Basic principles for the design of surveys

This course’s objective is to introduce PhD candidates to basic principles for the design of surveys. It is intended both for PhD candidates planning to collect own data using questionnaires and for those aiming to better understand and critically assess questionnaire-based studies.

The course is meant to serve as an introduction to the design of surveys and basic survey reporting principles; it does not focus on statistics or statistics programs. However, additional resources and literature are provided to support continued learning beyond the course.

The course begins by situating surveys within the broader landscape of empirical research methods, outlining their strengths, limitations, and appropriate use cases. Students are then guided through the development process of high-quality, representative surveys, using PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) as a showcase example.

Afterwards, key components of the survey design process are explored in depth, including item and scale construction, data collection and preparation, the evaluation of the quality of the questionnaire, and the reporting of findings.

After finishing this course, PhD candidates will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge:

Participants will

• understand the role and function of questionnaires within the broader landscape of empirical research methods,
• understand how questionnaires are related to a framework and how its questions are a way of operationalizing a framework,
• know the stages involved in the development of high-quality, representative surveys, and
• understand key concepts related to item and scale construction, measurement quality, and reporting standards.

Skills:

Participants will be able to

• identify and apply principles of good item and scale design for questionnaires,
• evaluate basic quality characteristics of existing questionnaire-based studies,
• recognize common pitfalls in survey design and data collection processes, and
• read, interpret, and critically assess the design of and findings in articles, reports and other publications from survey-based research.

General competence:

Participants will

• master relevant terminology within the field of survey research,
• navigate empirical, questionnaire-based literature skilfully, and
• be able to critically reflect on methodological strengths and limitations in survey-based research.

ECTS requirements

• 1 ECTS: 80% attendance
• 2 ECTS: 80% attendance and submission of a written paper (2,500 words ±10%)