CONDUCTING EFFECTIVE SURVEYS AND INTERVIEWS

1. Dr. Ryan Allen Assistant Professor of English &Writing Director, Writing Center 712-279-5211 ryan.allen@briarcliff.edu CONDUCTING EFFECTIVE SURVEYS AND INTERVIEWS

2. What’s In Store… • This presentation will cover the ins and outs of creating and then conducting interviews and surveys • I am going to imagine that you know nothing about this and just tell you a whole bunch of tips that might make this part of your research process clearer and more fun (yes, this can be an enjoyable process)!

3. Purpose of Primary Research • Primary research is any type of research that you go out and collect yourself. Examples include surveys, interviews, observations, and ethnographic research. • A good researcher knows how to use both primary and secondary sources in his or her writing and to integrate them in a cohesive fashion. • Conducting primary research is a useful skill to acquire as it can greatly supplement your research in secondary sources, such as journals, magazines, or books. • You can also use it as the focus of your writing project. • Primary research is an excellent skill to learn as it can be useful in a variety of settings including business, personal, and academic.

4. Pitfalls of Primary Research • Over generalizing your results • Biased methodology • Correlation does not imply causation • Not considering other related factors • Being able to know what data is valid • Reported behavior vs. actual behavior • Take a look at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/559/03/ for an excellent explanation of these pitfalls in detail

5. How Do You Choose? • An interview is conducted with a single person who has some specialized knowledge of your topic. • The questions you ask can, and often should, be followed up with other questions that allow the interviewee to give you detailed answers to the questions you are asking. • Interviews are appropriate for topics that are specialized where the broad opinion of many others would not result in anything other than giving you opinions. • A survey is designed to gather information from many people, usually for the purpose of comparing their answers and finding information that can be generalized to a specific population. • Surveys are appropriate when you want to learn how a broad cross-section of people thinks about a topic.

6. General Parameters to Keep in Mind • You should only be surveying or interviewing adults (18+) • Minors should not take part in your survey or interview (unless your have explicit written permission from a parent or guardian). • Inappropriate statements or topics, or invasive questions that would be problematic for minors are what you are trying to avoid.

7. Citing Interviews and Surveys in APA Format • Interviews are cited as personal communication. Take a look at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/11/ or at the following model: • (R. Allen, personal communication, October 31, 2009). • No personal communication is included in your reference list; instead, use a parenthetical citation. • Surveys are cited as unpublished raw data, as in the following example: • Author. (Date). [Name of survey]. Unpublished raw data. • Allen, R. (2009). [Survey says]. Unpublished raw data.

8. Citing Interviews in MLA Format Example: Allen, Ryan. Personal interview. 1 Dec. 2010. Check out http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/09/ for some additional guidance on citing an interview.

9. SURVEYS • When conducting a survey, be sure to consider: • Purpose of Survey (that may include Directions or Cover Letter; what you hope to learn or gain) • Website access for survey if online • Dateyou need the survey responses • Target audience for this survey (if applicable) • Thank you statement for those who complete your survey!

10. General Survey Guidelines • Must include only adult responses (unless you have permission otherwise) • Nail down your targeted demographic or sample. • A sample is a targeted number of people who will take your survey. It is a group of people who have some knowledge or experience(s) you want to examine, understand, or interpret. • Depending on the purpose of your survey, this might include age, education level, number of children, location, etc. It can be any number of factors that will help you categorize the respondents. • Must be anonymous • Pick a survey site (online) that creates that confidentiality. • So no one should be signing the survey or doing the survey in front of you. • You would not want some of your identity compromised online; therefore, you should use an independent 3rd party • Avoid mass mailings. • Use the survey sites suggested instead • Get a good sampling • Usually at least 20 responses • Usually at least 10 questions

11. Some Solid Survey Sites • I like http://www.opinionpower.com/startSurvey.html because it has a variety of different types of surveys right on the first page of the site. There is even a section for advanced surveys for those who need more than the basic survey. http://www.zapsurvey.com/?gclid=CNq-k43uqZUCFRJ4xgod6VW_ag lets you create a survey that has 10 questions. You have a choice of multiple choice questions, freeform essay questions, degree factors etc. You can then get a report of what your answers to the survey suggest. http://www.surveymonkey.com/ is my favorite survey site. It allows you also register as a free member; gives you a variety of question types and designs; and even shows you sample surveys. The limit for questions is 10. If you needed to join for a larger survey, the charges are monthly. http://www.createsurvey.com/ allows you to try a survey that lasts two weeks and has typical types of questions in a one page survey. http://www.esurveyspro.com/free-survey.aspx looks like another good site for free survey usage and allows unlimited responses; there are survey templates and even articles about creating surveys. http://www.polldaddy.com/ also has the option of doing a free or a paid survey account If you are really into this project and have advanced computer expertise, you might want to go to http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/patterson20051018.php3 and create a survey at your own website.

12. Survey Resources to Explore • You might want to watch the YouTube movie at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf-02EG2mZ0 to get some ideas about good and bad surveys. • Here's a section from OWL about interviews and surveys (note: there is a link at the bottom of the page to info JUST about "surveying") http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/559/06/

13. Generating Survey Questions • Avoid invasive and personal questions that you would hesitate to answer. • You can discover what those questions are by doing a test survey with a friend. • If your friend hesitates on any question, you might want to remove the question or reword the question. • An example of an invasive question reminds me of a survey which asked “Are you anorexic?” That kind of question is very invasive and personal. • Avoid yes and no questions. • They tell you very little and give no way of expanding on the answer. • Have an option box or a "refuse answer" choice for questions that some people may not be able to answer or refuse to answer. • In other words, have an answer like "does not apply" or "don't know" in multiple choice questions. Sometimes adding a box for clarification helps.

14. Generating Survey Questions • If you use rating or scaled questions, let people have more choices that are clear and apply to the question. • Do not keep the choices the same for all questions especially if the choices are just: least interested, somewhat interested, most interested, interested, not interested. These endings may not apply to many questions you ask. In other words, customize your ratings to fit the question. • Avoid asking demographic questions that alienate people or do not apply to your questionnaire. • Use age ranges than just asking people to put a specific age. That is less invasive. • Or use a variety of ethnic groups rather than a few and only use this demographic if it is relevant.

15. Survey Tidbits to Keep in Mind • You should be able to provide answers to the following: • What information did you hope to gather using the survey? • What survey guidelines did you keep in mind as you created and distributed the survey? • How many people completed the survey? • Explain the demographic information. • Explain why the survey subjects were appropriate.

16. Interview Preparation • When you are interviewing someone for primary research, you need to do several things to guarantee your success: • You need to prepare ahead of time so that you know exactly what you are going to need for your research. • You need to be ready with a clear mind, an unbiased view, and some research that you have gathered already as a backdrop. • Your clear mind will make you centered and ready to be present to the person in front of you. • Your unbiased view will let you be open to the unexpected things you learn. • And the research you do ahead of time will give you some ideas about what the person is talking about.

17. Being “In the Moment” • At the same time, you need to be spontaneous in your ability to ask questions at the spur of the moment. When someone is presenting you with a good understanding of a topic, you need to be ready to ask for clarification, or more detail, or some interpretation of the data you are seeking. • You want to know the facts and the nuances in an interview. To get the facts you need to take careful notes and to ask clear questions. To get to the nuances, you need to read between the lines of the interviewee’s responses and see if the person is thinking what you suspect or wonder about. • You need to ask open-ended questions and not close off the interview by asking Yes or No questions. They tend to limit the conversation.

18. 2 Types of Interview Questions • The Miner (probing questions) • They seek to “dig nuggets of data or meanings out of a subject’s pure experiences, unpolluted by any leading questions” (Kvale, 1996). • The Traveler (wandering questions) • They tend to interpret what the person is talking about since they are traveling through the same “country” or “landscape” as the interviewee. • Both types can be effective; depending on what your interviewee gives you, the balance you strike between these two sides will differ

19. A Couple Resources for Interviews • You can see some great interviewers on the NPR website: http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1022 • Kvale,S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

20. Interview Tidbits to Keep in Mind • Name of person you are interviewing • Contact information (mail, e-mail, and telephone number) • Relationship to the interviewer (none, colleague, etc.) • Why you decided to interview this person • The interview setting (in person, over the telephone, etc.) • What information did you hope to gain during the interview? • What interview question guidelines did you keep in mind as you wrote the interview questions?

21. Further Interviewing Considerations • Do be careful of the types of questions you ask. • Do start the interview with some small talk to give both yourself and the person you are interviewing a chance to get comfortable. • Do bring redundant recording equipment in case something happens to one of your recording devices. • Do pay attention to what is being said during the interview and follow up on responses that sound interesting. • Do come to the interview prepared. You should learn as much as you can about the person you are going to interview before the interview takes place so that you can tailor your questions to them. • Don't pester or push the person you are interviewing. If he or she does not want to talk about an issue, you should respect that desire. • Exception here might be if you are doing some type of investigative interviewing • Don't stick to your questions rigidly. If an interesting subject comes up that relates to your research, feel free to ask additional questions about it. • Don't allow the person you are interviewing to continually get off topic. If the conversation drifts, ask follow-up questions to redirect the conversation to the subject at hand.

22. Avoiding Bias in Surveys & Interviews • Any time you are working with primary research, you need to be aware of your biases. • In fact, research always brings out our biases in the way we shape our research question and conduct our research-- even by choosing which databases to search. • However, when we speak directly to people in an interview or survey people by asking them all kinds of questions, we really need to be very aware of our biases in that very personal exchange as it happens.

23. So How Does Bias Enter the Process? • Bias is natural since we all have a point of view about issues we write about. And we all want to make sure everyone knows about those beliefs. • When we interview someone, we leak our biases in the type of questions we ask and sometimes we make people uncomfortable when we do that. • So we need to practice our interview questions with someone ahead of time to find out what the biases within the interview are and how they can be removed (if necessary). • Or if we are doing a survey, we should practice surveying about six people first in order to check how our survey may contain our favorite biases.

24. Some Examples of Biased Interview Questions • Don't you think that people are good parents when they decide to keep teens to a curfew? • This is a biased question, because it is a YES or NO question and only gives the person one answer for a response. YES!!! Otherwise they are not good parents. • How would you change this question to get rid of the bias? • How much safety can we have in our schools if the teachers are always keeping the doors open? • This is a biased question because it already remarks about a group of people and bad behavior. • How would you change this question to get rid of the bias? • Since I know you believe in ____________, I know you want to tell me about how children should be raised. • This is a biased question since you are already telling the person you are interviewing what they believe in and what they want to tell you. • How would you change this question to get rid of the bias?

25. A Few More Thoughts on Bias • Another way that bias creeps in when you interview or survey is by the tone of your voice or the words you emphasize. Nonverbal cues can be give-aways as well. • So this is also something to watch since the person may not want to go against what you believe if you are very insistent or enthusiastic about one view in your interview (Leedy, 1993). • All you have to do is be aware of bias. We need to be aware that we are all interested in our interviews and surveys coming out just like we thought. We want everyone to agree with us. • If you understand that assumption, then you will know to hold back your biases or at least tell the persons you interview or survey that you will be more objective when you interview/survey them (Leedy, 1993, p. 215).Leedy, P. (1993). Practical research: Planning and design. New York: MacMillan.

26. Types of Questions to Avoid • Biased questions • Biased question: Don't you agree that campus parking is a problem? • Revised question: Is parking on campus a problem? Why or why not? • Questions that assume what they ask • Biased question: There are many people who believe that campus parking is a problem. Are you one of them? • Revised question: Do you agree or disagree that campus parking is a problem? • Double-barreled questions • Double-barreled question: Do you agree that campus parking is a problem and that the administration should be working diligently on a solution? • Revised question: Is campus parking a problem? (If the participant responds yes): Should the administration be responsible for solving this problem?

27. More Types of Questions to Avoid • Confusing or wordy questions • Confusing questions: What do you think about parking? (This is confusing because the question isn't clear about what it is asking--parking in general? The person's ability to park the car? Parking on campus?) Do you believe that the parking situation on campus is problematic or difficult because of the lack of spaces and the walking distances or do you believe that the parking situation on campus is ok? (This question is both very wordy and leads the participant.) • Revised question: What is your opinion of the parking situation on campus? • Questions that do not relate to what you want to learn • Unrelated questions: Have you ever encountered problems in the parking garage on campus? Do you like or dislike the bus system?

28. QUESTIONS? CONCERNS? CRITICISMS? COMPLAINTS? Please contact the Writing Center! writing.center@briarcliff.edu 712-279-5520 Heelan Hall 050