START UP – TOP ½ 56 Type 1 – 5 LINES
DO YOU THINK YOU COULD PASS THE CITIZENSHIP TEST? (Y/N/M) (EXPLAIN)
ON THE RATING SCALE BELOW, HOW CIVICALLY ENGAGED DO YOU THINK YOUTH ARE IN YOUR COMMUNITY? WHY?
Extremely engaged (ex. in some organization)
Nothing (0 hours of “duty”)
Survey Design 101 Getting Started
Table Of Contents
Golden Rules Plan For Success 1. Survey Contents 2. Item Development 3. Response Formats
Golden Rules 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Understand the goals of the project. Keep the survey simple. Field/Pilot-test the survey. Consider the respondents. Visual appeal.
Golden Rule #1 Understand the Project Goals A comprehensive understanding of the project goals paves the way for successful surveying. Without that understanding, it is impossible to appropriately design and to maximize the power of the survey.
#1 Our goal is to gauge youth knowledge of the Constitution & determine the state of student civic engagement in our community.
Golden Rule #2 Keep It Simple Only ask questions that fit the scheme of your project. In this case, oftentimes, less is more. The design focus should be quality not quantity.
# 2 – Quality over quantity – questions should align with our goal.
Golden Rule #3 Field/Pilot Test Pre-testing the survey enhances clarity, removes word meaning obscurity, establishes approximate time to completion, proper sequencing, question transitioning, and helps assure that questions are not too difficult.
#3 – We will pre-test our survey in class.
Golden Rule #4 Respondent Demographic Characteristics It is important to know the demographics of the group you are surveying as this will impact the interpretation and meaning of certain questions. # 4 We will be surveying other students in our community.
Golden Rule #5 Visual Appeal Appearance means everything. If the survey appears complex and difficult to follow with the eyes, respondents will be less likely to do a good job. It should appear to be short, organized, and easy to answer. #5- Survey should be short, organized and easy to answer.
Plan For Success
Survey Content Writing the survey requires knowing what questions need to be answered and how the results will be used. Directions should be clear. Avoid the temptation to overstate the survey intent in the directions.
Item Development 1.
Encourage respondent interest and attention. Assure the survey design and format is appealing as to cut back on instances of inattention by the respondents.
2.
Questions should flow & be natural. Assure a natural flow and transition from one survey item to the next.
3.
If the question is not necessary, do not include it.
4.
Questions should not be leading. For example, smoking cigarettes cause cancer--
Response Formats Survey developers use several different types of response formats. Listed below are several of the most common response formats: 1) Multiple choice 2) Open ended 3) Rank order 4) Rating Scale– (Total agreement…Don’t agree at all.)
Response Formats When deciding which response type to use consider the following: a. Response type should be appropriate to the item. b. Allow a don’t know response. c. Allow an other response. d. Allow a none response. e. Allow an undecided response.
GOAL Today & tomorrow we will begin writing the first part of our survey in groups of 2-3 people (no more than 3 people in a group). Stick to your guidelines listed in your notes from today (Page 57).
TODAY
First, take the Naturalization Test with your group mates (how well did you do? ) Second, determine which questions you feel are most important. Rank the top 10 (1=most important, etc.). Use Pages 58 & 59 over the course of the next few days to brainstorm.
REFLECTION – Page 56 What difficulties did you run into today while trying to formulate ideas for your survey? What successes did your group have?
Citations Most of this presentation was taken from a presentation by Dr. William Respress at respress_w@firn.edu