Research: Surveys

In some ways, surveys are similar to interviews:  they focus on the opinions or responses of human subjects and allow you to conduct original research.

Whereas most interviews are conducted face-to-face, though, many surveys are conducted by telephone or online.  And whereas most interviews result in quotations that are attributed to a subject (Professor Joe Smith indicates that), most surveys are conducted anonymously:  the identity of the person who provides the insight is unknown and remains that way.

Surveys provide a very interesting way of gathering information about controversial topics: their largely anonymous nature provides the subject with a safety zone from which to speak freely.

While you can stand on the sidewalk around the Drillfield and ask questions of anyone who walks by, perhaps the most effective method of conducting a survey is online, particularly if you use VT’s online survey service, survey.vt.edu. This service will post your survey online and allow you to access the results quickly and efficiently.

Although the social sciences have rigorous standards that the creators of surveys must follow, if you’re interested in gathering limited kinds of information quickly, you can build a simple questionnaire that will pass muster.

For example, say you’re conducting research for an article about the Virginia Tech duck pond.  You’re interested in finding out what the pond means to current VT students. Do they visit it? Do they have strong feelings about it?  Would they like to see it cleaned up? Then you might create a basic survey that asks the following:

• What is your class status?
• Have you visited the Virginia Tech Duck Pond?
• How often have you visited the pond?
• How recently have you been there?
• Do you take visitors to the pond?
• If you have not visited it, why not?
• What is your opinion of the pond?
• What connection, if any, do you think the pond has to the VT community? That is, what do you think it means to VT—its
• students, faculty, alumni?
• In your opinion, should the pond be improved?  How so?
• If the answer to #9 is “no,” why not?
• Would you be willing to participate in an annual cleanup of the pond and its surroundings?

You can probably think of a number of questions that should be asked but are not included on this particular survey. When you create your own survey, try to cover the bases depending upon the audience you have chosen to question, and realize that the same rules apply to surveys and interviews. Ask a variety of questions.  Be ready to prepare different surveys for different audiences.

The library, the web, visuals, interviews, and surveys—are those the only types of research you can conduct in an effort to lend your content a proper level of insight and authority?  Probably not, but they cover much of the ground that you will need to worry about as you produce your work for this course.

If you know that you will be conducting interviews and posting surveys, though, you need to consider one more element: whether you will need to seek IRB approval before you go forward.