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How to Run Surveys: A Guide to Creating Your Own Identifying Variation and Revealing the Invisible

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  • Stefanie Stantcheva

Abstract

Surveys are an essential approach for eliciting otherwise invisible factors such as perceptions, knowledge and beliefs, attitudes, and reasoning. These factors are critical determinants of social, economic, and political outcomes. Surveys are not merely a research tool. They are also not only a way of collecting data. Instead, they involve creating the process that will generate the data. This allows the researcher to create their own identifying and controlled variation. Thanks to the rise of mobile technologies and platforms, surveys offer valuable opportunities to study either broadly representative samples or focus on specific groups. This paper offers guidance on the complete survey process, from the design of the questions and experiments to the recruitment of respondents and the collection of data to the analysis of survey responses. It covers issues related to the sampling process, selection and attrition, attention and carelessness, survey question design and measurement, response biases, and survey experiments.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefanie Stantcheva, 2022. "How to Run Surveys: A Guide to Creating Your Own Identifying Variation and Revealing the Invisible," NBER Working Papers 30527, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30527
    Note: LS PE POL
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    Cited by:

    1. Jose Maria Barrero & Nicholas Bloom & Steven J. Davis, 2023. "Long Social Distancing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 41(S1), pages 129-172.
    2. Michele Giannola, 2022. "Parental Investments and Intra-household Inequality in Child Human Capital: Evidence from a Survey Experiment," CSEF Working Papers 650, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy, revised 06 Dec 2022.
    3. Erdsiek, Daniel & Rost, Vincent, 2023. "How do managers form their expectations about working from home? Survey experiments on the perception of productivity," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-018, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Begoña Cabeza;, 2023. "Social preferences, support for redistribution, and attitudes towards vulnerable groups," Working Papers 2308, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    5. Jose Apesteguia & Miguel Ángel Ballester, 2023. "The Rationalizability of Survey Responses," Working Papers 1393, Barcelona School of Economics.
    6. Valentin Lang & Stephan A. Schneider, 2023. "Immigration and Nationalism in the Long Run," CESifo Working Paper Series 10621, CESifo.
    7. Avner Seror, 2022. "The Priced Survey Methodology," AMSE Working Papers 2224, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    8. Begoña Cabeza; & Koen Decancq;, 2023. "Social preferences and information about effort and luck: an online survey experiment," Working Papers 2305, Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp.
    9. Brittney Goodrich & Marieke Fenton & Jerrod Penn & John Bovay & Travis Mountain, 2023. "Battling bots: Experiences and strategies to mitigate fraudulent responses in online surveys," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(2), pages 762-784, June.
    10. Matteo Alpino & Luca Citino & Annalisa Frigo, 2023. "The effects of the 2021 energy crisis on medium-sized and large industrial firms: evidence from Italy," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 776, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    11. Colombe Ladreit, 2022. "Automation and Public Policy Preferences," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 22191, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    12. Kyle R. Myers & Wei Yang Tham & Jerry Thursby & Marie Thursby & Nina Cohodes & Karim Lakhani & Rachel Mural & Yilun Xu, 2023. "New Facts and Data about Professors and their Research," Papers 2312.01442, arXiv.org.
    13. Sarah Miller & Patrick Sabourin, 2023. "What consistent responses on future inflation by consumers can reveal," Discussion Papers 2023-7, Bank of Canada.
    14. Jose Apesteguia & Miguel A. Ballester, 2023. "The rationalizability of survey responses," Economics Working Papers 1863, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    15. Tesary Lin & Avner Strulov-Shlain, 2023. "Choice Architecture, Privacy Valuations, and Selection Bias in Consumer Data," Papers 2308.13496, arXiv.org.
    16. Kyle Myers & Wei Yang Tham, 2023. "Money, Time, and Grant Design," Papers 2312.06479, arXiv.org.
    17. Margit Schratzenstaller, 2023. "Behavioral Responses to Inheritance Taxation. A Review of the Empirical Literature," WIFO Working Papers 668, WIFO.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • H0 - Public Economics - - General
    • J0 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General

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