- Welcome
- Important notice
- About the author
- About this site
- Site guide + Search box
- Dedications
- Acknowledgments
- My personal pantheon (of the great and the good in survey research)
- Recent and planned activities
- Textbooks for Research Methods and Data Analysis
- 1: Survey Analysis Workshop (SPSS)
- 1a: Statistical concepts and methods
- 1b: Teaching with Survey Data
- 1c: Developing research projects using survey data
- 1d: Workshop and presentations for ASSESS (SPSS users in Europe)
- 2: Survey Research Practice
- 2a: Survey Research Methodology, Practice and Training
- 2b: Major survey series
- 3: Subjective Social Indicators (Quality of Life)
- 4: Survey Unit, Social Science Research Council (UK)
- 5a: Polytechnic of North London (1976-1992)
- 5b: Survey Research Unit (1978-1992)
- Village life in Normandy
- Contact
- Origins of the British Crime Survey
- British Crime Survey
The place of survey research in the social sciences
[Page last updated 25 May 2013]
This page is concerned with the debate on research methodology: see also the articles under Debate on page Articles on survey research. Links are to pages on this site
Mark Abrams
Social Surveys and Social Action
(Heinemann, 1951)
Mark Abrams
Social Surveys, Social Theory and Social Policy
(paper to special conference session, LSE, 1974)
Cathie Marsh
The Survey Method: the contribution of surveys to sociological explanation
(George, Allen & Unwin 1982)
See also:
Martin Bulmer
Critical Note: Social survey research and postgraduate training in sociological method
(Sociology, Vol 6, No 2, 1972)
Cathie Marsh
Problems with Surveys: Method or Epistemology?
(Sociology 13, 1979)
Glock C Y. [Ed]
Survey Research in the Social Sciences
(Russell Sage Foundation 1967)
James D Wright and Peter V. Marsden
Survey Research and Social Science: History, Current Practice and Future Prospects
in Peter V Marsden & James D Wright [Eds] Handbook of Survey Research (2nd edition, Emerald, 2010)
There are also video clips to be found on YouTube.
See especially:
Introduction to Survey Research (James Neill, Canberra University, Australia)
Part 1: Describes 3 main types of research - experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental.
Part 2: Describes survey research characteristics.
Part 3: Discusses two main purposes of survey research (info gathering and theory testing) and four
goals (exploratory, descriptive, explanatory, predictive).
Part 4: Pros and cons of survey-based research, survey research exercise, and summary of lecture.
Readers interested in the history of surveys should also see:
Fifty Books That Have Significantly Shaped Public Opinion Research
This page is concerned with the debate on research methodology: see also the articles under Debate on page Articles on survey research. Links are to pages on this site
Mark Abrams
Social Surveys and Social Action
(Heinemann, 1951)
Mark Abrams
Social Surveys, Social Theory and Social Policy
(paper to special conference session, LSE, 1974)
Cathie Marsh
The Survey Method: the contribution of surveys to sociological explanation
(George, Allen & Unwin 1982)
See also:
Martin Bulmer
Critical Note: Social survey research and postgraduate training in sociological method
(Sociology, Vol 6, No 2, 1972)
Cathie Marsh
Problems with Surveys: Method or Epistemology?
(Sociology 13, 1979)
Glock C Y. [Ed]
Survey Research in the Social Sciences
(Russell Sage Foundation 1967)
James D Wright and Peter V. Marsden
Survey Research and Social Science: History, Current Practice and Future Prospects
in Peter V Marsden & James D Wright [Eds] Handbook of Survey Research (2nd edition, Emerald, 2010)
There are also video clips to be found on YouTube.
See especially:
Introduction to Survey Research (James Neill, Canberra University, Australia)
Part 1: Describes 3 main types of research - experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental.
Part 2: Describes survey research characteristics.
Part 3: Discusses two main purposes of survey research (info gathering and theory testing) and four
goals (exploratory, descriptive, explanatory, predictive).
Part 4: Pros and cons of survey-based research, survey research exercise, and summary of lecture.
Readers interested in the history of surveys should also see:
Fifty Books That Have Significantly Shaped Public Opinion Research