Surveys of the population have become such a familiar part of modern life that often almost all sociological studies reduce them. In reality, a sociological survey, although the most popular one, is by no means the only method for obtaining primary sociological information. At the same time, not every survey can be considered a case study. This requires compliance with a number of conditions and technical procedures.
Opinion polls are often called opinion polls precisely because their main task is to find out what people think about this or that phenomenon. Depending on the technology of the polls are divided into direct and indirect. An example of a direct interview is an interview when there is a direct dialogue between the interviewer and the interviewee. At the same time, it does not matter at all whether this dialogue takes place in person or by telephone. The contact of two people is important, during which information is transmitted.
A type of indirect survey includes questioning, which is also an extremely common method of collecting sociological data. Questionnaires for respondents can be handed over personally, sent by mail, published in magazines or offered in the form of interactive forms on Internet sites. The respondent independently fills out the questionnaire and returns it to the researchers. Moreover, the questionnaire involves a number of questions with pre-set possible answers. Usually these are traditional yes, no, and difficult to answer.
In more serious studies, the list of possible answers may be much wider. This type of answer is called “closed” in sociology, since they do not allow improvisation by the respondent. In some cases, the list of closed answers is supplemented by an empty line for the respondent's private opinion, if it differs significantly from the proposed options. This type of response is called "open."
Any sociological survey involves the preliminary development of a research program, which sets the goals and objectives of this study, describes the methods used and formulates a preliminary working hypothesis, which the survey data should confirm or refute. Without such a theoretical part, no survey can be considered a truly objective sociological study, since a scientifically developed program and carefully calculated sample can avoid many errors in the collection and processing of primary information.
