Kim, Youngyiil (author) and International Association for Media and Communication Research, London, UK.
Format:
Abstract
Publication Date:
2010-07-18
Published:
International
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 179 Document Number: C36274
Notes:
Retrieved 03/22/2011, Via online. Page 43 in Book of Abstracts: Mediated Communication Public Opinion and Society Section of the IAMCR Conference, Braga, Portugal, July 18-22, 2010.
pgs. 1423-1448, Via online journal, Researchers who are interested in small towns and rural communities in the United States often find that they need to conduct their own sample surveys because many large national surveys, such as the American Community Survey, do not collect enough representative responses to make precise estimates. In collecting their own survey data, researchers face a number of challenges, such as sampling and coverage limitations. This article summarizes those challenges and tests mail and Internet methodologies for collecting data in small towns and rural communities using the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File as a sample frame. Findings indicate that the Delivery Sequence File can be used to sample households in rural locations by sending them invitations via postal mail to respond to either paper-and-pencil or Internet surveys. Although the mail methodology is quite successful, the results for the Internet suggest that Web surveys alone exclude potentially important segments of the population of small towns and rural communities. However, Web surveys supplemented with postal questionnaires produce results quite similar to those of mail-only surveys, representing a possible cost savings for researchers who have access to Web survey capabilities.
