Interviews and surveys are two other methods you'll be using as part of your research. Even though MacNealy discusses only surveys in this chapter, there is a lot of cross-over between surveys and interviews. Where do you see this cross-over? According to MacNealy, what are the challenges and disadvantages to these methods? What do you need to keep in mind when designing your questions? What types of questions do you see yourself using in your own research? How do you analyze these questions? Conclude by discussing your plan for incorporating these methods into your research.
250-400 words. Engage with one another.
Due: Monday, April 15, 2013 by class time.
Surveys and interviews are related to each other like brother and sister. They come from the same family, which means they each have a unique set of qualities, but some of their characteristics align. All surveys and interviews have a specific purpose. The overall purpose of these tools, however, remains the same: researchers use both surveys and interviews to collect valuable data, such as feelings, opinions, beliefs, and preferences of individuals. Each survey or interview’s purpose determines its structure. A marketing company may want to know the most effective types of commercials to air during a tween girl reality show. The company could hire a researcher to conduct a survey (or interview) in order to learn the movie preferences of 12 year-old girls. Analyzing the results of the survey could reveal information that could help the marketing company when deciding how to create commercials and turn the most profit.
ReplyDeleteSurveys are great tools to examine a population because they allow researchers to qualitatively connect with people, but surveys also have their drawbacks. Paper surveys sent through the mail require postage costs, and the not-so-hot return rate of paper surveys (20-40%) dents the effectiveness of research. Computer delivered surveys require a sampling population that has access to a computer. (Can you believe it? Some people don’t have computer access. Crazy!) Additionally, many computer-delivered surveys get deleted or sent to spam. Person-to-person surveys cost the most because trained researchers must conduct each survey individually. These surveys also have the highest chance of being biased because the researcher’s stance and tone affects responses. Confidentiality is jeopardized in person-to-person surveys as well, and people may choose to respond to questions inaccurately.
In my research I plan on using person-to-person surveys for several reasons. First, my resources to not permit me to conduct computer-delivered surveys. How would I obtain a list of emails to send my survey, and how do I even go about making a survey on the Internet? Second, paper surveys create logistical issues when delivering ballots and receiving results. Also, I do not want to buy hundreds of dollars worth of stamps. That just isn’t going to happen. I am left with person-to-person interviews.
I will try to ask my questions to a diverse range of people. I will go to downtown Denver, Park Meadows Mall, a Christian church, and stay on campus. I have not solidified questions yet, but I will probably only ask three multiple-choice questions in this order. 1.) What is your view of abortion? 2.) Do you know anyone who has had an abortion? 3.) Does abortion have psychological effects on women?
Hannah,
DeleteIf you read my response you will see that I am using survey monkey. This is a web site were you can easily create surveys and send them out many difffernt ways (ex: facebook, email). It is very easy to use and is very user friendly. Here is the link http://www.surveymonkey.com/home/.Also by using an online survey instead of person-to-person you will be able to get a much larger number of responses in a shorter amount of time, which will strengthen your data and ultimately your claims. You did a great job! just consider using Survey monkey, think it will help.
-Dre
Hey Hannah, I was thinking about your choice to do a person to person survey. With a topic as sensitive and controversial as abortion, do you think you will run into people that don't want to talk openly about that with a stagner? Just something I thought of. Maybe an anonymous paper survey would be better to hand out?
Delete*stranger not stagner hah
DeleteBoth surveys and interviews are closely related, for they both get an insight of the populations actual thoughts in a certain area. By gathering this type of information you do not have to make any assumptions about your topic or how the population should or must feel. You can use surveys and interviews to in fact prove that the scholarly an credible sources that you are using are in fact aligned with the actual feelings and beliefs of the population. This will in turn give your audience the credibility and detailed insights needed to understand and believe your claims.
ReplyDeleteFor my research I will be conducting both surveys and interviews. As of now I am planning on interviewing one of the managers at the gym and a student climber, and maybe even a board or faculty member. This way I will be able to get the different perspectives involved in this topic. After interviewing and getting different perspectives I will be able to figure out and understand why the climbing wall is the way it is and if it is possible to change it. Next I will conduct a survey via facebook and or email by using survey monkey. I will send it out to both men and women from freshmen to seniors to get a good sense of the populations wants and needs. The questions will include: Have you ever rock climbed? If not, would you like too? Would you use the climbing wall more often if the routes were set up for college students instead of kids? Would you use the climbing wall more if you knew others were interested? Would you be interested in designated times for lessons, or group climbing times to create a stronger active and climbing community? Would you be interested in either indoor climbing trips to local gyms, or local outdoor climbing? What do you think could be changed about the physical characteristics of the climbing wall, or the community around it? Any other comments, suggestions or thoughts? I will send these questions via facebook and considering email too, to get the larger sample size. I will then gather the data an analyze it. Once I have a number of responses I hopefully will be able to notice a trend of the view of the student body on this subject. For analyzing purposes I will also ask for the participants gender and grade. By doing this I will be able to see if there is a greater interest shown from males or females, and by grade. If more people in the freshmen class are interested this could show a recent growth in interest that the university needs to address. Using both gender and grade will help me to be able to draw more complex and helpful conclusions from the data.
Your question examples are great! I especially like this one: "Would you use the climbing wall more often if the routes were set up for college students instead of kids?" The DU wall is a joke, and it doesn't serve our campus the way it should. There are tons of climbers on campus who never touch the wall because it's so bad. The way you open the survey up to give the participants the chance to tell you what sorts of changes they want is awesome too. Nice job, Dre!
DeleteDre- You have great setup for the way you plan on conducting your interviews and surveys. I think that survey monkey is great way to get a more diverse group of participants. Also, with only 6 more weeks to finish the project, time is of the essence! Most of us won't have time to interview and survey people from all across the city, or even across campus, without that type of technology. I will definitely use survey monkey in my research process. Also the online survey will allow the participants to have less of a bias. I feel as though when conducting a face-to-face interview, the person being surveyed is more likely to answer the surveyor with the response they assume is expected or desired. I think that the questions you are planning on asking will receive great results from your audience. I also like the fact that you are examining if gender is a factor in how much/little people like to rock climb. Good luck with your research, you're off to a great start!
DeleteDre, you seem to have a clear plan of what you'll be doing and i'm sure you'll even figure out more stuff while conducting the research and analyzing the questions you get. I agree that the DU wall is not a wall for adults and i'd certainly tried rock climbing if it was changed, so i hope your research opens the eyes of the board or faculty pertaining this matter.
DeleteSurveys and interviews are closely intertwined, but I’d say the main difference is in their size and scope. Of course this isn’t true in every instance, but overall, surveys tend to rely more on their sample size and reaching a larger group. Interviews are more in-depth, but lack the numerical power of surveys.
ReplyDeleteMacNealy focuses on researcher bias as the main issue with this method of data collection, but I don’t see this as strongly. I think all research is inherently bias because people are the ones preforming it! Even in extreme cases of scientific/computerized research, humans still created the programs which run it. Instead, it’s all about how we (as rhetors) describe the methods used in our final papers. Being open and honest about it is the key because it allows are audiences to judge our work.
When designing my survey, I’ll need to keep in mind the touchiness of the subject matter: Post 9/11 Islamophobia. Most people will feel uncomfortable answering questions about race and religion, especially if they self-reveal prejudiced tendencies. For this reason, I’m unsure whether completely anonymous, online surveys or more personal, face-to-face ones would be better. On one hand, I don’t want people to feel like I’m judging them. But on the other, I want to be sure people are comfortable telling the truth. It’s tricky, and I’m definitely open to suggestions!
As for the sample-- I’m pretty sure I’ll focus on people in our general age group. I want to get the views of people who were old enough to remember the event, but not really old enough to be wrapped up in its political discourses. I think this provides a kind of balance between distance/objectivity and closeness/involvement.
Coming up with the questions will be tricky, but I’ll have a mix of open-ended and multiple choice styles. I’m not too worried about how I’ll analyze them yet, though. I’ll just be sure to get a mix of quantitative and qualitative data so that I can use the surveys/interviews in multiple ways.
I really like your research idea! I personally think that online surveys are the way to go. I would definitely be more honest if I knew it was anonymous and that no one could see/hear what I believe. It is a touchy subject so I think that people will be more open and willing to share if they know that no one is judging them. Overall I think your idea is awesome and I am interested to see how the research turns out!!
DeleteI also really like your topic and i agree that a lot of people won't openly talk about their prejudices. I think an anonymous online survey is your best option BUT I also think that most people won't even admit their prejudices if asked anonymously. I think the trick is in the type of questions you ask. Instead of asking blunt questions such as "do you have islamic prejudices?" try to come up with multiple questions that "dance" around that question that will hopefully lead you to infer about peoples prejudices. Just an idea! really love your topic and open to talk to you more about this!
Delete-other emily
Interviews and surveys are very similar because they both gather information from a variety of people in a relatively short amount of time. Surveys and interviews can give the researcher insight into what a group of people is thinking and feeling. These two research methods are really helpful when it comes to collecting data because they directly show the views of the people in the study. The researcher does not have to guess or rely on other sources. Using surveys and interviews gives the researcher current information about their topic without doing weeks and weeks of research.
ReplyDeleteSurveys can come in three different forms including online, paper, and person to person. Each form as its positives and negatives, but I think online surveys can be easily distributed, cost efficient, and easy to take for the participant. The other two forms require much more fore thought and a lot of difficulty in the logistics.
When designing questions, it is really important to make sure they are clear and easy to understand. My data will not be very accurate if the questions are wordy and confusing because then the participants will probably not understand what I am really asking. Also, It is helpful to have short multiple choice questions because these are not intimidating and can be filled out really quickly. It is important that the survey does not take a more than seven or so minutes or else not very many people will want to do it.
For my research topic, I plan on doing online surveys. I will probably use survey monkey or some other easy website like that. I think this will be the best option because I will be able to get a lot of results in a short amount of time. I am not really sure about the exact questions that I plan on asking… because I have not really finalized a topic yet ☺ but I know they will be multiple choice or fill in the blank!
Surveys and interviews are typically very important when conducting research because it is the only method that allows you to gather “opinions, preferences, beliefs, feelings, and other personal information” from people. MacNealy only talks about surveys, but an interview is basically a survey of just one person. Both types of research are collecting the same type of information, but surveys tend to collect more opinions while interviews collect only one opinion. That opinion is much more in depth though. Surveys can be done on paper, on a computer or person-to-person. According to MacNealy, paper surveys are not a great representation of a population, and it is next to impossible to have a follow up survey with the same people. Computer surveys limit the population to those who own the technology and need a certain skill set to even be set up. Lastly, the person-to-person method has disadvantages because they take the most amount of time and can be very biased because of the person asking the questions. Overall, the biggest issue with surveys is the response rate. This is where surveys and interviews do not overlap because if you can set up an interview with someone, their responses are then guaranteed.
ReplyDeleteWhen designing questions, we all have to keep in mind what our purpose is. Specifically, how are we going to use the data in our papers and what relevance does it have to our big research question? We also have to decide if bi-polar questions (questions with two options), multiple choice, or longer short answer and essay based questions are best for the type of data we are trying to gather. We have to also keep in mind what kind of population we want to poll. For my research question, which is looking at the psychological effects that running has on the mind, I have to decide if I want to only poll kids coming from the gym or get very general opinions on running.
I think Hannah has an interesting idea to stick with person-to-person surveys. I wonder if going to multiple different locations will create better data overall, or data that seems very polar as you look at each place separately. For the survey part of my research, I think it would be beneficial to separate the locations of the population I am surveying and do two different surveys. I want to get opinions from active college runners leaving the DU gymnasium by handing out a paper survey for them to fill out on the spot about how they think running improves or negatively affects their lives. My second survey will be an online survey with similar but not necessarily identical questions directed to any college student whether they run or not. As of now, I am focusing on my text research so I haven’t figure out questions, but it’s on my to-do list!
In Macnealy's piece on surveys he goes in depth on how difficult it is and it can be to make a survey. For my own purposes I saw that going in person with a piece of paper would be the best form of taking surveys. This same form of interviews in person would also be highly helpful when taking into consideration my topic. Since my topic will be specifically looking at college students who play videogames I can't just do random samples because I am looking for a specific audience. Because of this I will be utilizing purposeful sampling instead of other random sampling techniques. The reason is because I will not have space to do much of a cross comparison to students who do not play games, so I need to solely focus on those who do play video games and how they manage their social, academic, and other lives as well as playing video games at the same time. In my research I will most likely start off with simple questions that just make sure the person is a gamer, I actually plan on having one "throw away" question that just asks what their favorite game is. Most gamers love talking about their favorite games, and I can open up with that they will be more open to answering more personal questions specifically referring to how their grades are and how they manage all of these things. The more personal questions of grades and other lives will be put near the end so that by then they will feel obliged to answer the final questions. Just to make it easier for both the audience and myself I will put those questions in simple terms going from: below average, average, above average. This way the students don't feel too embarrassed and I will consider average as some B's and some A's. Those this may change over time. Also, just to make sure the audience doesn't have their own notion of average I will put in the sentence of what is considered average for this question. Because I am looking only at general effects of gaming I don't need to separate the A's from the B's from the C's and so on. Rather I will be looking for an overall general view. Using these types of questions I think I should be able to gather sufficient evidence.
ReplyDeleteWhile comparing the differences between interviews and surveys, I came to the conclusion that they are very similar in the sense of their production. They both incorporate the asking/ answering of questions unique to a specific topic. One of the key differences that I came across however was that an interview, in my opinion, really only involves a single person’s responses whereas a survey is usually answered by numerous bodies of people. When conducting an interview, it is usually held with an interviewer seeking to expand his knowledge and an expert of some sort who is considered knowledgeable on the specific subject. A survey however is distributed to numerous people with the exact same questions and is used to get a general idea of how the public views an idea. I’m not fully sure if this relates back to Macnealy in anyway but if I am completely wrong feel free to impart your ideas.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these ways of acquiring information have both advantages and disadvantages. For one, an interview usually has a bunch of tough vocabulary that require a stronger understanding of the material whereas surveys have to really be dumbed down to facilitate the average reader. Personally I support the idea of using surveys over interviews because I like using a broader belief upon the issue instead of exclusively experts views. This allows for the audience to not feel too overwhelmed by/ intimidated by the paper, report, essay or whatever. A disadvantage both of these mediums have in common however is the bias. Usually with any controversial topic, there is some bias making the survey’s results or interview semi-partial to a particular side of the controversy. This is another reason why I support surveys over interviews. More people taking the survey means a more average perception on how society as a whole handles the situation.
Does an interview have to include an expert? It may include a very specific opinion but for my research I will be using interviews to gain opinions versus broad information. I feel both of the information acquirers can be helpful in research process but if your topic will benefit from surveys I'm excited to see what you do.
DeleteDepending on the purpose of the interview or the survey, they can both share a strong relationship; survey and interviews both give the researcher data about the respondent’s opinion, feelings, beliefs and ideas. The difference between using them is up to the researcher himself due to the many types of surveys a researcher can do.
ReplyDeleteThere are many types of surveys available to a researcher and those include person-to-person surveys, computer network surveys and paper questionnaires. Person-to-Person surveys are a very useful type of survey especially if a researcher has many questions that could extend to the open-ended type of questions and they could add flexibility to the structure of the question, they can also be conducted as interviews or through the phone. Their disadvantages include cost but the main disadvantage in my opinion is the possibility of the respondent becoming uncomfortable and therefore, creating a bias in his answers. Computer network surveys can be conducted by sending emails online or through social media websites. One main disadvantage on surveys conducted on the Internet is people perceiving the survey as spam and then the survey could end up in junk mail or people would just not care to do it. Moreover, people on the Internet tend to not be serious about surveys and thus, surveys conducted on the Internet would not have accurate results. Paper questionnaires are an effective and a cheap way to conduct a survey but the main disadvantage with them is possibly the low return rate, which is from 20-40%.
I’m thinking of using paper questionnaires and person-to-person surveys while conducting my research and to avoid the disadvantage of the person-to-person interviews, I’ll try to design my answers to be very easy and simple questions to answer. Therefore, I’ll mainly use closed-ended questions and multiple-choice questions with some sub-questions that could help me extend the analysis of the answers I get. What I’m thinking of is trying to ask random people around campus either on the street on in coffee shops or both and get a random sample of people to answer a paper questionnaire but I haven’t thought of my questions yet.
Even thought you haven't thought of your questions yet it seems like you have a good idea of how to design your questions. I like how you are trying to avoid the disadvantages of person to person interviews; I think using closed-ended questions is the way to go if possible because you get unambiguous data. This is, in my opinion, the best source to base claims off of.
DeleteSurveys and Interviews cross over in many places. They both attempt to target random audiences. They both provide a means of obtaining information that is quick and designed to garner responses for multiple perspectives. When administering an interview or survey, you would design it so that it can relate to many people. Also, the audience that the survey or interview is given to is very random. If only one type of culture, gender, or race was represented in the survey or interview, the results would properly reflect the views, beliefs, or actions of an entire community.
ReplyDeleteThere are three methods of surveying: Paper, Person-to-Person, and Computer Networks. Advantages of paper questionnaires include less questioner bias, more anonymity., inexpensive, and the ability to send to a wide range of people geographically. The disadvantages include low return rate, and it may not result in an accurate representation of the entire community. Person-to-Person interviews allow for flexibility in wording, and the ability to conduct follow up questions. They also are the quickest way to get information because often people will procrastinate in completing online or mail-in surveys. Some disadvantages include the amount of money that is put in because they are “labor intensive” according to MacNealy. Also, the surveyor could be bias and use a certain intonation when they are conducting the interview, which would not return accurate results. Computer Network surveys have the benefit of being extremely inexpensive and results can be gotten quickly and analyzed by the surveyor at their convenience. However, the problem with these surveys is many people will regard these emails as spam, or a wide range of people will not be accessible via email.
When designing questions it is imperative that they have the ability to be answered by different types of people. If a question is geared only towards a certain culture, race, or gender, that will not produce results that are representative of an entire community. The questions should also be concise and easy to understand. If people are confused by a question they may disregard it, or the entire survey. The questions should also show no inclination of what is the preferred answer. That would be considered using bias to corroborate the desired response and would not return precise answers. I should also make sure that my survey does not contain tot many questions or people will be reluctant to fill it out.
I will most likely use online and person-to-person surveys and interviews for my research. I believe that online sites such as survey monkey will allow me to send my survey to multiple people in order to get a pool of people that is representative of the entire campus. Also, online surveys, if short, are responded to quickly, which will allow me to analyze it in a timely manner. A person-to-person interview will allow me to ask follow-up questions and get a better idea of the reasoning behind certain answers. I can also ask questions that are more in depth, and that will elicit a more meaningful response.
Interviews and surveys are very similar in my eyes. Both research methods acquire information by asking people questions. The big difference is that surveys take mainly explicit answer, and interviews focus more on ambiguous opinions and thoughts. Surveyors analyze trends to draw conclusions, and interviewers use opinions and thoughts of their interviewee to draw conclusions. According to MacNealy, a large problem with the interview method is that the researcher’s bias is hard to suppress. Bias is something that all good researchers seek to rid themselves of. Interviews are also more expensive.
ReplyDeleteWhen designing questions, it is important for the researcher to keep purpose in mind. They also need to keep in mind the attitudes of the people they will be questioning. Nobody wants to spend ten minutes filling out a survey, so researchers should work to keep their surveys short. That being said, researchers should make sure every question they ask serves a specific purpose. Bias also should be eliminated to the best of the researcher’s ability.
I’m not sure exactly what I will do for my questions. I hope to talk to an expert in my field of research. I believe that researching some more will inspire a lot more questions. Regardless of what I will ask, my research will undoubtedly benefit from other people’s opinions. One option of mine is to survey people on their fears of nuclear energy, because my topic deals with investing in energy sources.
You hit on the differences between surveys and interviews well. I generally think of them as achieving the same purposes, which I think you do as well (to draw conclusions about a population) but they way in which they achieve that goal is different and you touch on that appropriately.
Delete
ReplyDeleteWhile examining both interviews and surveys on their similarities, I noticed that what they have in common the most is the information they collect. Surveys and interview both focus on getting the opinion of someone on a certain subject. They also are not just a completely opened ended free response on that subject, in both cases the interviewer or leader of the survey are the one's who control the questions being asked. In my opinion, the main difference between the two is that surveys are more focused on a response to a specific question, while an interview allows for more elaboration on the question. The information to come from surveys tend to be more of a broad spectrum look at a topic while interviews focus more on the opinion of one person at a time.
There are many different aspects to a survey including types, sampling methods, format, and sampling group. You need to take all of these different aspects in mind when creating a survey. One of the major objectives is to create as close to an unbiased survey as you can. Even small things like the structure of a question can be interpreted as a variable in influencing a certain response. You need to keep in mind the key issues about the topic, but you must also keep in mind the big picture. By putting yourself in the shoes of the audience taking the survey you can make sure to not ask anything too in depth. If your objective is to take data more like a poll, multiple choice answers work well for comparison. On the other hand if you plan on collecting a more diverse response, a short answer style survey may work best. On the topic of sampling techniques, a simple random sample seems the most unbiased, but then again, this type of sampling requires non specific questions because the survey taker may not have any knowledge on the topic. For more knowledgeable responses, purposeful sampling works best, but for my research I plan on using convenience sampling. Since the people that live around me come from all around the country, they all have their own perspectives on my subject. I don't think my results will be significantly effected by using this, less than scientific, method.
Spencer,
DeleteI really like what you said in your first paragraph, and not only do I agree with you about what you said but we tended to say similar things regarding how surveys and interviews are different. Secondly, I like how you worded your next paragraph. Most people don't understand that the simple wording of a question can have a dramatic effect on how the question is perceived. I think you did a fantastic job on this post.
Surveys and Interviews are very similar in their purpose, but have one major difference in their execution: surveys are more specific. Interviews are more dynamic, allowing for changes based on the answers given. Surveys need identical questions for each person. In addition, interviews allow for more open-ended questions, while surveys work better when the answers can be represented in charts and graphs. Their purposes are very similar, though. For both, the goal is to get an understanding of what people think about a topic, and allows for a better understanding of the nature of the people involved in the topic.
ReplyDeleteThere are many challenges to surveys. You have to make sure your survey is clear to those who are participating in it, and you need to make sure that the information you are getting from it is relevant. Interviews have similar challenges. However, they are usually easier to execute because you have a chance to improvise while you are doing the interview. It is also important to keep in mind what questions you are going to ask. You have to make sure they are clear to the participant. This means that wording is very important. Don’t try to mix ideas or use uncommon language in your questions; you will only confuse your participants if you do that.
I’m still working out my exact plan for what I’m going to do for a survey. I know that once I have (at least) an outline of what I want to say in my essay, I will write up the major questions that I want to have answered about my essay in a survey. By understanding what I want to say in the essay, I can gear my questions to the ideas specifically, and I can make sure that the survey is worthwhile. As for the medium I will perform the survey with, I will probably do a paper-like survey, but possibly do it digitally (such as having participants email their answers). This will open up opportunities for asking for responses on Facebook or other online mediums to get a wider focus group.
Interviews and surveys are closely related from my perspective. They are both intended to gather information from some kind of audience, group or individual. But I believe the differences between these two are in the intended response. Surveys are usually looking for short, concise responses to the given question. This is usually either done through fill in the blank responses or multiple choice questions. However, when conducting interviews most responses are expected to be extended and more drawn out because the questions are typically open ended. This interaction is more “personable” than most surveys are. This personal interaction is another difference I see between interviews and surveys. (I understand that surveys can be done person-to-person but these are becoming rarer, in my opinion, due to the rise of technology) MacNealy sees researcher bias as one of the main problems regarding data collection. There are many ways in which this bias can influence data collection, from things such as the sample being biased, studies not being double blind, how a survey is given to the audience or simply the wording of a question could be biased. All these are problems with data collection.
ReplyDeleteSince my topic (how gun control affects violent crimes) is controversial especially due to the recent shootings in the United States, I will need to be careful with my phrasing of questions as well as the types of questions I am asking. I think the most effective way for me to get results, where I can keep names anonymous, is an online survey. I understand that this is already introducing bias into my data collection process because not everybody I know has access to a computer. Since this is a problem, I will have to take this into consideration when receiving my results. I will most likely create a survey though an online service such as “surveymonkey”. I honestly am still trying to decide what types of questions I want to ask. This has been one of my biggest struggles so far in this research paper because I have to try to remain as unbiased as possible. After I receive my results I will see if there are any patterns within my data such as, did women think one way while men another? Or was there a difference between age groups? There are many categories which I could split my results into to see if there are any patterns. I will incorporate my results to either back up or disagree with the other research I have conducted. I am curious to see if people’s responses match up to the statistics and writings I have found while doing my research.
MacNealy was wrong when he spoke about surveys as “the only research tool available to obtain certain kinds of information, namely opinions, preferences, beliefs, feelings, and other personal information.” The purpose of surveys, as he describes, is spot on. They do allow us to obtain certain kinds of information that other research techniques do not provide, such as an observation. However, in claiming that surveys are the only research tool that provide us with this opportunity, MacNealy leaves out the tool of interviews, which achieve the same goal in just a slightly different manner. Of course, with these methods come many challenges that the researcher must consider so to avoid any bias in the answers and skewed information that may not necessarily represent the population at question. According to MacNealy, there are three issues that must be considered when designing a survey (or interview) - "the format or layout of the instrument, the types and wording of the questions, and the scales used for the answers." The solutions to these potential problems are fairly obvious and easy to handle, as long as the researcher is aware of them. The questionnaire should be relatively short and easy to read so to not deter any participants. The order of the questions also matter. The questionnaire should start with an easy question and then flow logically from there, building on the previous questions. There are many more matters to consider when designing a survey or interview and one that I will certainly take into account for my own research. I see myself using questions that relate to the responders personal experiences with Apple and PC products, specifically the shopping experience and how the marketing of their products affected their buying decision. Then I would like to follow up with questions specifically about Steve Jobs and his business style and how each of these responders believe his influence has affected the company’s success. I would analyze the responses to these questions by trying to find a trend in the answers and attempt to find a commonly held belief about how Steve Jobs influenced Apple’s success today. I will incorporate the answers from my surveys and interviews with my text research and see where the answers overlap.
ReplyDeleteSurveys and interviews belong to the same family of research gathering. The difference is in the personal aspect of the gathering. Both involve questions and look to enhance knowledge or what people think of a topic. Surveys serve as a way to gather an opinion from a vast group of individuals quickly while an interview delves into the deeper ideals of someone, trying to get a better look on a situation. Considering he talks mainly about surveys, we can look at the advantages and disadvantages of those first.
ReplyDeleteThe different types of surveys give us different challenges. Paper surveys sent by mail have a horrible non-response bias (20-40% do get answered). Those sent via e-mail can be a nuisance to people and seen as spam, as well as accounting for those without internet access, a problem that is much less of an ordeal now. Person-to-person surveys are expensive because it requires a trained interviewer who will need to put in a great deal of work to achieve results. The advantages of surveys are present too, the one that stands out to me the most being the ability to access people outside your normal interactions.
Interviews are the type of research gathering that will help my own paper most. I will be asking students about Greek life and how it affects the DU campus overall. I think interviews will give me the best opportunity to see how various and diverse members of our school feel about Greek life. Questions such as, do you think Greek life brings an advantage to campus, if so, what is that advantage? If you are in fraternity/sorority, what benefits has holding that standing given you? Why did you decide to join your brotherhood/sisterhood? Most these will be open-ended so interview is the best choice for gathering information I think. Also being able to grab information from students of all ages, faculty, and even alumni will be crucial.