Certified Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CAADC) Practice Exam

A significant methodological problem with surveys is that:

1. They can contain insufficient information because of time constraints

2. It is difficult to procure a representative sample of subjects to be questioned

3. It is hard to determine the proper target group

4. They don't include individual psychological histories

The correct answer is: It is difficult to procure a representative sample of subjects to be questioned

The chosen response identifies a key challenge in survey research: obtaining a representative sample of participants. This is particularly important because surveys aim to generalize findings to a larger population. If the sample is not truly representative, the results may be biased or skewed, leading to inaccurate conclusions about the population being studied. Moreover, a representative sample ensures that the diversity of the population—such as various demographic factors like age, gender, socioeconomic status, and cultural background—is reflected in the findings. When surveys fail to include a broad spectrum of participants, they may overlook crucial differences that could influence the outcome. For example, if a survey on substance abuse primarily includes individuals from one demographic group, the insights gained may not apply to others, limiting the validity of the research. While the other choices point to potential limitations in surveys, they do not capture the fundamental challenge of representation. Surveys can indeed lack depth due to time constraints or may struggle with defining the target group, but these issues do not directly compromise the integrity of the data as the representativeness of the sample does. Additionally, while individual psychological histories can add valuable context, their absence does not inherently undermine the survey's methodological validity as a representative population sample would.