Collecting, managing, and assessing data using sample surveys / / Peter Stopher

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910778951903321
• Autore: Stopher Peter R.
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2012
• ISBN: 1-107-21856-X; 1-139-20943-4; 1-280-56868-2; 1-139-22226-0; 9786613598288; 0-511-97789-1; 1-139-22397-6; 1-139-21745-3; 1-139-21437-3; 1-139-22054-3
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (xxvi, 534 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)
• Disciplina: 001.422
• Soggetti: Surveys - Design; Surveys - Methodology; Sampling (Statistics)
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Collecting, Managing, and Assessing Data Using Sample Surveys; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Figures; Tables; Acknowledgements; 1: Introduction; 1.1 The purpose of this book; 1.2 Scope of the book; 1.3 Survey statistics; 2: Basic statistics and probability; 2.1 Some definitions in statistics; 2.1.1 Censuses and surveys; 2.2 Describing data; 2.2.1 Types of scales; Nominal scales; Ordinal scales; Interval scales; Ratio scale; Measurement scales; 2.2.2 Data presentation: graphics; 2.2.3 Data presentation: non-graphical; Measures of magnitude; Frequencies and proportions; Central measures of data Examples; Measures of dispersion; The normal distribution; Some useful properties of variances and standard ; deviations; Examples; 3: Basic issues in surveys; 3.1 Need for survey methods; 3.1.1 A definition of sampling methodology; 3.2 Surveys and censuses; 3.2.1 Costs; 3.2.2 Time; 3.3 Representativeness; 3.3.1 Randomness; 3.3.2 Probability sampling; 3.4 Errors and bias; 3.4.1 Sample design and sampling error; 3.4.2 Bias; 3.4.3 Avoiding bias; 3.5 Some important definitions; 4: Ethics of surveys of human populations; 4.1 Why ethics?; 4.2 Codes of ethics or practice; 4.3 Potential threats to confidentiality 4.3.1 Retaining detail and confidentiality; 4.4 Informed consent; 4.5 Conclusions; 5: Designing a survey; 5.1 Components of survey design; 5.2 Defining the survey purpose; 5.2.1 Components of survey purpose; Data needs; Comparability or innovation; Defining data needs; Data needs in human subject surveys; Survey timing; Geographic bounds for the survey; 5.3 Trade-offs in survey design; 6: Methods for conducting surveys of human populations; 6.1 Overview; 6.2 Face-to-face interviews; 6.3 Postal surveys; 6.4 Telephone surveys; 6.5 Internet surveys; 6.6 Compound survey methods 6.6.1 Pre-recruitment contact; 6.6.2 Recruitment; Random digit dialling; 6.6.3 Survey delivery; 6.6.4 Data collection; 6.6.5 An example; 6.7 Mixed-mode surveys; 6.7.1 Increasing response and reducing bias; 6.8 Observational surveys; 7: Focus groups; 7.1 Introduction; 7.2 Definition of a focus group; 7.2.1 The size and number of focus groups; 7.2.2 How a focus group functions; 7.2.3 Analysing the focus group discussions; 7.2.4 Some disadvantages of focus groups; 7.3 Using focus groups to design a survey; 7.4 Using focus groups to evaluate a survey; 7.5 Summary; 8: Design of survey instruments 8.1 Scope of this chapter; 8.2 Question type; 8.2.1 Classification and behaviour questions; Mitigating threatening questions; 8.2.2 Memory or recall error; 8.3 Question format; 8.3.1 Open questions; 8.3.2 Field-coded questions; 8.3.3 Closed questions; 8.4 Physical layout of the survey instrument; 8.4.1 Introduction; 8.4.2 Question ordering; Opening questions; Body of the survey; The end of the questionnaire; 8.4.3 Some general issues on question layout; Overall format; Appearance of the survey; Front cover; Spatial layout; Choice of typeface; Use of colour and graphics
• Sommario/riassunto: Collecting, Managing, and Assessing Data Using Sample Surveys provides a thorough, step-by-step guide to the design and implementation of surveys. Beginning with a primer on basic statistics, the first half of the book takes readers on a comprehensive tour through the basics of survey design. Topics covered include the ethics of surveys, the design of survey procedures, the design of the survey instrument, how to write questions and how to draw representative samples. Having shown readers how to design surveys, the second half of the book discusses a number of issues surrounding their implementation, including repetitive surveys, the economics of surveys, web-based surveys, coding and data entry, data expansion and weighting, the issue of non-response, and the documenting and archiving of survey data. The book is an excellent introduction to the use of surveys for graduate students as well as a useful reference work for scholars and professionals.

The pseudo-democrat's dilemma : why election observation became an international norm / / Susan D. Hyde

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910169194203321
• Autore: Hyde Susan D
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Ithaca, : Cornell University Press, 2011; Ithaca, NY : , : Cornell University Press, , [2011]; ©2015
• ISBN: 0-8014-6125-1; 0-8014-5676-2; 0-8014-6077-8
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (261 p.)
• Classificazione: MF 4000
• Disciplina: 324.6/5
• Soggetti: Election monitoring; Elections - Corrupt practices; Democratization; International relations
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Signaling democracy and the norm of internationally observed elections -- Sovereign leaders and the decision to invite observers -- Democracy-contingent benefits -- Does election monitoring matter? -- The quality of monitoring and strategic manipulation -- Conclusion : constrained leaders and changing international expectations.
• Sommario/riassunto: Why did election monitoring become an international norm? Why do pseudo-democrats-undemocratic leaders who present themselves as democratic-invite international observers, even when they are likely to be caught manipulating elections? Is election observation an effective tool of democracy promotion, or is it simply a way to legitimize electoral autocracies? In The Pseudo-Democrat's Dilemma, Susan D. Hyde explains international election monitoring with a new theory of international norm formation. Hyde argues that election observation was initiated by states seeking international support. International benefits tied to democracy give some governments an incentive to signal their commitment to democratization without having to give up ; power. Invitations to nonpartisan foreigners to monitor elections, and avoiding their criticism, became a widely recognized and imitated signal of a government's purported commitment to democratic elections.Hyde draws on cross-national data on the global spread of election observation between 1960 and 2006, detailed descriptions of the characteristics of countries that do and do not invite observers, and evidence of three ways that election monitoring is costly to pseudo-democrats: micro-level experimental tests from elections in Armenia and Indonesia showing that observers can deter election-day fraud and otherwise improve the quality of elections; illustrative cases demonstrating that international benefits are contingent on democracy in countries like Haiti, Peru, Togo, and Zimbabwe; and qualitative evidence documenting the escalating game of strategic manipulation among pseudo-democrats, international monitors, and pro-democracy forces.