Effective surveys can provide high-quality and wide-ranging data for academics and researchers to use when drawing conclusions and contributing to their field.
Here, Sarah Tubbs and Professor Per Berggren share their top recommendations for successful surveys, based on lessons learnt from assessing marine mammal bycatch questionnaire studies.
Contents:
- Why survey design for academics is important
- How did we come up with these recommendations?
- Our 5 recommendations for effective academic survey design
- Conclusion
Why survey design for academics is important
Survey design is important because accurate, robust, and ethical questionnaires and surveys are vital to academics and researchers when testing hypotheses, understanding trends, and making informed decisions.
Well-designed surveys have the capacity to be cost-effective, with a relatively low cost per participant. No other research method can provide such a broad capacity for results over a large population, and done right, can flex enough – from social media and mobile surveys to telephone and in-person surveys – to include remote and hard-to-reach participants.
Fishery marine mammal interaction interviews in Coastal Cambodia, October 2023. Photo: Sarah Tubbs
How did we come up with these recommendations?
Marine mammal bycatch is the most pressing threat to marine mammals worldwide. Questionnaire surveys provide a low-cost approach to gathering critical bycatch data on wide spatial and temporal scales.
This blog summarises our systematic review of 91 marine mammal bycatch questionnaire studies, outlining key recommendations to design effective surveys that work to collect unbiased and reliable bycatch rate data to inform conservation strategies globally.
Our 5 recommendations for effective academic survey design
1. Ensure representative sampling
The level of bias in bycatch data depends partly on how representative the sample is.
Probability sampling methods, such as random sampling, should be prioritised as they allow for a representative sample to be attained. Cluster sampling can provide a viable alternative when fisher or vessel lists aren’t available.
2. Design robust questionnaire tools
Start your questionnaire with questions that are ‘easier’ to answer. These will help to build rapport with the participants and reduce drop-out rates during the survey.
Always pre-test the questions to ensure clarity and flow.
Effective questionnaires should also include:
- only questions that are required to answer the study's objective
- only simple, single-barrelled, and specific questions
- visual aids, such as species identification cards, to reduce recall and knowledge biases, if applicable
- strategies to address sensitive topics (e.g., framing questions to reduce social desirability bias)
- an introductory statement to describe the study and gain informed consent
3. Minimise bias in data collection
Bias can arise for multiple reasons, such as interviewer influence, under-reporting, or recall issues.
To minimize this: use experienced, well-trained interviewers who will conduct interviews in person, where feasible. Face-to-face interviews achieve the highest response rates and help interviewers to build rapport with participants.
When it comes to interview duration, limit questionnaires to around 30 minutes to reduce response fatigue in participants.
Follow the ‘design robust questionnaire tools’ tips described above.
4. Emphasise ethical standards
Ethical considerations, such as ensuring respondent anonymity and voluntary participation, are paramount.
Clear introductory statements explaining confidentiality and the study’s purpose can improve honesty and participation rates, especially in communities wary of regulatory repercussions.
5. Incorporate advanced analytical techniques
This tip is more specific to our particular field of research. Bycatch rates or fishery bycatch estimates can be produced using traditional ratio- or model-based analysis approaches.
When analysing bycatch rate data, take into account any sampling bias that may be present in your sample. If sampling bias is present, weighting or model-based approaches can be used to reduce bias. To understand fishery-wide bycatch, fishery effort data is required. If scaling up bycatch rate data to the fishery, be aware that biases may also be present in your fisheries effort data.
Flow chart of an effective academic survey design process. Image: Sarah Tubbs
Conclusion
In marine conservation, accurate bycatch assessments are a crucial step in managing the human activities that threaten marine mammal populations and an urgent step for those species that are vulnerable to extinction.
Our systematic review offers a practical, step-by-step framework for designing and implementing questionnaire surveys that generate reliable and unbiased data. These recommendations are invaluable for scientists, conservationists, and policymakers striving to fill critical knowledge gaps in marine mammal bycatch and beyond.
You might also like
- explore our complete findings, read the full paper: Questionnaire surveys to investigate marine mammal fisheries bycatch: systematic review and best practice
- find out more about Professor Per Berggren, Chair of Marine Megafauna Conservation at Newcastle University
- find out more about Sarah Tubbs, Marine Mammal Researcher, Conservationist, and postgraduate researcher at Newcastle University
- explore the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University
- find out more about marine research at Newcastle University
