St. cloud state university survey
OVERVIEW
The
SCSU Survey is an ongoing survey research extension of the College of
Social Science Research Institute. The
SCSU Survey performs its research in the form of telephone interviews. Telephone interviews are but one of many
types of research employed by researchers to collect data randomly. The telephone survey is now the instrument of
choice for a growing number of researchers.
Dr.
Stephen Frank began the survey in 1980 conducting several omnibus surveys a
year of central Minnesota adults in conjunction with his Political Science
classes. Presently, the omnibus surveys
continue, but have shifted to a primary statewide focus. These statewide surveys are conducted once a
year in the fall and focus on statewide issues such as election races, current
events, and other important issues that are present in the state of
Minnesota. Besides the annual fall
survey, the SCSU Survey conducts an annual spring survey of SCSU students on
various issues such as campus safety, alcohol and drug use, and race
relations. Lastly, the SCSU Survey
conducts contract surveys for various public and private sector clients. The Survey provides a useful service for the
people and institutions of the State of Minnesota by furnishing valid data of
the opinions, behaviors, and characteristics of adult Minnesotans.
The primary mission of the SCSU Survey is to serve
the academic community and various clients through its commitment to high
quality survey research and to provide education and experiential opportunities
to researchers and students. We strive
to assure that all SCSU students and faculty directors contribute to the
research process, as all are essential in making a research project
successful. This success is measured by
our ability to obtain high quality survey data that is timely, accurate, and
reliable while maintaining an environment that promotes the professional and
personal growth of each staff member.
The survey procedures used by the SCSU Survey adhere to the highest
quality academic standards. The SCSU
Survey maintains the highest ethical standards in its procedures and
methods. Both faculty and student
directors demonstrate integrity and respect for dignity in all interactions
with colleagues, clients, researchers, and survey participants.
The
SCSU Survey is licensed to use Sawtooth Software’s Ci3 Questionnaire Authoring
Version 4.1, a state-of-the-art Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer-assisted interviewing
package. This program allow us to
develop virtually any type of questionnaire while at the same time programming
edit and consistency checks and other quality control measures to insure the
most valid data. Interviewing with Ci3
offers many advantages:
1.
Complete
control of what the interviewer sees;
2. Automatic skip or branch patterns based on previous answers, combinations of answers, or even mathematical computations performed on answers;
3.
Randomization
of response categories or question order; and,
4.
Customized
questionnaires using respondents’ previous responses
The
SCSU Survey has strict guidelines and procedures for sample management during
data collection. To assist in this
effort, the SCSU Survey uses a state-of-the-art Computer Assisted Telephone
Interview (CATI) system - Sawtooth Software’s Ci3 WinCATI. The benefits of Ci3 WinCATI are many.
1. All interview stations are networked for complete, ongoing sample management.
2. Data is updated immediately, ensuring maximum data integrity and allowing clients to get progress reports anytime. Data is reviewed for quality and consistency.
3. Answers are entered directly into the computer. Keypunching is eliminated, thus decreasing human error. Data analysis can start immediately.
4. The computer handles call record keeping automatically, allowing interviewers and supervisors to focus on the interviewing task.
5. Callbacks are handled by the computer and made on a schedule. We call each number ten times. Interrupted surveys are easily completed. Persons who are willing to be interviewed can do so when it is convenient to them, improving the quality of their responses.
6. Calls are made at various times during the week (Monday through Thursday, 4:30 to 9:30) and on weekends (Sunday, 1:00 to 9:00) to maximize contacts and ensure equal opportunities to respond among various demographic groups.
7. CATI maintains full and detailed records, including the number of attempts made to each number and the disposition of each attempt.
8. CATI allows daily analysis of completed interviews and almost immediate downloading of data once interviewing is finished.
For
surveys that require random selection of respondents, the SCSU Survey purchases
samples from Survey Sampling, Inc. of Fairfield, Connecticut. Survey Sampling is a particularly efficient
sample production company. They will
generate a sample that is of very high quality because they:
n
construct a
comprehensive database of all telephone working blocks which actually represent
residential telephones;
n
obtain,
update and cross check working block information from the local (Qwest)
telephone company;
n
confirm the
estimated number of residential telephones with each working block, excluding
sparsely populated working blocks (industry standard is to exclude those blocks
with less than three known working residential telephones out of the 100
possible numbers);
n
assign
working blocks known to contain residential telephones to geographic areas
bases on zip code and most recent updates of census data;
n
mark each
working block for demographic targeting;
n
check each
random digit dialed number against a list of known business telephone numbers
and generate new numbers as necessary; and,
n
arrange the
ending sample in a random order to eliminate potential calling order bias.
In
addition to the SCSU Survey directors/principal investigators, approximately
six senior SCSU students serve the Survey as student directors. Although most student directors are political
science majors, others come from many different departments across campus. Student director’s work closely with Drs.
Frank, Wagner and Kukoleca Hammes to write questionnaires, design samples,
pretest questionnaires, train interviewers and one or two supervise the actual
interviewing. Student directors may earn
independent study credit and often earn income supervising interviewing or
conducting interviews. Each year,
following the annual spring student survey, the student directors participate
in the University Student Research Colloquium and conduct a press conference of
their findings. In addition to learning
survey research skills, student directors learn or enhance their leadership and
supervisory skills. Most student
directors attend graduate or law school upon graduation or teach. Some have found careers in private market
research firms. The SCSU Survey faculty
argues the student directors are among the best social science, humanities, and
teach education students on the SCSU campus.
