The Methodological control as a means to ensure the credibility a survey research

• Main Author: Adriana Paz Lameirão
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Pelotas 2014-06-01
• Series: Pensamento Plural
• Subjects: survey research; validity; reliability; systematic error; random error
• Online Access: http://periodicos.ufpel.edu.br/ojs2/index.php/pensamentoplural/article/viewFile/3881/3413

Often some opinion or election researches that use the survey method raises doubts in civil society and are challenged by the academic community regarding the accuracy of their results. The purpose of this essay, based on a review of specialized literature, is to discuss the methodological errors committed in the planning and execution of a study that result in distortion of their findings, and specifically, discuss the sources of errors that affect the credibility of the survey research. Once exercised control methodology indicated by the literature in all stages of the study, survey research and his technique of structured questionnaire reach the criteria for validity and reliability, which gives them the scientific status, then establishing itself as an important methodological instrument in research of social phenomena.