another random sample in several
levels
 NON PROBABILITY SAMPLE

Haphazard sample :
• select anyone convenient
•Seriously misrepresents the popn

When to use:
For entertainment value(MTV Bakra)

Shortfall:
Distorted view
Seriously misrepresent the popn
 NON PROBABILITY SAMPLE

Quota sample :
• identify categories (male/female)
•5 males 5 females under 30 years of age
•Then use haphazard sampling

When to use:
For entertainment value(MTV Bakra)

Shortfall:
Distorted view
Seriously misrepresent the popn
 NON PROBABILITY SAMPLE

Purposive sample :
• judgemental
•Uses judgement of a n expert
•Informative cases

When to use:
When difficult to reach
To identify a case in depth

Shortfall:
Cannot generalize for a population
Purely opinionistic
 NON PROBABILITY SAMPLE

Snowball sample :
• interconnected networks
•sociometry
•Key informants

When to use:
Used in PRA and RRA

Shortfall:
Cannot generalize for a population
Purely opinionistic
Has temporal and spatial limitations
 PROBABILITY SAMPLE

Random sample :
• use random number/table
•With replacement
•Without replacement

When to use:
When population is well defined
When sampling frame is established

Shortfall:
Cannot generalize for various groups
 PROBABILITY SAMPLE

Systematic sample :
• number the sample
•Select the kth elements

When to use:
When population is well defined
When sampling frame is established

Shortfall:
Cannot generalize for various groups
 PROBABILITY SAMPLE

Stratified sample :
• divide the popns into subpopns
•Subpopns=strata
•Random sample from sub popn using random or systematic samplng

When to use:
When variation is there in the strata
When population is well defined
When sampling frame is established

Shortfall:
Time consuming
costly
 PROBABILITY SAMPLE

Cluster sample :
• when the population is dispersed spatially on a large area
•Randomly select districts then taluks then villages(3 stage)then farmers
•When clusters list is available

When to use:
When population list is not there
But the list of clusters(subgroups are there)
When sampling frame is established

Shortfall:
Time consuming
Requires lot of information
 PROBABILITY SAMPLE

Random digit dialing sample :

• you can stratify/cluster/random sample also
•Uses the telephone directory
•Population is the telephone directory

When to use:
used for telephone interviews
When sampling frame is established

Shortfall:
Not so much used in India and in agricultural situations
May suit only big farmers
 Why sample survey predictions are wrong

1936-F.D Roosevelt won by a landslide but Alf landon

was

Predicted-mistakes in sampling(sampling frame was

wrong)

It excluded people without telephones or automobiles

lower

Income favoured roosevelt

1948-gallup predicted the wrong candidate

1. Data collection phase

• Organize the survey

• Locate and contact the respondents

• Make introductory statements or provide instructio

• Ask questions and record answers

• Thank respondent and continue to next responden

• End data collection and organize data

1. Data analysis and presentation

• Tabulate properly using MS excel,any

spreadsheet

• Use appropriate statistical tools

• Proper interpretation using your subject and

experience
 Advantages

1. Great deal of information can be collected

2. Large population can be used

3. Reduces labour

4. Information is accurate

5. Variety of information can be collected

Disadvantages

1. In-depth study not possible

2. Costly

3. Time consuming

4. Scope for sampling error