CONDUCTING SURVEYS

Think carefully about what you are trying to discover in your survey. This will help you frame relevant questions and invent questions to fulfill your aims. Keep it simple. People have to be willing and able to answer your questions. Make your questionnaire easy and inviting to fill out. Ask questions that call for a check of alternative answers, a yes or no answer or one word or a few words to complete. Check that each question is relevant to your inquiry question and will give your useful information. Ask only for one piece of information per question. Ask open questions where appropriate. The answers to these questions might supply you with useful quotes or suggest ideas for you to consider further in your study. Avoid slanted questions, that is, questions which presume an answer, show a bias, or indicate there is a correct or incorrect response. Unbiased questions will solicit factual responses. Explain to the participants the purpose of your research. Gain their approval to participate; acknowledge their right to refuse. Respect the privacy of your respondents. Do not discuss individual responses with others outside your group and do not name responders when reporting your findings. Confidentiality is critical! When all your surveys have been completed, tally your results. Look for patterns in the responses and key differences. Try to avoid statistical analysis of your results. Treat your surveys as a group of responses and use the knowledge gained from them to represent the range of views held on your issue 1

as well as identifying interesting or persuasive details or quotations. Present a report on your findings.

The survey report: Your report should include the following details: The purpose of your survey e.g. We conducted a survey to find out peoples attitude to the war in Iraq. The target group for your survey e.g. We asked thirty Year 11 and 12 students at Hobart College. An outline of the type of information you hoped to find out e.g. Our questions were framed to find out the level of peoples interest in the war, what they knew about the issues behind the war, how up-to-date they were in the most recent events and their personal position on the war. A summary of your findings e.g. The majority of students we interviewed said o try to write informatively o avoid statistics o try to include brief, interesting comments and responses made by your survey participants. An evaluation of your survey e.g. Our survey was very effective in confirming our views thatWe were surprised that We learned

Website search: Make a list of web sites relevant to your issue. Publish them so that others interested in your issue can access them to find out more information. Under each URL, put a brief (two three sentence) summary of the type of information contained on the site.