Applying Systems Engineering to Survey Research

As systems engineering research matures, empirical data collection methods, such as surveys, are expected to be increasingly applied. Survey research has the potential to advance the maturity of systems engineering research. Applying systems engineering to survey research also has the potential to enhance survey research by offering a perspective that can improve the performance of various survey related activities. The authors’ experiences with a case study survey are examined in the context of systems engineering technical and management processes, methods and tools. The current state of survey research literature is examined, and recommendations for how systems engineering can improve survey research are discussed. These recommendations include: (1) perform an in-depth analysis of the requirements of all of the stakeholders of the survey and (2) leverage the framework of risk and opportunity management offered by systems engineering to address survey data threats to validity. Researchers from all fields who use surveys to collect data can benefit from this complementary perspective and the unique recommendations presented in this paper