Quant #04: Stages of a Survey Research Project

Generally, survey research involves three main sequential stages. In the first stage, research questions and hypotheses are clearly specified. Questions and hypotheses should be framed within the bounds of a specified theoretical context to aid the decision of the type of questions to be included.

The second stage concerns the choice of the methodology to use in the survey. Usually, this stage involves various important tasks, two of which are conceptualization and operationalization. Conceptualization refers to the task of specifying the exact meaning of the concepts and variables to be included in the research. Operationalization, on the other hand, refers to the task of specifying the manner in which variables will be measured. Other tasks involved in this stage of research include the selection of survey methods to employ (e.g., data collection); the development of the survey instrument (e.g., a questionnaire) and its implementation it; and the decision on whom to include in the survey (e.g., sampling.)

The third stage of the research process consists of data analysis. Statistics is usually used in this stage as it provides systematic techniques and tools to not just summarize the gathered data, but also draw conclusions and insights from the analysis.