Survey Research in Bioethics

Surveys about ethically important topics, when successfully conducted and analyzed, can offer important contributions to bioethics and, more broadly, to health policy and clinical care. But there is a dynamic interplay between the quantitative nature of surveys and the normative theories that survey data challenge and inform. Careful attention to the development of an appropriate research question and survey design can be the difference between an important study that makes fundamental contributions and one that is perceived as irrelevant to ethical analysis, health policy, or clinical practice. This chapter presents ways to enhance the rigor and relevance of surveys in bioethics through careful planning and attentiveness in survey development, fielding, and analysis and presentation of data.