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Research Help: How to Survey

USEFUL LINKS

PRESENTING DATA

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes you will be required to collect primary data and this usually involves carrying out surveys, creating questionnaires and  interviewing people.

Detailed planning needs to go into your interview/questionnaire questions to ensure the data you collect is useful. Data can be qualitative or quantitative in nature, both are useful primary sources of information you can use throughout your project.

HINTS:

When searching for possible interviewees who are credible sources and experts within their field (within your topic), keep a list of authors who have published the information you have found and retrieve their contact details via the Contact or About Us page or by Googling their name.

Also, search for organizations, government agencies and associations associated with your topic. These groups can be extremely useful and reliable primary sources you can interview.  Finally, it can be valuable to ask if they have any other primary sources they know of who you could make contact with.

Having a good understanding of your topic will help you create effective survey/interview questions, so do some research before writing you survey questions.

KEY STEPS TO RUNNING A SURVEY

KEY STEPS TO RUNNING A SURVEY

Aims and Objectives

Have clear aims and objectives for the project. Ensure you know what you want to get out of the survey at the beginning of the project and not at the end.

Existing Information/Research

Find out what information already exists about your topic. Existing sources can be used to support, add to or provide a new way of looking at the primary data you have collected or are about to collect.

In addition, having background knowledge on your topic will help you develop better questions .

Planning, Design & Collection of Data

Interviews, observation, questionnaires and experimental research are four common forms of collection methodologies. Each methodology requires all or some of the following elements.

  • Design
  • Sampling
  • Piloting 
  • Carrying  out the survey

Presentation & Reporting

Once you have collected the data it needs to be analysed. Statistical analysis can also be useful in interpreting data and the  most commonly used measures are mean, mode median and range. One of the most powerful ways to communicate data is by using graphs. Data presented in a graph can be quick and easy to understand. A graph should:

  • be simple and not too cluttered
  • show data without changing the data’s meaning
  • show any trend or differences in the data
  • be accurate in a visual sense – for example, if one value is 15 and another 30, then 30 should be twice the size of 15

Microsoft Excel can be used to generate statistics, tables and graphs that can be inserted into reports and presentations. Note that any report written about the findings needs to also outline any problems encountered in the survey process which may have had some impact on the results.

 

  IN-DEPTH  INTERVIEWS  TYPICALLY  INVOLVE  SMALL  NUMBERS  OF  PEOPLE (<10).  

CLARIFY OBJECTIVES

  • Be clear about the purpose of the interview
  • Prepare  a list of research objectives, setting out the information that you intend      to gather
  • Structure  your questions around each issue you want to address
  • Decide what is essential, and what is just “nice to know”

 QUESTION  STRUCTURE

  • Note down the major issues you would like to discuss. (e.g. an oral history interview might explore school experiences, family life, leisure  activities and type of work)
  • Structure  your questions around each issue you want to address
  • For in-depth interviews, prepare up to 3-4 questions for each topic. These should be used to guide the conversation 
  • Start  with introductory questions – easy to answer and provide specific  information about the person
  • Next use open-ended questions that allow the interviewee to respond freely
  • Finish with follow up questions which pick up on particular issues
  • Questions should be clear and easy to understand  and asked in a logical order (grouped by issue)

  ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

  • Ensure that the person being interviewed has clear information about the nature and purpose of the research and how you intend to use their information
  • Treat all people with equal respect and be sensitive to other people’s feelings, culture and beliefs
  • Ensure confidentiality

 CLOSURE

  • Ask your respondent if there is anything he or she would like to add

PILOT STUDY

  • Do  a practice interview to check that your questions get the answers you want
  • Ask  for feedback and make changes if necessary

HANDOUTS & PRESENTATIONS