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| Mike Saks and Judith Allsop |
Chapter 10 - Quantitative Survey Methods in Health Research
Michael Calnan |
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| Contributor
biography |
| Michael Calnan is Professor of Medical
Sociology in the Medical Research Council HSRC in the
Department of Social Medicine at the University of Bristol,
UK. |
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| Chapter overview |
| This chapter defines and explains
what quantitative survey methodology is. It describes
the techniques and resources required for carrying out
a survey; and discussing the role of theory in this context.
The process of translating concepts into indicators and
assessing the strengths and weaknesses of different survey
techniques is outlined. Finally data analysis and presentation
is discussed. |
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| Chapter links |
Chapter
9 - Health Research Sampling Methods
Chapter 11 - Statistical Methods
for Health Data Analysis |
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| Suggested
Online Readings |
| Addington-Hall,
J.M. and Karlsen, S. (2005) ‘A National Survey of
Health Professionals and Volunteers Working in Voluntary
Hospice Services in the UK: Attitudes to Current Issues
Affecting Hospices and Palliative Care’, Palliative
Medicine, 19 (1): 40-48. |
| This paper reports results from a
national survey in 1999 of voluntary hospice services
in the UK. It focuses on volunteer and staff views of
the purposes of hospice care, and summarises current debates
within palliative care. Twenty-five hospice services,
stratified by region, services provided (inpatient care,
day care and/or home care) and number of beds were randomly
sampled from amongst 175 voluntary hospices in the UK.
Nineteen participated. Seventy percent of a random sample
of professional and voluntary staff within these hospices
returned a postal questionnaire. |
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| Tingle,
A. and Hickey, G. (2000) ‘What is 'Direct Patient
Care'? Developing Questions for a Questionnaire Survey’,
Journal of Research in Nursing, 5 (1): 38-43. |
| Nurses' perceptions of, and involvement
in, care-giving have been explored as part of a longitudinal,
questionnaire survey investigating the careers of nurse
diplomates. This paper outlines the problems which arose
in defining 'care' for use in questionnaires, and explains
how the concept of 'care' was operationalised using previous
literature and work with a pilot cohort. It argues that
developing a common understanding of 'care' will enable
comparisons to be made across studies that are exploring
the concept. |
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| White,
R., Walker, P., Roberts, S., Kalisky, S. and White, P.
(2006) ‘Bristol COPD Knowledge Questionnaire (BCKQ):
Testing what we Teach Patients about COPD’, Chronic
Respiratory Disease, 3(3): 123-31. |
| This paper discusses the use of a
multiple-choice questionnaire (BCKQ) to test the impact
of education for patients with COPD. Patients were split
into two groups – those receiving education and
those not receiving education. The questionnaire tested
knowledge of 13 topics, using five statements for which
there was a right or wrong answer. For the group not receiving
education, there was good test-retest reliability. For
the patients who attended an education programme, there
was a significant improvement in results. The questionnaire
was assessed for validity and consistency. The paper argues
that the questionnaire enables the effectiveness of education
to be assessed and will be of value in developing and
comparing different educational interventions. |
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| Further Reading |
| Bryman, A. (2004) Social Research
Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press. |
| This book provides useful complementary
reading to this chapter, especially in part two. |
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| De Vaus, D. (2002) Surveys in Social
Research. 5th edition. London: Routledge. |
| This text covers all the main issues
discussed in this chapter in more detail – and is
strongly recommended. |
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| Fowler, F. (2001) Survey Research
Methods. London: Sage |
| This again is a good supplementary
text, setting survey methods within a general context
of other research methods. |
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© Sage Publications Ltd.
