Survey Methods: Challenges and Opportunities

Survey research has traditionally been a process beginning with the formulation of research hypotheses, followed by the construction and testing of a questionnaire, sampling of survey respondents from the eligible population, administration of the survey for data collection, and processing, analysis, and dissemination of the results. This deliberate process has been carried out and refined over the years to provide data to answer many specific research questions. This chapter considers the future for data collection and analysis via survey methods in the context of new sources of digital data and technical innovations, taking major social science surveys as key examples.