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Chapter 3 Research Framework
Schenker (2004) as that which uses terms such as “predictor” and “criterion” instead
of “independent” and “dependent” to discuss the variables.
3.4.2.3 Survey
According to Creswell (2003), a survey provides numerical description of trends,
attitudes or opinions of a population by studying a sample of the research population.
It involves pre-determining the design, population and sample, choice of
instrumentation, identification of variables and approach to data analysis.
Burns and Grove (2001) stated that surveys are also non-experimental and use
questionnaires or structured interviews to collect data about the identified
population. Coughlan, Cronin and Ryan (2009) supported this and stated that survey
research is a non-experimental research approach, which gathers information about
the incidence and distribution of, and the relationships that exist between, variables
in a pre-determined population. They add that surveys use both total populations and
samples of populations to gather the required data.
Survey research may be descriptive, longitudinal or correlational and comparative
(Coughlan, Cronin and Ryan, 2009). Descriptive survey research includes gathering
data related to attitudes, behaviours and incidence of events. Longitudinal surveys
administer a survey a number times over the research period, and correlational
surveys compare the relationships between variables.
Polit and Beck (2008) stated that self-administered questionnaires are the backbone
of survey research but that response rates can be unpredictable. Coughlan, Cronin
and Ryan (2009) stated that a further limitation of this approach is that the
questionnaire may not have been completed by the required respondent.
The survey results are presented using statistics. Coughlan, Cronin and Ryan (2009)
explained that these may be descriptive statistics or inferential statistics. Descriptive
statistics use frequency distributions, central tendency and variability to describe the
research variable while inferential statistics use either parametric or non-parametric
tests to seek relationships between variables and this is used to predict outcomes.