Surveys have long provided researchers with representative, reliable, and valid information, and served as an indispensable tool for our understanding of especially public opinion and electoral behavior. The main objective of this course is to introduce advanced undergraduate and graduate students to a set of universally recognized principles that have been guiding scientific survey studies in last decades.

Over the course of the semester, we will focus on all major stages of survey research ?i.e., research question formulation, sampling, mode of data collection, questionnaire design, pilot testing, interviewing, as well as cleaning, managing, and weighting survey data, and simple hypothesis testing employing survey data. This course pays particular attention to practice as well. We will examine and evaluate several national and cross-national survey studies and applied social science research. Moreover, students will design and implement their own projects, and acquire the necessary software skills commensurate with their level to be able to examine, edit, and weight survey data, and employ survey data for hypothesis testing.

Upon completion of this course, students will be equipped with the fundamental skills to design, carry out, and evaluate survey studies, and have a thorough understanding of the scientific methods used to collect survey data, and advantages, limitations, and all major stages of survey research.

No prior experience or course work in survey methodology is required for this course. However, many course topics are technical and may require further explanation. Moreover, survey research includes elements of both art and science. While traditional lectures and assigned materials will cover the scientific nature of survey research, the art part requires getting your hands dirty. Hence, both undergraduate and graduate students will be asked to design their own surveys --i.e., developing, pilot testing, analyzing, and interpreting their own survey instruments-- for a group project. Other course requirements consist of the midterm and final examinations, three short assignments, participation in class discussions, and attendance for undergraduate students; a midterm exam, three short assignments, attendance and participation, and a final research paper for graduate students.