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Sociology vocabulary · Research Methods

Survey

Meaning in sociology, with examples

/ˈsɜːveɪ/nounCore term

In sociology, survey means: A research method that asks a group of people the same set of questions, through a questionnaire or a structured interview, to collect comparable data.

In Turkish: anket, anket araştırması, tarama araştırması

How it is used

The most widely used tool in quantitative sociology. You design, conduct, carry out or administer a survey, and people respond to or take part in it. The survey is the whole study; the questionnaire is the list of questions.

Example sentences

  1. We conducted an online survey of 1,200 university students.

  2. The survey found that trust in neighbours was higher in smaller towns.

Common collocations

  • conduct a survey
  • online survey
  • national survey
  • survey data
  • survey respondents
  • quantitative researchResearch that collects numerical data, usually from large samples, and uses statistics to measure patterns and test relationships between variables.
  • respondentA person who answers the questions in a survey, questionnaire or interview.
  • samplingThe process of selecting a smaller group of people or cases from a larger population so that the researcher can study them and draw conclusions.
  • semi-structured interviewAn interview based on a prepared list of topics or questions that the researcher can reorder, rephrase or follow up, so that participants can answer in their own words.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Research Methods

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