Harvard University Program on Survey Research

This handout acompanies the April 17 presentation on surveys for honors thesis writers.

This workshop is designed to present a short introduction to survey research for undergraduate students considering using surveys in their honors theses or other research.  This workshop will provide a broad overview of the survey research process and focus on some of the unique aspects of survey data. We will also briefly look at sources for secondary survey data within Harvard and elsewhere, and provide a short introduction to writing survey questions.

These guidelines were drafted by a panel of survey researchers and scientists at the "Ann Arbor Summit on Interviewer Falsification, April 4-6, 2003," sponsored by Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Research Integrity and University of Michigan Survey Research Center.

Responses from surveys don't get turned into numbers that can be analyzed without a bit of work.  This guide is designed for beginning survey researchers and provides an overview of basic steps to transform survey questions into data that can be analyzed.  This handout is used in some of our introductory courses and workshops.

Cognitive

The PSR guide to finding and hiring survey contractors is based our practicum workshop.  It provides an overview of thinking about survey contracting, and suggestions for locating appropriate services.  Harvard afiliates can also contact the PSR for a more detailed assesment of outside service needs.

Surveys are a special research tool with strengths, weaknesses, and a language all of their own. There are many different steps to designing and conducting a survey, and survey researchers have specific ways of describing what they do.

This handout, based on an annual workshop offered by the Program on Survey Research at Harvard, is geared toward undergraduate honors thesis writers using survey data.

This is an extensive link of guidelines on cross-cultural survey research, produced by the Comparative Survey Design and Implementation Initiative (CSDI).  

The extensive references and content on theis site represent a comprehensive set of practices for researchers conducting surveys across multiple cultures and languages.

This PSR Tip Sheet provides some basic tips about how to write good survey questions and design a good survey questionnaire.

This tip sheet will help you understand how to think the population that a survey represents.  

http://test.iq.harvard.edu/psr/files/psr/PSRCourseGuide08_09.pdf