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Course Topics
Prof. Serena Volo • Surveys in the space of social research methodology. Survey research in business, marketing and management research. • Survey mode choices: from traditional to social media possibilities. • Sampling: Basic concepts, Representativity, Probability and non-probability sampling, Multi-stage sampling, The role of stratification. • Levels of measurement of survey constructs. The importance of levels of measurement. The goals of description, classification and analysis. • Aligning the hypothesis, questionnaire design and analysis • The future of survey research: Emerging methods of alternative data collection, surveys vs. digital data/other data • Most common International and EU surveys • The lifecycle of a survey research: from finding a research topic to publication Prof. Lucia Savadori • Cognitive research into survey methodology • Steps involved in responding to survey questions • Importance of question comprehension and information retrieval • Design and implication of response options in surveys. • The debate around including 'Don't Know' (DK) options and filter questions. • Empirical findings on response option preferences and their impact on data quality. • How to decide on the number of points a response scale should have and the effects of scale length on reliability and validity. • Strategies for labeling response scale options, considering the effects of verbal and numeric labels. • Response orientation (primacy and recency effects) and the direction of options. • Practical guidelines for constructing effective questionnaire items based on research findings

Teaching format
Frontal lectures combined with debates and exercises

Educational objectives
At the end of the course, the students will be able to properly use the main approaches characterizing survey research and applying survey-based research principles in different situations. Students will learn how to design questionnaires that effectively gather data while minimizing biases and errors. This includes understanding the cognitive processes respondents go through when answering survey questions, selecting appropriate response options, and structuring questionnaires to facilitate accurate and truthful responses.

Assessment
Assessment mode is the same for both attending and non-attending students. Students are evaluated based on their contribution to group debates and in class activities/exercises.

Evaluation criteria
• Clarity of designed questions • Mastery of questionnaire design principles • Ability to evaluate and improve existing questionnaires • Understanding of the requirements to manage a survey project • Ability to evaluate and design survey-based research projects • Ability to decide on sampling strategies