Among the many important contributions Paul Lazarsfeld
made to the social sciences, his pioneering work in survey research methodology
stands out as tremendously influential. Lazarsfeld recognized the great
value of the survey method, and he had a keen sense of how best to collect
survey data to illuminate the dynamics of contemporary social life. This
presentation will review Lazarsfeld's early survey methodology work and
will review the literature that he inspired during the last 50 years. Work
by psychologists, sociologists, and many other social scientists has done
a great deal to characterize the cognitive and social processes underlying
survey responses and to explain why small changes in question wording, formatting,
and ordering can yield different responses. Most recently, scholars have
come to understand the implications of these findings for optimizing the
accuracy of survey measurement. The presentation will review this work and
highlight some general principles of optimal survey questionnaire design.
powerpoint presentation Krosnick |