Today’s Plan:
- Surveys
- Group Formation
- Work Time
Fundamentals to Surveys
Surveys typically collect three kinds of information:
- Attitudes and Preferences
- Opinions and/or Reactions
- Demographic information
Generally, you measure attitudes and preferences using multiple choice, ranking (favorite to least favorite) or likert scales. While the term likert scale might be unfamiliar, I can almost guarantee you’ve encountered one before.
- It is very likely you have encountered a Likert scale
- It is likely you have encountered a Likert scale
- It is neither likely or unlikely you have encountered a Likert scale
- It is unlikely you have encountered a Likert scale
- It is very unlikely you have encountered a Likert scale
Note: social scientists and marketers often omit the middle option above. Doing so forces a respondent to make a decision (the middle option provides them an opt out).
Note: If you do a ranking scale, make sure you tell someone whether 1 is their favorite or 1 is their least favorite.
We can collect more information in surveys via open ended, free write questions. There’s a few issues with these though. One is that people are likely to skip them. If you have more than one of these in a survey, your response rate is likely to plummet. The other difficulty is that these require quite a bit of time to “code”: that is, to go through and synthesize responses. However, that time is usually rewarded.
Collecting demographic information is tricky because (some) people are skeptical of surveys. People can become suspicious if they think they know what your survey is attempting to prove. This can, if they disagree with you, create animosity. This is one reason it is important to create neutral, objective, balanced questions that do not preference a particular response. This skepticism manifests itself in a resistance to supplying demographic information. However, sometimes demographic information is extremely important! So we should spend some time investigating how to ask demographic questions.
There’s more information on question types and some tips in this article.
What Not to Do in a Survey
Some general tips (emphasis–avoid loaded words). Some more tips (emphasis–use audience’s language).
A classic example of how not to construct a survey.
Group Formation and Work Time
Here is a link to the Research Hub.
Start with the ETS Document (but think about it across everything we have discussed).
Here is a link to the description of the report due Tuesday the 19th.
Here is a link to the post with our rest-of-year calendar.
For next class
We will be discussing the Roberts-Miller book. I will share some reading questions tomorrow via Canvas.
Schedule
Week 11 (Nov 5, 7)
- Tuesday: Review second wave of research annotations. Outline course evaluation project.
- Thursday: Ross Computer Lab. Lecture: Developing Survey Questions. Work: Design / Develop potential course evaluation procedure. Weekend homework: read Roberts-Miller. Complete Canvas assignment.
Week 12 (Nov 12, 14)
- Tuesday: Discuss Roberts-Miller. Homework: complete
- Thursday: Ross Computer Lab. Continue to develop course evaluation procedures.
Week 13 (Nov 19, 21)
- Tuesday: Peer review team assessment materials. Revise materials for Thursday. Organize course eval groups/responses.
- Thursday: Do course evaluations.
Week 14 (26, 28)
- Tuesday: Meet to synthesize course evaluation research. Lay out recommendation letter assignments. Thanksgiving break homework: Draft recommendation letter.
- Thursday: Thanksgiving
Week 15 (Dec 3, 5)
- Tuesday: Share recommendation letters. Revise recommendation letters.
- Thursday: Work on letter recommendations.
Week 16 Exam Week (Dec 10, 12)
- Tuesday: Meet to share recommendation letters.
- Thursday: No class. Extra Credit assignments are due Saturday at midnight.
