Title: What sorts of research topics can surveys help us with?
Course: UGQuants (SSPS) > Section: Survey Design

What sorts of research topics can surveys help us with?

Having considered how we might define surveys and their associated strengths and weaknesses in addition to issues of research design, we might be wondering whether a survey could be the research strategy of choice to investigate our own research interests. What kinds of research topics therefore can surveys help us to explore? Surveys can be used to explore a wide range of research areas as illustrated by the following examples:

Changing fortunes: movement in and out of poverty of people living in Britain
Predicting who will get elected in various elections and/or predicting the result of referendums
If you slap and shout at your kids are they more likely to bully each other?
Are pro-breast feeding policies effective in increasing the uptake of breastfeeding by mothers?

Surveys can potentially help us research a wide range of topics. However, the decision as to whether to use survey data to explore a particular research topic will be informed by a range of considerations, including the precise nature of our research questions and aims and the availability of resources.