Designing and Conducting Health Surveys is written for students, teachers, researchers, and anyone who conducts health surveys. The third edition of this classic reference draws heavily on the most recent methodological research on survey design and the rich storehouse of insights and implications provided by cognitive research on question and questionnaire design in particular. This important resource presents a total survey error framework that is a useful compass for charting the dangerous waters between systematic and random errors that inevitably accompany the survey design enterprise. In addition, three new studies based on national, international, and state and local surveys—the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, California Health Interview Survey, and National Dental Malpractice Survey—are detailed that illustrate the range of design alternatives available at each stage of developing a survey and provide a sound basis for choosing among them.
Included in the contents are:
- Thinking About Topics for Health Surveys
- Matching the Survey Design to Survey Objectives
- Defining and Clarifying the Survey Variables
- Thinking Through the Relationships Between Variables
- Choosing the Methods of Data Collection
- Deciding Who Will Be in the Sample
- Deciding How Many Will Be in the Sample
- General Principles for Formulating Questions
- Formulating Questions About Health
- Formulating Questions About Demographics and Behavior
- Formulating Questions About Knowledge and Attitudes
- Guidelines for Formatting the Questionnaire
- Monitoring and Carrying Out the Survey
- Preparing the Data for Analysis
- Planning and Implementing the Analysis of the Data
- Writing the Research Report