Data Construction in Social Surveys

by Nicholas Bateson

Overview

Before the early 1980s, much attention had been given in the social survey literature to the analysis and interpretation of data, but much less to the problems of constructing the individual datum. Yet without good work at datum level a good data set cannot be produced, and without good data no useful analyses and interpretations may be made. What do we mean by ‘survey data’? What are ‘good’ data, and how do we recognise them?

Originally published in 1984, Nicholas Bateson tackles these questions and, in doing so, offers a redefinition of the validity of survey data and suggests a new approach – or a more assertive formulation of an old approach – to the testing of data for validity. He specifies conditions that must be satisfied if survey data are to be called valid, and brings out the implications of his ideas for the management of survey error.

This book, then, provides a basis for thinking about, discussing and evaluating survey data. It will be of value to survey researchers, to users of survey data, and to students of social science who encounter reports of surveys and need to understand the problems intrinsic to survey data.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781041069652
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/2025
Series:	Contemporary Social Research
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Nicholas Bateson, at the time of original publication, believed that since a survey datum is an item of knowledge that results from verbal interchange between two people, a worthwhile theory of data construction would have to draw on such disciplines as cognitive psychology, linguistics and social psychology. His background included both pure and applied research. He came to survey research after ten years spent as a social psychologist at the Universities of North Carolina (as a research assistant), Oxford (as a research fellow) and London (as a lecturer). For the following ten years he worked in the coding department of the Social Surveys Division of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, London.

Table of Contents

Series Editor’s Preface by Martin Bulmer.  Author’s Preface.  Part One: The Quality of Survey Data  1. Introduction  2. Data Construction: Basic Concepts  3. Validation of Survey Data  Part Two: Towards a Theory of Data Construction  4. Process Validation  5. Design of the Data Matrix  6. The Data-Construction Process I  7. The Data-Construction Process II  8. Afterword: The Approach to Measurement Error.  References and Author Index.  Subject Index.