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From: "Jane sandall" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, November 05, 2004 10:51 AM
Subject: Fw: CASS Short Course UK


Centre for Applied Social Surveys
Short Course

DESIGN AND ADMINISTRATION OF
POSTAL AND SELF-COMPLETION SURVEYS

Supported by the ESRC

Elaine McColl (University of Newcastle)
and Roger Thomas (National Centre for Social Research)

10-11 February 2005
University of York

CASS is an ESRC Resource Centre hosted by the National Centre for Social
Research, the University of Southampton and the University of Surrey

Course Objectives
To enable participants to develop a thorough and practical understanding of
the principles of good questionnaire design as applied to quantitative
surveys using the self-completion method.  Coverage includes special issues
related to the design of factual, attitude and sensitive questions.

To develop participants' understanding of and competence in planning and
administering postal and other self-completion surveys, in maximising rates
of response and in optimising the quality of outputs.

Course Content
Basic principles of questionnaire design Designing questions to measure
behaviour, attitudes and values Special features of postal and
self-completion surveys Pre-testing and piloting postal surveys Project
management and administration: planning, costing, timetabling Minimising
non-response in postal surveys

Target Audience
The course is aimed at researchers who need to design and administer
self-completion surveys, especially those in the social, economic,
educational and medical sciences.  Didactic presentations will be kept to a
minimum and the course will largely comprise workshop sessions so that
participants can work through prepared practical exercises. A detailed set
of written notes will be supplied in advance of the course and the
presenters will assume that participants have at least skimmed these.
Teaching staff are willing to discuss questionnaire issues arising in
individual participants' research between sessions and at the end of day
one.  If you have a questionnaire on which you would like comments, please
bring 5 copies.  Course numbers are limited to facilitate such participant
support but the amount of time that can be devoted to any one student
individually is necessarily limited.

Course Materials
Participants will receive written course notes, work sheets and a reading
list (attached).

The Instructors
Elaine McColl is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the Newcastle Clinical
Trials Unit at the Centre for Health Services Research, University of
Newcastle upon Tyne.  Her research interests include the assessment of
health-related quality of life in relation to chronic disease management and
in survey methodology. She was principal investigator for a literature
review (to which Roger Thomas also contributed) on Designing and using
Patient and Staff Questionnaires which was funded by the NHS Health
Technology Assessment Programme.
Roger Thomas is the Deputy Director of CASS. He has had long experience of
designing, running and managing surveys, first at Social Survey Division of
the Office for National Statistics, where he was also assistant director in
charge of methodology and founder and editor of the Survey Methods Bulletin,
and then at National Centre for Social Research's Survey Methods Centre,
where he participates in the programme of methodological research and
consultancy and teaches survey methods.

Fee
The standard fee is £300.  Because of ESRC support, a number of bursaries
are available which reduce the fee to £65.  Applicants for bursaries must be
UK registered students, UK academic staff or ESRC-funded researchers.

Location
The course will be held at The King's Manor, University of York.

Duration
The course will begin with registration and coffee at 09.30, lectures begin
at 10.00 on Thursday, 10 February and end at 16.30 on Friday, 11 February
2005.

For more information please contact:
Jane Schofield
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-- 
Jane Schofield
Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute
University of Southampton
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Tel:  +44 (0) 2380 595376