In: Operations Management
Identify the strengths and weaknesses of survey research. Provide explanatory examples. What various survey methods will or can you use for your thesis? How will you accomplish this? How can you use the survey results to test your hypothesis? Provide specific questions in your survey that will allow you to test your hypothesis.
What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Surveys?
Surveys are easy to develop, especially when using the advanced survey software solutions available today. Many researchers are tempted to do much of their data collection online; however, it is not always the preferred mode of data collection, especially if respondents are in hard-to-reach areas. Whether a researcher uses an online survey, mobile survey, paper survey, or a combination of all modes, the mode should depend on the type of study and the demographics of respondents.
Online surveys and mobile surveys tend to be the most cost-effective modes of survey research, yet they may not reach those respondents that can only respond using alternate modes. Results of online surveys and mobile surveys may suffer and differ greatly if important respondents are left out of the research. Hard-to-reach respondents may be easier to reach using more traditional methods such as paper surveys or face-to-face interviews.
Advanced survey software solutions have multi-mode capabilities for online surveys, mobile surveys, email surveys, paper surveys, kiosk surveys, and more, giving researchers the ability to survey even the hardest-to reach consumers, and analyze data from all survey modes collectively.
The ability to reach respondents is one challenge of surveys. However, surveys have several advantages and disadvantages. They are as follows:
Advantages
Disadvantages
The reliability of survey data may depend on the following factors: