Cognition and Survey Research

Survey methods research--an interdisciplinary approach. Introducing the theory and tools of cognitive aspects of survey methodology (CASM)--a movement that has greatly contributed to the evolving field of survey methods research--this collection of monographs explores advances in the use of cognitive psychology and other sciences to improve the quality of data collected in surveys. In 22 articles commissioned specifically for this volume, leading survey researchers, social scientists, and statisticians from around the globe evaluate the advantages of interdisciplinary survey techniques, focusing on the many contributions of the CASM movement and drawing on such disciplines as statistics, cognitive psychology, sociology, behavioral sciences, anthropology, linguistics, and computer sciences. The authors explain basic concepts and methodologies and demonstrate the application of cognitive theory to all phases of survey research, including data processing, analysis, presentation, and administration. They provide a critical review of the history and findings of CASM-oriented research and describe useful cognitive models used in survey testing and design. Also, the authors discuss the expanding role of computer technologies and statistical advances in the interdisciplinary aspects of survey methods and draw a roadmap for interdisciplinary survey research into the twenty-first century. Clearly written and supplemented with extensive references and more than 80 figures and charts, Cognition and Survey Research is an indispensable guide for statisticians and professionals who would like to be at the cutting edge of interdisciplinary survey methods research involving the social, cognitive, computer, or statistical sciences.

"This is overview material on a nonquantitative area of statistics. Persons involved with surveys would seem to benefit from an understanding of this material."(Technometrics Vol. 42, No. 3, August 2000) If you are interested in cognitive methods for improving the quality of data collected in surveys, then this book is for you. This book describes the frontiers of research on the cognitive aspects of survey methodology (CASM). It is an outcome of the Second Advanced Research Seminar in the Cognitive Aspects of Survey Methodology (CASM II). The book as a unique style. Four out of the six coeditors of this book, who organized the plenary sessions of the CASM II Seminar, edited four sections of the book (Chapters 2-22). The remaining editors contributed the first chapter. The purpose of the CASM II seminar and this book is to reflect on and evaluate past work, to demonstrate the exciting potential of focussed interdisciplinary research, and to stimulate creativity, thoughtfulness, and innovation for the future. Nationally and internationally known researchers from the United States have contributed to this book and they have to be congratulated for making the book informative and readable. (JASA, March 2001) ...this book is essential reading for serious survey practitioners and post-graduate students of survey methodology. Many of its individual chapters are also likely to become classic references in their own specialist fields. (The Statistician, Volume 49, No. 3, 2000) "This book...is an excellent summary of what has been accomplished and, perhaps equally important, what remains to be done." (Chance, Volume 13, No. 2, Spring 2000)

Monroe G. Sirken and Douglas J. Herrmann are the authors of Cognition and Survey Research, published by Wiley.