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The paper presents the factorial survey, a quasi-experimental methodological approach particularly suitable to measure professional judgments in the field of child protection. Since factorial survey measures multiple factors that affect the social worker' judgments, the method might be employed to study a broad range of decisions involved in family foster care placement. The method requires respondents to evaluate sample of vignettes (hypothetical situations) in which different factors are systematically varied. The significant advantage of factorial survey lies in its design, which maximizes external and internal validity by bringing together orthogonality from the experimental method and realism from the survey approach. Seven components of the factorial survey design are presented and discussed: dimensions, levels, vignettes, rating task, vignette universe, vignette sample, and respondent sample. Strategies for data analyses are illustrated. Examples are given, alongside with suggestions for designing factorial survey research in order to investigate the sensitive and salient field of decision-making in the context of Romanian foster care services.
Keywords: family foster care, factorial survey, decision-making, judgments
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