Challenges in Survey Methodology

Abstract

An ongoing debate discusses opinion surveys as a tool of data collection for (non-) academic purposes, but also its political role when concrete policy proposals are at stake. Indeed, surveys represent one of the most popular method of data collection in political research (e.g. Groves et al., 2009; Saris & Gallhofer, 2014; Wolf et al., 2016). The Total Survey Error (TSE) theorem is currently the gold standard in survey methodology aiming to reduce representation and measurement error throughout the full survey research cycle (Anderson, Kasper, and Frankel, 1979; Groves, 2004; Weisberg, 2005; Groves and Lyberg, 2010; Biemer, 2010). However, the popularity of survey data collection has been challenged by (a) the decline in survey participation rates, increase in unit non-response, and the weakening of sampling frames, (b) cheap mass online surveys, and (c) other cost efficient alternative methods of data collection, such as data extracted from social media. This section evaluates the future of surveys for the study of politics along different dimensions. We are interested in mapping the opportunities and challenges in survey research for political science.