Background question
You can subsequently break down the result of a survey, using background questions such as age, sex, income, education, geographic location etc., which enables you to find correlations, understand a result etc.
Dropout
Dropout refers to the respondents who do not answer, because they do not want to, are not at home etc. Dropout is often specified as a percentage. The larger the dropout, the lower is the reliability of the survey.
Filter question/conditions
Filter questions are used to leave the respondent forwards in the questionnaire, such as "if you answered yes, please go to question 10". Filter questions are used to guide some respondents (depending on background questions or the way they have answered) to a question which only refers to that group of respondents. This means that you get better answers, since the question is relevant to the people who answer, and other people don't have to bother answering it.
Cross tabulation
Cross tabulation means that you can analyse individual groups, depending on how they have answered – or not answered. For example, you could take a closer look at the results of people who live in a large town, are women or watch a certain TV channel. Cross tabulation makes it easier to see correlations and analyse things at a micro level.
Quantitative surveys
A quantitative method includes surveys, usually via the web, post or telephone. In a quantitative survey, you can postulate hypotheses and do a wide-ranging survey to chart a target group, questions etc
Qualitative surveys
The difference between a quantitative survey and a qualitative survey is that the qualitative survey frequently uses in-depth interviews and case studies. This creates a deeper understanding of a phenomenon.
Average
The arithmetic average, the sum of all numbers divided by the number of participants, observations etc.
Median
The "middle value", the number in an ordered series, which divides the series in two equal parts. If the series has an even number of observations, the median is the average of two values on either side of the centre.
Population
A group of people have something in common, such as all the people in Sweden or all the people who have a certain profession. In the wider statistical definition, a population is a number of units or phenomena which is being investigated such as visitors to a shop, or manufactured products.
Randomisation
Randomisation can mean two things:
- Random allocation of participants between groups in a survey. Randomisation is necessary, so you can use statistical methods to assess the probability that the result of a survey has been obtained through the action of chance. Randomisation can be done by allowing a computer to generate a random sequence (randomisation code) which decides the group into which each new participant will be allocated.
- Random order of questions, response alternatives etc. The order of questions and response alternatives in a questionnaire can sometimes guide the respondent to answer in a certain manner. Randomisation avoids this.
Reliability
Reliability describes how trustworthy an investigation/survey is. If you measure the height of children in a school class, the measurement instrument affects the reliability. If you measure the distance between Gothenburg and Stockholm with a ruler, reliability is low.
Respondent
A respondent is a participant in a survey. People who have finished the survey and answered all the questions are called "complete respondents”.
Raw data
Raw data is data which has been acquired from a source and which has not been processed or been subjected to any manipulation, such as un-processed statistics from a survey. The data can then be processed by a computer program or by manual analysis. A distinction is made between data and information; information is the end product from data processing.
Significance
Significance is a concept which specifies that an observed value in a survey deviates from a hypothetical value, or other comparable value, so much that it is not caused by statistical uncertainty (chance).
Significance is classified in the form of confidence interval, where 95% (5%) indicating that the observed deviation in 19 causes of 20 is not due to chance and 99% (1%) in 99 causes out of 100.
SPSS
By exporting your data to the statistical program SPSS, you can make a broader and deeper examination of the results. Are you using Survey Generator Medium or Large, you can get the data in this format.
Response rate
Response rate refers to the number of completed respondents in relation to the number of possible answers. No response is called dropout.
Validity
Validity means that you have investigated what you were supposed to investigate and nothing else. It may seem obvious but it is not always easy to achieve high validity. If you measure the feet of a large number of individuals, to measure how fast they run, the survey may have an excellent reliability. If the instruments are perfect you have in the end a proper disposition of all lengths of the feet. The investigation however, completely lacks validity because there is no correlation between size of feet and how quickly we can run. An investigation can thus have a high reliability but still no validity.