Survey Project

Guidelines for Survey Project

1) Your survey should consist of 10-15 questions. The questionnaires may be distributed and received online, in person, or both.

2) You should have at least:

a) two questions which elicit ratio data responses.

b) two questions which elicit ordinal data responses (Likert 1-5 or 1-4 recommended).

c) two questions which elicit categorical data responses.

3) You should end up with at least 50 completed questionnaires, but the more the better.

Points 1-3 above may be deviated from if it is appropriate for your paper, but get my approval for any substantial deviation.

The report should consist of the following parts. Keep deviations from this report format to a minimum (except section size, for which you have more latitude). Each of the following sections (I to VII) must be explicitly labeled in your report as shown below. I have placed approximate section size in parentheses:

I) Abstract or Executive Summary.

This section summarizes sections II-VI below. (One paragraph.)

II) Introduction

This section explains your motivation for your particular choice of project. If there is a literature on your topic (almost no one will have that) summarize it here. State what you are looking for and what you expect to see. (One or two pages, at most.)

III) Methods

This section explains how and where you got your subjects. If you are using any special devices or psychological scales (and almost no one will) discuss them here. (One paragraph to one page, at most.)

IV) Results

This is the major part of the report. Here you report your results without interpretation. Your results typically have two parts: univariate summary statistics and multivariate tests. The univariate summary statistics include things like the means and standard deviations of variables, tables, graphs, and possibly confidence intervals. The multivariate statistics include chi-square, correlation, regression, etc. and should include tables and graphs as well. You will need to do at least three or four of these multivariate tests. Remember, state the test and give its results (p-value), saying whether the results are significant. Do not interpret the results at this point. (Several pages, at least.). Please, do not give me printouts of you computer runs. I want clear English verbiage presenting your results.

V) Discussion

This section links the Results to the Introduction, stating whether those things you expected to see as stated in the introduction were confirmed. If they were not, try to explain why. Remember, you are not graded on whether you found significance or not, so please report results as they come in. If you have a literature on your topic (and almost no one will), discuss how your results compare to other findings. (Approximately one to two pages.)

VI) Conclusions

This section summarizes each section in the study. (One or two paragraphs.)

VII) Appendix

Include a blank copy of your questionnaire, a printout of the Excel worksheet containing your data (one or two pages: reduce in size if necessary). Also include any other information you wish, particularly information that was not appropriate for the above sections. Do not give me any filled out questionnaires.

Remember, write this report in good, clear English, checking your grammar. You will not be graded on your English, but as with any report, clarity of presentation counts. The writing should focus on communicating with the reader (me). This report is a substantial part of your grade, so treat it appropriately.