Language users, such as survey respondents and interviewers, must speak the same language literally and figuratively to interact with each other. As diversity grows in the United States and globally, interviewers and respondents may speak a different language or speak the same language differently that reflects their own cultural norms of communication. This book discusses the role of language in survey research when comparisons across groups, cultures, and countries are of interest. Language use in surveys is dynamic, including words, symbols (e.g., arrows), and even emojis. The entire survey life cycle is carried out through language. Researchers write or translate questions and instructions that will address research questions and then pretest them using various techniques, including qualitative inquiry that focuses on context beyond just “the numbers.” Human or virtual data collectors use persuasive messages to communicate with survey respondents and encourage their survey participation. Respondents must comprehend and interpret survey questions and instructions to provide a response. All of these survey processes and products contribute to data quality, and the role of language is essential. Praise for The Essential Role of Language in Survey Research “This book highlights the importance of language issues for data quality, provides frameworks for conceptualizing the underlying processes, presents diverse methods for identifying problems at an early stage, and illustratesand evaluates potential solutions in the form of improved translation and pretesting procedures.” --Daphna Oyserman and Norbert Schwarz, University of Southern California “The role of language and issues of language are particularly salient for multinational, multiregional, or multicultural (3MC) comparative surveys that are designed to collect data and compare findings from two or more populations. This book highlights the critical need to consider a range ofissues pertaining to language at various aspects and stages of 3MC survey design and implementation.” --Julie de Jong, Kristen Cibelli Hibben, and Jennifer Kelley, University of Michigan, and Dorothée Behr, GESIS–Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, Germany “The need to reach increasingly diverse target populations requires survey researchers to be ever more aware of the role of verbal and nonverbal language in the survey research process. This book provides a great resource for readers new to the subject, as well as experts, seeking to understand the implications of language for survey design, implementation, and resulting data quality.” --Antje Kirchner, RTI International, and Coeditor of Big Data Meets Survey Science: A Collection of Innovative Methods “Covering a range of topics fundamental to high-quality surveys in cross-cultural contexts, this new volume features ‘language’ in its varied roles within survey methodology and practice, including questionnaire design, translation, and fieldwork implementation for quantitative and qualitative research. The Essential Role of Language in Survey Research uses in-country examples and analyses from across the globe to underscore specific challenges that survey researchers confront in their work.” --Patrick Moynihan and Martha McRoy, Pew Research Center

To the uninformed, surveys appear to be an easy type of research to design and conduct, but when students and professionals delve deeper, they encounter the vast complexities that the range and practice of survey methods present. To complicate matters, technology has rapidly affected the way surveys can be conducted; today, surveys are conducted via cell phone, the Internet, email, interactive voice response, and other technology-based modes. Thus, students, researchers, and professionals need both a comprehensive understanding of these complexities and a revised set of tools to meet the challenges. In conjunction with top survey researchers around the world and with Nielsen Media Research serving as the corporate sponsor, the Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods presents state-of-the-art information and methodological examples from the field of survey research. Although there are other "how-to" guides and references texts on survey research, none is as comprehensive as this Encyclopedia, and none presents the material in such a focused and approachable manner. With more than 600 entries, this resource uses a Total Survey Error perspective that considers all aspects of possible survey error from a cost-benefit standpoint. Key Features Covers all major facets of survey research methodology, from selecting the sample design and the sampling frame, designing and pretesting the questionnaire, data collection, and data coding, to the thorny issues surrounding diminishing response rates, confidentiality, privacy, informed consent and other ethical issues, data weighting, and data analyses Presents a Reader′s Guide to organize entries around themes or specific topics and easily guide users to areas of interest Offers cross-referenced terms, a brief listing of Further Readings, and stable Web site URLs following most entries The Encyclopedia of Survey Research Methods is specifically written to appeal to beginning, intermediate, and advanced students, practitioners, researchers, consultants, and consumers of survey-based information.

Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing is the first guide in the second language field devoted to the question of how to produce and use questionnaires as reliable and valid research instruments. It offers a thorough overview of the theory of questionnaire design, administration, and processing, made accessible by concrete, real-life second language research applications. This Second Edition features a new chapter on how an actual scientific instrument was developed using the theoretical guidelines in the book, and new sections on translating questionnaires and collecting survey data on the Internet. Researchers and students in second language studies, applied linguistics, and TESOL programs will find this book invaluable, and it can also be used as a textbook for courses in quantitative research methodology and survey research in linguistics, psychology, and education departments.

This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently used as a research text at universities on six continents and will shortly be available in nine different languages.

The book provides a comprehensive review of mental health in refugees by discussing its multiple dimensions, and analyzing epidemiology, etiology, and culturally adapted assessment and treatment. Key topics include why certain refugees cope successfully with traumatic experiences while others do not, and the biological, psychological, and social processes underlying posttraumatic stress disorder, common mental disorders, substance abuse and personality disorders. The text examines topics such as complexities of diagnosis, treatment, and recovery for refugees. Furthermore, the roles of culture, social support, and mental health workers in the process of overcoming mental health problems in refugees are discussed. Together, the chapters provide an in-depth examination of the current understood causes, and impacts of mental health problems and treatment of refugees to inform future work in the field. The book gives its readers a solid basis for understanding mental health problems of refugees and sets out to present practitioners with a state-of-the-art summary of all the latest developments and practical guidance. Furthermore, this book provides the practitioner with instructions on how culturally adapted treatments can be used not only with adults, but also with children and young people to help the practitioner to prepare for working with this difficult client group. Drawing from a range of different fields of study, this text will appeal to readers across psychological, mental health, medical, and academic disciplines.

This book presents a comprehensive, but practical, overview of the different phases and activities involved in the development and implementation of effective survey projects by language-teaching professionals. The text, which includes chapters on planning, designing, gathering, analyzing, and reporting survey research, would be accessible to graduate students, language teachers, administrators, and researchers. The theoretical and practical issues involved in survey design are defined and discussed in digestible chunks. All concepts are explained in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step manner, with ample examples and checklists provided. Each chapter also includes a list of key terms, a set of review questions, and a collection of exercises for practical application. In this text, language-teaching professionals will find all of the crucial information needed to survey students and teachers about their beliefs and practices. The results can then be used for developing curriculum, evaluating the success of language programs, or doing other relevant research.