As we have learned, surveys are the most used form of quantitative research. The reason why is because you can ask specific questions, get a lot of responses, they are easy to analyze and, you can have your respondents be geographically and demographically diverse.
Surveys have been conducted to research a variety of things. However, thinking about my blog focus I wonder if they would be the best method to research and analyze ethics. There is still a large part to peoples ethics that research is still unsure of. Yes, we have a general idea of the ethics of people from specific geographics and demographics but there are still many questions about individuals' ethics.
Would a survey be the best way to fill this information gap? Could sending out a survey to diverse people all over the world about their individual ethics answer all the questions we have about it? I would say no, this would not be the best method. I do not think people would answer the questions honestly and instead put what they think they would do not what they would actually do. For instance, if one of the survey questions was, "Would you hold the door for an elderly woman who is a couple steps behind you even though you are late for your meeting?", majority of the respondents would probably say yes. However, if it were a real situation, majority of the respondents would not actually do so.
My point is that surveys are a great research method, but they will only be effective if they are used correctly. You must look at the question you are trying to answer and ask yourself, "would surveys be the best way to get my answer?"
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