Abstract
This chapter provides an introduction to the volume. The reader is invited to make connections between survey methodology and sociological theory, broadly defined. Connections between these disciplines extend back for decades, anchored in the strong representation of sociologists among the first generation of survey methodologists. Although they remain neighboring and complementary academic disciplines, the influence of sociological theory has been attenuated in the intervening years as survey methodologists have increasingly turned to cognitive psychological approaches to understand survey errors and artifacts. While this approach has undoubtedly lead to important improvements in survey measurement, social and interactional approaches may also shed useful insights. Thus, this chapter, and those that follow, argue for a revitalized research program linking survey methodology with sociological theory. Sociology’s rich theoretical foundation and extensive body of research has much to offer survey methodology. Moreover, survey methodology offers sociologists the opportunity to learn about human behavior afforded by the investigation of survey errors.
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Notes
- 1.
Author’s own calculation. See https://www.aapor.org/About-Us/Leadership/Past-Presidents.aspx for a list of past presidents.
- 2.
We use the term “sociological theory” broadly. This includes sociological social psychology, theories of neighboring disciplines adopted by sociologists, and those of neighboring disciplines with sociological roots or interests.
- 3.
This volume was organized in a way that separated the more theoretical chapters from those that applied theory, and organized the applied chapters by substantive topics. However, alternative organizations of this volume could have matched theoretical pieces with relevant applications, or grouped chapters by their methodological interests (e.g., unit or item nonresponse, social desirability) or their theoretical perspectives (e.g., symbolic interactionism, gender theory).
- 4.
I make distinctions between “subjective” and “methodological” topics here only because they are commonly understood in the social sciences. However, I wholeheartedly reject the division of topics and research into “substantive” and “methodological” areas. Such distinctions are typically used to distinguish topics of “scientific” interest from more “technical” ones; the latter being seen as less consequential than the former. Survey methodology is indeed an -ology, and a substantive topic in its own right. There, I use these terms not to distinguish between these types of topics but to argue that by bringing them together on equal footing, we can better understand both: the concepts and their measurement.
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Brenner, P.S. (2020). Why Survey Methodology Needs Sociology and Why Sociology Needs Survey Methodology. In: Brenner, P.S. (eds) Understanding Survey Methodology. Frontiers in Sociology and Social Research, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47256-6_1
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