Ebook: Survey Methods in Social Investigation

SINCE THE First Edition of this book was published there has been a considerable increase in survey activity throughout the world, and methods have become more rigorous and well­-developed. We have tried to reflect these changes in this new edition. Examples of more recent surveys have been given in many places and particularly in Chapter I which has been entirely rewritten. Even so, we have not hesitated to retain as examples many early surveys, since they help to illustrate the development of methods, and are often still the best examples of their type.

As to methods, changes have been made throughout the book so as to reflect the latest developments, including for instance recent research on mail questionnaires and the use of computers for pro­cessing survey data. Furthermore there are the following major additions to the First Edition: Chapter 1 has been expanded con­siderably with examples of a wide range of surveys and methods; the chapter in the first edition entitled Types of Sample Design has been enlarged and divided into two chapters-Chapters 5 and 6-with the second chapter containing fuller descriptions of several sample designs; a special chapter, Chapter 9, dealing with Experiments and Investigations has been added; the section in the first edition on scaling methods has been enlarged into a full chapter, Chapter 14; and Chapter 17 has two new sections, Section 17.4 on Interpreting Relationships and Section 17.5 on Causal Models.

The net effect is to make a few parts of the book harder. This reflects the fact that techniques have become more rigorous and is in line with the teaching of the subject; courses on survey methods in universities and technical colleges have become notably more sophisticated in a technical sense. We have, however, kept the harder sections down to an absolute minimum and only a small part of the book is above the technical level of the First Edition. Moreover, in order to make it easy for the reader who does not need these sections to identify them, they are printed in a smaller type.

We have been helped by a number of people in the preparation of this new edition. Our greatest debt is to Dr Tessa Blackstone who undertook most of the work needed for the up-to-date survey of surveys which appears as Chapter 1. We believe that this chapter will be valuable in its own right, and we are most grateful to Dr Blackstone.

We would also like to thank the following who have helped us either by providing information about their organization's survey practices or by commenting on various parts of the book: Miss J. Atkinson, Miss L. R. Austen, Mr B. A. Bates, Mr J. Bibby, Dr B. Cooper, Dr H. Durant, Mr B. P. Emmett, Professor L. Kish, Mr F. F. Land, Mr L. Marchant, Dr A. C. McKennell, Mrs S. B. Quinn, Mr C. Scott, Dr J. C. Scott, Dr A. P. E. L. Sealy, Mr R. Sherwood, Professor A. Stuart, Mr H. J. F. Taylor, Mr P. J. Wakeford and Mr J. H. Westergaard.

We are grateful to Miss C. Martin, Miss A. Usher and Miss M. Vaughan for their part in typing the manuscript, to Mr A. C. Jhavary and Mr A. J. Deacon who worked on the bibliography, and to Mr P. Marks who checked the calculations. Above all, we should like to thank Mrs F. H. Kalton, without whose excellent work in typing, reading and proof-reading we would not have completed the task.

Finally, we wish to thank Mr A. Hill (Chairman and Managing Director of Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.) for his interest and help throughout the production of the book, and Professor D. G. Mac Rae for his most helpful advice and encouragement.