Introduction
One of the primary obstacles in survey studies is often eliciting responses from surveyed individuals. As we have seen throughout this semester, larger sample sizes are beneficial to statistical analyses, as increasing the sample size can increase the power of a hypothesis test, reduce the sampling variability in a sample, and meet the baseline number of collected ‘observations’ that are needed to perform specific analyses. This is not to say that larger sample sizes are unequivocally better; a truly random, yet representative sample is more important. If one already has a large, randomly collected and representative sample, increasing the sample size will not improve the analysis. Our study focuses on how survey topic
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Survey topics will rotate between control, controversial, and neutral during times of data collection.
Methods
Who: We surveyed Vassar students sitting alone at tables at the Retreat, and Vassar students as they entered and exited the All Campus Dining Center (Deece). We believe that by surveying individuals from the Retreat and the Deece, we achieved a truly random sample with respect to our research question. In other words, we do not think that the choice to eat at the Deece or Retreat directly affects willingness to take a survey.
What: The response rate (Yes/No) to short, anonymous surveys offered on a control, controversial and neutral topic.
Where: The Retreat and Deece. These areas are well trafficked by most of the Vassar student population, and we believe that individuals surveyed here are representative of Vassar’s student body with respect to our research question.
When: November 11 and 12 (between 2PM and 4PM)
Why: We are interested in determining if the survey topic (neutral vs. controversial) affects the number of Vassar students that are willing to participate in that survey.
How: (see methodology for additional information) We went to The Retreat on November 11 for one hour and asked students sitting alone at tables if they wished to participate in a short, anonymous survey. Survey topics for the control (no topic), neutral (milk preference), and controversial (abortion rights) were rotated per student
The demographics of the survey were limited. Only current college students attending in the United States were allowed to participate in the survey. Because of this, the participant demographics in the survey are skewed for the sample. For example, of the sample N=166, only 18.7% of the respondents (n=31) identified as male and 4.8% of the respondents (n=8) identified as a gender other than male or female.
I didn’t have a plan when trying to go about finding a certain group of people to survey so, as I saw people I just handed them the survey and asked them to fill it out and give it back to me. I had a total of 16 answered surveys, the respondents ages ranged from 18 years old to 26 years old. The first question of my survey asked about the latest cases they either heard or read about. After analyzing the response, most responders, about 50%, heard about the Ferguson Case and a few heard about the shooting in Savannah. Questions number two and three asked where they got the info and how many times they used or visited the resources and site(s) that they indicated in the previous question. I
Surveys can be used to collect information on a wide range of things, including personal facts, attitudes, past behaviors, and opinions. Survey research can be specific and limited, or it can have more global, widespread
I strongly agree with all of the statements that I stated above. If the surveys had only been composed of those questions, the results have been the same to me. Honestly I don't know why but these statement seems like common sense to me to strongly
The sample will consist of current University of Texas at Dallas students from different classification levels. An estimation of 80-100 surveys will be taken. Demographic collection will be collected prior to administration and will compose of age, gender, and classification level, if they are currently attend UTD, along with whom and where the participant lives.
After the second page, all efforts became less enthusiastic. Typically, a survey that has fewer questions is most affective from past personal experiences. The survey asks similar questions but in a different method. Depending on the individual’s schedule, the survey can take a lengthy time for completion. For example, I recently participated in a voluntary survey through a reputable research company that sent a survey in the mail for disclosure of television viewership habits. As the lengths of the survey increase, the monetary incentives increase. The monetary factor was a great tactic to deviate attention away from the length of the survey; nevertheless, the assessment began to repeat similar questions and became a tedious
Surveys and Polls can be used as a way to obtain facts on a certain subject, but they may not all be as reliable as they
The target population was college students; both off campus renters and those living in the dorms. We surveyed 800 students through email. We utilized Qualtrics to create the survey and distribute it via email on a Sunday night, asking them to complete the survey. We emailed a reminder the following Wednesday to all of the students who had not yet completed the survey. This population lets us achieve our objectives because this population consists of students
Findings of these research data results were stated as producing interesting patterns, yet concerns with the validity due to a small subject population size with not all students completing the surveys. The first survey produced a small outcome of only 56% of student completion rate, and the
The majority of the college students were seniors and juniors, although some freshmen and sophomores were surveyed. Statistically, a voluntary response sample, which is when the respondents chose to participate or not, is not considered a sample that cannot be used to make conclusions about a population so in conclusion, this sample should not be used to make a conclusion about the population of UMass students or UMass recent graduates.
We conducted a survey with 20 random respondents around the campus and dormitories. They are asked to answer several questions to fulfill our data in store. The very first
questioning a large sample of people. Surveys usually consist of a set of questions, presented either
In the late 1970s, an 80 percent response rate was acceptable, but people taking the polls still feared over inaccurate results (Zukin). Now, that fell to about nine percent in 2012 (DeSilver and Keeter) and even to eight percent in 2014 (Zukin). Some of the causes for the low turnout include people being harder to contact, people wanting their opinions private, and that people think “surveys are burdens” (DeSilver and Keeter). People live busier lives, so they feel that taking a survey would take too much time and has no worth. Some may also think that the survey results would not change if they do not answer because many people would receive calls, so they do not answer. Lower turnout means that the results do not represent most of the population, so they become less accurate and lead to more false predictions (Zukin). Low response rate has been a problem for voting, and it also affects surveying
Researchers must not act in a way that could bring discredit on the profession or lead to a loss of public confidence in it. Opinion polling depends on the public’s willingness to participate and public confidence in the accuracy and reliability of opinion polls and published surveys. This means that researchers must:
Another hurdle for phone polls is a high refusal rate due having ask possibly sensitive screening questions (Hagan, 2010). Unfortunately, now in 2017 mail and phone surveys have taken a backseat to Internet surveys. In my opinion internet polls is the wave of the future. There two basic forms of internet reviews emails and web-based surveys used to retrieve data. The reading mentions camera based face-to-face interviews, chat groups along with inexpensive telephone surveys that use the internet. This type polling is said to be limited to specific populations but theoretically, can access one hundred percent of participants. When compared to telephone surveys, Internet surveys can be done faster, cheaper and they are sometimes free. The internet gives you the ability to access a broad cross-section of people, which in most circumstances would be impossible to do with telephones and interviews. The data can be processed faster and more economically, therefore having the results of the study published immediately. Most of your cost with web polls comes in the designing and programming stages (Hagan,