Blog 10

When creating surveys, questionnaires, or any type of multi-answer testing mechanism, language use plays a key role in the usefulness of the results it produces. The biggest flaw in the Writing Option major survey is the language wasn’t as clear as it could have been. A lot of the questions were either repetitive or contradictory. Questions like 1, 5, 12, and 14 all relate to the revision process. Revision is a big factor in the success of a paper, so documenting the typical steps a student would take when editing a paper can provide useful and relevant information. However, the wording used in this survey made the questions seem like they contradicted each other. Key words like “typically,” and phrases like “spend most of my time” make it seem like there is only one possible answer. “Typically,” and “most” are words used as generalizations; “typically” is synonymous with other words like “usually” and “normally,” which imply that an action is repeated enough that it becomes atypical when it is not performed. The use of “typically” also implies that if one thing is done “typically” or “usually,” then another action cannot be performed at the same time and as often, because then the first action would not be “typical” anymore and the two would conflict with each other. A person who “typically” studies while listening to music cannot also “typically” study in silence. Likewise, if a person is described as spending “most of their time” reading, they cannot also be described as spending  “most of their time” with friends, because the actions contradict each other—does the person read more, or go out more? So when this survey states that students typically spend most of their time working on grammar, organization and arrangement, it feels like we, as students, have to pick one as to not conflict with the others.

Surveys are useful for collecting general information. They can’t collect very detailed information; the questions would be intricate for short responses, and the answers given would require a lot more analysis. More analysis of answers would take up more time than necessary and would be hard to average together to get a general consensus. Surveys are best for quickly collecting data from the group in interest in order to establish a general feel for what the group thinks or feels.

Challenges include wording, specificity and bias. Wording, as previously discussed, plays a large role in the interpretability of the survey. Bad wording can result in skewed data, which is detrimental to the outcome of the study. It is also difficult to obtain specific data, as the questions must usually be concise so that more information can be gathered in less time. Researchers run the risk of asking questions that are too broad. This is what happened to the questions in the Writing Option survey. Because the questions were too generalized, the purpose of the survey was lost. Researchers must establish a focus—what are we trying to learn?—and stick to it. Questions must always relate back to this so good information can be obtained. 

Finally, researchers need to avoid bias. Cullington’s essay is a good example of question bias; the way in which a question is asked determines the answer that is given. If a survey taker feels the researcher wants a specific answer, they are more likely to answer in accordance to their expectations. This also skews results and can lead to incorrect results. Researchers must make sure to be as neutral as possible when asking their questions; they must try to avoid revealing their stance on a topic and never lead the interviewee/survey taker to believe they should answer with a specific answer.