Questions On Writing Assignments : The Klandermans And Staggenborg Text

A questionnaire is a technique that used for collecting data in a survey. It is a series of questions to which the respondent provides answers. During the interviews and in person surveys one must stay within the bounds of the designed protocol. Observational research solely involves the researcher(s) making observations. There are numerous positive

4. What are the limitations of the survey method, and how would you overcome the limitations of this research method, or any research approach?

A questionnaire is a list of a research or survey questions asked to respondents, and designed to extract quantitative date. Questionnaires are easily distributed to the community and can be completed and collected on the spot or be emailed or posted back to the researcher. Self completed questionnaires are the most common survey as they are cheap and can be passed to a lot of people. Some sociologists tend not to use questionnaires because of their low response rate and lack of validity. Also, some people may give false information so some researchers like to stick to interviews and experiments for increased accuracy. I will explore why sociologists shy away from using questionnaires.

The method of inquiry that I have taken for this assignment is both primary and secondary research. I conducted a survey that I distributed among some of the school population on survey

Although the class has not had input into the methodology used to collect the data for this report it is still important for us to know why these methods were used. Questionnaires can be useful in order to get opinions and views from a large groups of people (McLeod 2014), such like conditions for the research for this reports. This can be useful as this can be an easier way of targeting a larger audience other than in interview purposes. This will also be more time consuming as everyone is answering the same questions.

The question will explain why the research is necessary and place the study in context, by drawing on the work already presented prior to research. When reporting how research is done describing it in detail is necessary to understand. Researchers should be able to describe the research tools used, if there is an existing tool used, by stating the psychometric components while providing references to the original development work. If a new tool was used, it should be included in the entire section describing the steps undertaken to develop and test the tool, including results of psychometric testing. Meanwhile, when reporting survey research there should be details describing how the sample are selected and how data is collected to include; how potential subjects were identified? Who approached the potential subjects? Where were potential subjects approached? How was informed consent obtained? How many participants agreed to participate? How did the participants who agreed to differ from those who did not agree? What were the response

Quantitative research has numerous strengths and weaknesses as well. The most popular and main form of quantitative research is the use of surveys, which are cheaper and less costly than other forms of data collection. Another beneficial quality of the quantitative approach is the lack of contact between the researcher and the participants, which allows researchers to collect data that could be more biasedly based if used with the qualitative approach. However, quantitative research has its downfalls. Because the sample sizes are so large it lengthens the time of the data collection process and interviewing the participants again is usually not possible, which could alter the consistency of the results (Cooper & Schindler, 2008).

In “Why Marches Aren’t What They Used to Be”, David Leonhardt ineffectually argues that the use of mass marches as a method of protesting political issues are not “necessarily a sign of an actual movement” and not as effective as they were pre-internet. Leonhardt’s argument is heavily loaded with quotations from other authors and lacks clarity on some of his points. Even without fully defending his position following the quotations or completely explaining some points of his argument, his strategy will likely open readers up to further discussion and research.

The American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) developed the 10 guiding questions for the Best Practice for Survey and Public Opinion Research, which are as follows. (1) Was there a clearly defined research question? (2) Did the researchers select samples that well represent the population to be studied? (3) Did the authors use designs that balance costs with errors? (4) Did the authors describe the research instrument? (5) Was the instrument pretested? (6) Were quality control measures described? (7) Was the response rate sufficient to enable generalizing the results to the target population? (8) Were the statistical, analytic, and reporting techniques appropriate to the data collected? (9) Was evidence of ethical treatment of human subjects provided? And (10) were the researchers transparent to ensure evaluation and replication? (Draugalis, Coons, & Plaza, 2008). While the aforementioned guiding questions may be utilized to develop a quality survey instrument, it is important to evaluate what the researcher should consider not to include when crafting the survey questionnaire. The questions in the survey instrument should not use: (1) any vague verbiage or quantifiers such as “regularly,” “often,” or “rarely,” (2) any many abbreviations, acronyms, or jargon, technical

Survey’s can be very helpful in gathering data, but they may be a double edged sword as this leaves a large area for self-report

Survey design can raise issues that can traverse the cultural and linguistic boundaries and influence the survey questions selection and procedure. These issues can become more pressing and critical especially when surveys are conducted in support of vital entities such as government policies, program evaluations, human rights investigations and government policies. Survey accommodation to certain cultures and languages is an issue of importance and significance. There are logical reasons for these issues as survey participants can interpret things and respond differently according to the question order effects, cultural and language background. Also, the participants` understanding of the survey construction, intention, data usage and assurance of their information, can influence the designer`s approach of questions construction and organization (Blair & Piccinino, 2005). The previous literature reviews shed the light on several aspects such as the survey design implications. The importance of the survey context becomes apparent when the researchers consider the situations where cultural and linguistic factors are involved. These factors can influence the design due to several reasons, Some researchers design the surveys from scratch for the purpose of using it in cultures and language settings, which are not their own.

The second part should address the limitations of your method. You are are not expected by readers to have conducted the "perfect" survey study. However, you are are expected to demonstrate that you have a thorough understanding of the limitations of your own work, and that you have made reasonable judgments about how to spend your limited time and resources. The final section concerning methodology should therefore acknowledge the limitations of your study, and explain how they may affect the interpretation of the results.

Another limitation to this study is the possibility of low response rates and financial requirements. Mailing surveys will get expensive and responses are not guaranteed. This limitation is addressed to the best of the study’s ability by including a large sample size and providing incentives for returned surveys. Another major limitation of survey research designs is the reliability of self reported data. “Even though people believe they are being accurate, they may in fact not be. Essentially, we are collecting information on their perceptions of what they believe to be accurate.” (Mertler 2016). Participants may also respond to surveys the way they think the researcher wants them to respond. “Although unavoidable when conducting survey research, researchers have an obligation to recognize and acknowledge that respondents may be providing socially acceptable responses.” (Mertler 2016).

Generally, surveys are standardized to ensure that they have reliability and validity. This is very important so that the results can be generalized to the entire population. However, this paper will discuss the following questions/concerns based on the survey questionnaire answered: my thought on the length of each survey instrument, my thought on the open minded questions, whether I preferred completing the surveys or open ended questions, which methodology I believe is most useful in the examination of each variable/construct, and how this experience might influence my research design.

In survey method research, participants answer questions administered through interviews or questionnaires. After participants answer the questions, researchers describe the responses given. In order for the survey to be both reliable and valid it is important that the questions are constructed properly. Questions should be written so they are clear and easy to comprehend.