Researchers apply various methods to investigate the issue under analysis. When it comes to the investigation of people’s behavior, education or character, the survey is a proper choice. Its methods and procedure can be evaluated on the example of survey research dedicated to the study of the connection between the heavy music preference and delinquency.
The survey on heavy metal preference and delinquency is self-administered. As long as its participants were school students, it was the best possible way to administer the survey. Although mail or e-mail surveys are cheaper and easier to administer (Dantzker, &Hunter, 2016). Still, as Vito, Tewksbury, & Kunselman mention (2014), the self-administered survey with a “group of respondents gathered in one place” can be used if a researcher deals with “captive audience.” It looks more practical to gather students in one room than to wait for mail or e-mail responses, for they are often irresponsible.
Close-ended questions, or structured, give possible answers to choose. They are more convenient for a survey participant and faster to answer, but may not fully cover the problem. The open-ended ones, or unstructured questions, give a respondent more freedom, but it takes more time and space both to give personal answers and to review those responses.
In this survey, the questions concerning school performance, parental supervision, and attachment, together with those to measure delinquency, were close-ended (Singer, Levine, & Jou, 1993). They all had from three to five answers. I suppose it was a proper choice of question type because of its participants. School youth are not often eager to share their personal details, so open-ended questions, if overused in the survey, could give no relevant result. Still, I would add a couple of unstructured questions, for example in evaluating delinquency, to get not only the quantitative data but also some reasons for this or that action.
According to Vito et al. (2014), the results of a study with external validity “are applicable to other persons in other settings.” So I suppose that this survey instrument is likely to have internal validity. Its results deal with a certain audience of the particular age range in special conditions. It is doubtful that the same research results can be obtained in other conditions.
The questions concerning parental attachment and control were supposed to assess if there was enough communication between the students and their parents. The matter of trust was investigated in this block with questions like “Does your (mother) (father) trust you?” or “Do you share your thoughts and feelings with your (mother) (father)?” (Singer et al., 1993). The questions are clearly set and have the possible answers like “usually,” “sometimes” or “never.” I consider them effective for getting the general view of the situation, but I would add one or two open-ended ones to observe some examples on the parents-children relations.
The investigation of the relationship between heavy metal music preference and delinquency was carried out in two steps. Firstly, the survey participants were asked about their music preferences and divided into groups according to their choice of a favorite group: those who prefer heavy metal and those who like other kinds of music. Next, the delinquency level was measured. The questions concerning committing some offenses were asked (Singer et al., 1993). Thus, comparing the responses of the mentioned above groups the delinquency was estimated.
I think this was not the best way to investigate the correlation of delinquency and music preference. As the research showed, only 7% of students had chosen heavy metal (Singer et al., 1993), so the percentage is rather small to talk about exact results. To achieve more reliability, such a survey could be carried out in different parts of the country and in some schools, for a sample group in one community cannot be considered representative.
On the whole, a survey is a popular and efficient type of research. If you should have a thoughtfully constructed questionnaire with the guidelines, use the proper evaluation system and careful data analysis. If the above conditions are observed, the survey is going to deliver the accurate results.
References
Dantzker, L.M., & Hunter, D.R. (2016) Research methods for criminology and criminal justice. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Singer, I.S., Levine, M., & Jou, S. (1993). Heavy Metal Music Preference, Delinquent Friends, Social Control, and Delinquency. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 30 (3). Web.
Vito, F.G., Kunselman, C.J., & Tewksbury, R. (2014) Introduction to criminal justice research methods: an Applied approach. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas Publisher.