In class today, we had a discussion about Surveys. Note that the following discussion is based on quantitative research.
Link: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVPQqxAHM=/
In what ways can I undertake a survey or an interview?
There are lots of ways to undertake a survey or an interview. As mentioned in the reading material, there are various ways to gather information. The way each person chooses is based on the form, quality, or quantity of information the person wants to receive. There are several common ways of collecting information (for quantitative research only): ①face to face interviews ②telephone interviews ③written questionnaires ④online questionnaires
The following points should also be noticed:
- restrict each question to one single idea
- change “moment in time” into “valid only for that moment”
- give thought-less answer
- deny negative ideas and put the sensitive questions into the latter part
What do I need to consider before issuing a survey/interview?
Before issuing a survey/interview, it is necessary to think about the purpose of doing this questionnaire and the information you need to obtain to help you to be able to complete the follow-up survey. In addition to this, brevity (① why do I need to know this? ②How will this help me to resolve my research question? ), clarity, focus(having a clear focus on a single, specific issue or topic), options(do not assume or imply anything), bias(use ‘A or B?’ rather than ‘A better than B?’. Give people choice not lead.), consistency, design(legibility, layout, colour) are necessary to be considered.
Here are some websites with questionnaires that can be filled in afterwards.
These are some reflections on the questionnaire.
These are some of the questionnaire questions that I have pre-defined. However, I found that the logic of the questionnaire in the UK is very different from that in my country, so I will be checking for more reference formats and examples of questionnaires.
These are the suggestions and questions that my classmates and teachers had for my questionnaire.
Thanks to these Post-It notes, I was reminded of many key issues. For example international students. How do you go about defining the scope of this, is it a national or is it not from the city? Because the teacher later asked the class questions and almost none of the students had their home in Edinburgh.
There was also a stratification for age. Unlike in my country, there is a huge age gap between students here, so you can’t differentiate between groups just by degree. I need to capture more characteristics to divide the population. Maybe it could be the time they’ve been in the city, or maybe it could be the time they haven’t been back to their home country.
There are also questions based on the scientific validity of the design proposal, which will need to be supported by my thesis. I think I need to think about how the plants will be placed in this space when I need to design it later.
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