This article presents a critical evaluation of the growing popularity of online social surveys for the exploration of attitudes and behaviours within higher educational institutions. More specifically this article addresses a number of key issues: the construction of representative online samples, and the presentation of the results from an institutional census constructed from an online survey with a low response rate. The improper use of statistical significance tests, and the reporting of systematic errors when quota sampling is employed in surveys is also discussed. This study compares and evaluates four recent academic surveys: (a) the Czech wave of the EUROSTUDENT IV survey fielded by SC&C, (b) A Research Survey on Academic Staff at Czech Colleges and Universities undertaken by SC&C in 2009, (c) surveys of students and (d) employees at Palacky University Olomouc undertaken by the newly established Laboratory of Social Research. This article shows that an improper interpretation of online surveys resulted in a missrepresention of the views of university students and academic staff on the state of Czech higher education and opinions concerning different tertiary education reform measures., Dan Ryšavý., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Based on data from three group interviews conducted with groups of “workers” and “professionals”, this article focuses on ways that interviews participants choose in their attempts to cope with sociologists’ demands to describe social structure of the contemporary Czech society. The key category adopted from the interviewers’ questions around which the arguments of participants were centered is the category of “success“. The author analyses measures of success mentioned by participants, its presuppositions, who is regarded as successful by them and which criteria of success they adopt. Also analyzed is the self-positioning of the interview participants and the social group they identify with in the notions of social structure presented by them in the course of the interviews., Ivan Vodochodský., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the problems associated with the fielding of questions of a socially sensitive nature typically dealing with crime, health, and sexual activity in nationally representative sample surveys. This article presents an overview of previous research on this topic and associated themes such as the definition of sensitive survey questions, the emergence and impact of social desirability effects and application of the Cognitive Aspects of Survey Methodology (CASM) to mechanisms of question response on sensitive topics. Thereafter, this article maps out specific sources of error that are likely to occur when fielding sensitive survey questions; and highlights methods that may used to minimise measurement error, thereby enhancing data validity. The article concludes with an appraisal of some of the most influential criterion-validity used in this sub-field of survey research., Johana Chylíková., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Techniky využívající vizuálních stimulů jsou v sociálněvědním výzkumu přítomny od konce 19. století. Jejich metodologické ukotvení, zejména pak v kvantitativně orientovaných studiích, však není příliš pevné. V této přehledové stati se proto zaměřuji na metodologické aspekty jednotlivých skupin vizuálních technik a následně formuluji doporučení pro design studií, které se takový typ výzkumu rozhodnou použít. V textu se po stručném historickém úvodu postupně věnuji psychologickým projektivním metodám, využití vizuálních materiálů v hloubkových rozhovorech a kvantitativních dotazníkových šetřeních. V diskusi pak shrnuji metodologická specifika tohoto typu technik, doporučení pro design instrumentu a problémy validity., Techniques using visual stimuli have existed in social research since the late 19th century. However, the methodological framework in which they are embedded remains limited in scope, especially with respect to quantitative research. In this article, the author focuses on the methodological aspects of various types of visual techniques. Subsequently, he proposes some recommendations for methodological design. After a brief historical review, the main part of the article discusses psychological projective methods, photo-elicitation techniques and the application of visual stimuli in in-depth interviewing and quantitative questionnaire surveys. Final discussion focuses on the methodological specifics of visual methods, design recommendations and the problem of validity., Martin Buchtík., and Seznam literatury
The present article aims to resume the present-day state of knowledge and the possibilities for future research of the problem of widows and widowhood in the village society of the Early Modern Era and the first half of the nineteenth century. The text focuses especially in sketching the fields of interest that arise out of the study of widowhood in connection with the discourse of the times, the legislation and the demographic development., Markéta Skořepová., and Obsahuje bibliografii