Limitations of Survey Research in Determining Causal Relationships

The assignment content discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using survey methodology in research, particularly in determining the causal relationship among two variables. While surveys can collect data on people, places, and things existing in real-world environments, they have limitations such as not being able to prove cause-and-effect relationships or show evidence of causality. Additionally, respondents may provide biased answers based on their positive or negative mindset at the time of the survey. Nevertheless, the article concludes that despite these limitations, surveys remain a clear and concise approach for drawing meaningful outcomes from studies, facilitating interaction with multiple respondents to gather information.

Questions

INTRODUCTION
Survey methodology is the most effective way to conduct study in any field. It enables
researcher to make use of appropriate sampling techniques and collect large amount of data from
respondents. It aids to produce valid results in the direction of purpose of the study. Present
report is based on survey methodology where use of email in corporation will be analyzed.
Similarly, several factors for planning and producing effective survey have been explained. In
addition to this, limitations associated with survey methodology are also specified. Thus, detail
analysis of survey methodology has been done by considering the use of email within
organization.
MAIN BODY
Communication is the most important means for organizational success. There are several
methods used for effective communication at workplace among different level of management. It
consists of face to face communication, notice board, telephone and email. However, all such
kinds of communication take place in an organization as per the requirements. Here, email is the
most effective way to communicate in the organization. In the current scenario, every
organization makes use of email as it is a formal way of communication (Saunders, 2003). Thus,
popularity of email is kept on growing in the market with increased rate of return. This is
because it helps organization to cooperative with changing scenario and keep employees well
informed. This in turn corporation can easily put personnel into action.
The present study focuses on survey methodology for use of email within organization.
This survey helps to example the importance of effective communication at workplace. It enables
corporation to ensure smooth flow of communication among employees. There are several
factors which need to be considered while conducting the study. For example, respondents,
questionnaire, research purpose and methods of data collection. Along with that, sample size as
well as sampling design also matter for the research.
The foremost thing of survey is to develop effective research aim and objectives. Under
this, main aim of the study is how email is used within organization. First and foremost thing
about the survey methodology is to decide about the method of data collection. There are two
types of data collection methods that are used such as primary and secondary (Howell, 2013).
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Primary data is collected at first hand from respondents by selecting appropriate sample size.
Here, questionnaire, interview, focus group are used for the interaction with respondents. On the
other hand, secondary data is also collected from a wide range of sources. Sources used for the
collection of secondary data are; journals, books and published material. Along with that, other
related materials can also be referred which provide to be effective to reach at the aim of the
study (Franklin, 2012). These different sources of information makes it possible to get in-depth
knowledge about of E-mail at workplace. It facilitates corporation to analyze the potential
importance of formal communication mode among management and employees. Thus, present
survey methodology will make use of both primary and secondary data. It creates strong
database for the use of Email in corporation.
After deciding about data collection method, it is very important for scholar to select
sample size as well as sampling design. There are several sampling design that are used such as
probability and non-probability. Here, simple random sampling is the part of probability
sampling. It provides equal opportunity to all respondents to get selected in the study. However,
it depends on the researcher that what kind of sampling is to be used to fulfill the research
purpose (Saunders and Tosey, 2015). Current survey is being done on effective use of email
within organization. Owing to this, employees of corporation serve as the population who will be
selected for the study in accordance with simple random sampling. Main reason behind selecting
this sample design is providing equal chance to all employees for incorporating in the study.
Furthermore, sample size is another crucial aspect which needs to be considered in advance.
Here, 50 employees of company are selected so they can take part in survey for providing
information on the importance of Email within organization (Johnson and Christensen, 2008).
Here, main focus will be laid on respondents because they are the only means to provide
detail information regarding the topic under investigation. However, purpose of study will be
clearly communicated among respondents so that they can freely provide information on the
same. A counter argument might be that before proposing study is it very important to state the
purpose of the study. Under this, specific reason behind survey is mentioned so that researcher
can put efforts to get the desired results. Here, purpose can be specified with number of factors
which serve as the reason for conducting the study (Modell and Humphrey, 2008). It enables
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scholar to take actions accordingly and address those issues which are listed in purpose of the
study.
Questionnaire is an effective tool for the collection of primary data because it includes
number of open and close ended questions. This consists of structural questions through which
respondents can easily understand what has been asked to them. However, number of questions
depend on researcher that how much information he/she intends to extract from the respondents
with regards to use of email at workplace (Whiteley and Whiteley, 2006). Further, questionnaire
is the most important element for survey because it is the means by which interaction with
respondents can be ensured. Owing to this, it is very important for researcher to formulate
questions in a precise manner and also make sure that wordings used in questions are simple. It
tends to save overall time and facilitates respondents to conduct the study in an effectual manner.
Here, close ended questions are supported by the number of options. This is the most
convenient way for the respondents because they merely have to take the suitable option
according to their preferences. Further, questionnaire includes demographic information such as
name, age, gender as well as occupation of phenomena to be studied (Chapman and McNeill,
2004). It enables researcher to draw valid conclusion in the direction of aim and objectives of the
study. Further, objectives of study are formulated as per the aim or main purpose of the study.
This in turn data is collected and analyzed in the same manner.
The basic rules which need to be considered at the time formulation of questionnaire are;
use of correct spelling, punctuation and assumptions should be avoided. Also, questions which
contact more than one aspect should also be avoided (do you think that email helps to caters
communication need of both employees and management). Thus, only one aspect need to be
mentioned in single questions so as to get the right answer with consistency. Another important
thing need to be considered at the time of questionnaire is to put the demographic questions at
the end. This is because generally respondents don not like to provide their detailed personal
information to any one. Also they do not feel comfortable to share their personal data with such
kind of third party (Nakkeeran and Zodpey, 2012). This is the reason that all personal questions
can be placed at the end of the questionnaire thereby rest of the questions can be answered in an
appropriate manner.
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The sequence of questions also need to be arranged effective which make respondents
feel comfortable to provide right amount of information. In this regard screens, warm up and
transitions as well as skips are considered. Along with that, difficult and changing formula are
the major areas which need to be considered in arranging the questions. Here, screens is the
foremost way which decide that whether or not some can fill the questionnaire. Further ward ups
just simple way to capture the interest of respondents in survey. It creates interest of population
to provide data for filling the questionnaire to cooperate the researcher to complete the research
aim in an effective manner (Advantages and Disadvantages of Surveys, 2015). Likewise
transition just increase the attention of population in different areas. Furthermore, skip is used for
questions related to yes or not and jump to the next questions. Apart from this, difficult
questions are generally placed at the end so as to clear the confusion of respondents at the initial
stage and keep them motivate to provide detail data.
With the help of formulated questionnaire survey can be conducted with employees or
selected population. It is up-to scholar that which mode can be used for collection of data., For
example online survey or offline survey. Here, online survey is that where researcher sent the
questionnaire to potential respondents via mail (4 Main Benefits of Survey Research, 2015). On
the other hand, offline survey can also be conducted with respondents by interacting them and
distributing questionnaire among them. It facilitates to collect large amount of data for effective
use of email in the organization. This aid to analyze collected data and drawing valid conclusion
from the same.
There are several limitations of survey methodology thereby most of the time extracted
information prove to be ineffective in bringing improvement in the business environment. The
most common limitation is lack of time to carry out a survey. This is because in a very short time
span researcher need to interact with respondents and convince them to provide the data. Some
time it might be possible that population cannot provide data due to their busy schedule and in
turn this cause delay in the final submission of the findings (Saunders, 2003). Similarly, lack of
necessary fund also create barriers because researcher cannot complete all the research activities
on right time. This may affect findings of research at the time of writing the conclusion and
findings. It is because due to improper resources completion cannot be done for the collected
data. This in turn create barriers in completing the study on right time.
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In the current era generally less priority is given for conducting survey. It is because
survey consume extensive time as well as resources. Another limitation of survey is insecure
access to population. It is because this is very critical for researcher to find the most effective
way to cover target population and extract right amount of data from them. In this regard, issues
related to sampling errors, bias can be occurred. Here, there is not standard format for selecting
the sampling size owing to this it might be possible that collected data do not represent the views
of overall population (Howell, 2013). This is the negative aspect for determining the causal
relationship among two variables. On the other hand, survey generally helps to collect
relationship between people, places and things which exist in the real world. Accordingly,
questions are asked from socially constructed environment. However, it cannot be possible in
laboratory experiments. Furthermore, individual using survey methodology cannot prove to be
effective in showing the evidence of cause and effect. A counter argument might be that this kind
of scenario are only applicable in field of medical where one cannot say that what will come first
whether risk or disease. In addition to this, in some of the field single survey prove to be
ineffective. This is because if employees are facing favorable situation then they tend to answer
for the questions according the positive mentality. On the contrary, after certain point of time
they face unfavorable situation they their mentality turns into negative one. This all has direct
impact on findings of survey (Franklin, 2012). Thus, for assessing the use of email in
organization will have same results all the time but if the same is applied in term of motivation
then workforce may tend to respond in other manner.
CONCLUSION
According the above report it can concluded that despite of several limitations survey
methodology is the clear and concise for to draw meaningful outcome from the study. It can also
be said that, survey facilitates to interact with number of respondents so as to get clear
information that how email prove to be effective to ensure smooth flow of communication at
workplace or corporation. In addition to this, survey methodology is time taking approach but
provide valid inferences from the collected data thereby purpose of research can be fulfilled in an
effectual manner.
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REFERENCES
Journals and books
Chapman, S. and McNeill, P., 2004. Research methodology. Routledge.
Franklin, M. I., 2012. Understanding Research: Coping with the Quantitative-Qualitative
Divide. London and New York: Routledge.
Howell, K. E., 2013. Introduction to the Philosophy of Methodology. London: Sage
Publications.
Johnson, B., and Christensen, L., 2008. Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and
mixed approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Modell, S. and Humphrey, C., 2008. Balancing acts in qualitative accounting research.
Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management. 5(2). pp.92–100.
Nakkeeran, N., and Zodpey, S. P., 2012. Qualitative research in applied situations: Strategies to
ensure rigor and validity. Indian Journal of Public Health. 56 (1). pp. 4-11.
Saunders, M. N. K. and Tosey, P., 2015. Handbook of Research Methods on Human Resource
Development. Edward Elgar Publishing
Saunders, M., 2003. Research Methods for Business Students. Pearson Education India.
Whiteley, M. A. and Whiteley, J., 2006. The familiarization study in qualitative research: from
theory to practice. Qualitative Research Journal. 6(1). pp.69–85.
Online
Advantages and Disadvantages of Surveys. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/advantages-disadvantages-surveys/>. [Accessed on 18th
November 2015].
4 Main Benefits of Survey Research. 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/4-main-benefits-survey-research/>. [Accessed on 18th
November 2015].
Limitations of surveys. 2009. [Online]. Available through:
<http://conflict.lshtm.ac.uk/page_26.htm>. [Accessed on 18th November 2015].
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