How To Design Survey Studies

"This book lays out the essential information about commonly used designs for the reader. The presentation of extremely complicated and technical information is excellent. The exercises are very valuable to use in the classroom as they will help to reinforce the learning of design principles."

--Kathleen Sexton-Radek, Elmhurst College

Which survey design should you select and use for your survey? For what purpose do you want to use your survey---to describe, compare, or predict attitudes, knowledge or behavior? In this book, the author provides lots of examples and explanations of the major features of high-quality survey systems. Guidelines are provided for experimental and observational designs of surveys, as well as for cross-sectional, cohort and case-control designs. In addition, the author provides checklists of risks to avoid for internal and external validity of a design. New to this edition is coverage of descriptive and experimental factorial designs.

Arlene Fink (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is an Evaluation and Policy Adviser to UCLA's Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and President of Arlene Fink Associates. She has conducted evaluations throughout the United States and abroad, and has trained thousands of health professionals, social scientists, and educators in research methods.  In addition, she has written 10 textbooks and nearly 100 monographs and peer-reviewed articles.