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Required Assignment: Survey/Code Book – IBUS 620 Revised V3.0, contains Parts 1 and 2

Part1 : The Survey/Code Book Assignment–Introduction and Examples Prompt: Introduction. In this assignment, you will make a short, but complete survey and codebook on a topic of your choice. Your survey must have an international business aspect to it, whether it appears in the IVs (independent variables) or the DV (dependent variable) or both. You must submit both the survey and codebook as ONE file (Word format preferred – .docx). Important Advice: Read this document slowly and carefully. It has been revised and is now very useful for this assignment! Hint: A sample survey file and sample code book file are included with this assignment for your reference. These can be very useful. See iLearn for these files. Notes on terms: We often use the word “question” to refer to an actual question (ends with a “?”) as well as an “item,” which is not really a question, but a statement that you can agree or disagree with. In this class, we use question and item interchangeably. In reality, all questions are items, but not all items are questions. Also, we abbreviate the word Question by Q (one question) or Qs for multiple questions. First, read the rest of this document. It is immensely important for this assignment. Then, review the sample survey provided in the link below. Then review the sample code book for that survey in the other link provided below. These are both long documents. Your survey will be much shorter. Now you are ready to write a short survey. Proceed as follows: 1. Think of a research question, using the form below: “What factors determine <my dependent variable>?” Example: What factors determine desire to study abroad among SF State International Business students? The research question identifies the dependent variable (DV), the outcome you want to predict. 2. Create and state two directional testable hypotheses of association. Examples: H1: As age increases, desire to study abroad decreases. H2: As the number of languages spoken by students increases, desire to study abroad increases.

Each testable hypothesis identifies both one independent variable and the dependent variable (IV and DV). Research usually explores one dependent variable per study (with exceptions). All hypotheses in a particular research study almost always use the same dependent variable, and only the IVs change from hypothesis to hypothesis. So, looking at one predicted DV, say, desire to study abroad, we can

be pretty confident that all the other testable hypotheses in the paper will also have that DV, as in the above examples, H1 and H2. Again there exceptions, but not for this class. 3. Now write three Likert-scale items (or other types of items) that probe each of your two hypotheses (6 total items). Here, I use a couple of different types of items besides Likert scales. Examples: H1 items – 1. Please check the age-range that includes your age: 18-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 Over 60 ______ _____ _____ ____ _____

2. By my own standards, I consider myself to be young. _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree 3. I like to consider myself as a person who “thinks like a young person.” _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree H2 items – 4. I am very multi-lingual. _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree 5. Please indicate how many languages you speak besides your native language: 1 2 3 4 More than 4 _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ 6. I am not fluent in any other languages, except for my native language. _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Notice the Question 6 (Q6) is worded negatively, so the coding will be reversed. You need to indicate this in your code book. Also, note for Item 4, above, it may have occurred to you that “I am very multi-lingual,” may not be a wonderful measure of number of languages spoken. Maybe I was in a hurry when I wrote that item ;-). We could keep this item in the survey, and if it turns out not to be a good measure, we can drop it because we have the other two items that we should be able to use (Items 5 and 6 above). This is one important reason why we develop multiple survey items to measure each IV and the DV.

In “real world” surveys, however, we might commonly want to have 4-5 items per measure, and not 3, but three is good enough for this assignment, since you are not collecting and analyzing any data– the skill you are learning is how to construct a survey and code book. Add three background questions. You should think of your own original background questions (except Gender—it’s OK to use that one—it’s a very commonly used survey question). These are typical examples: 7. What is your gender? ________ ________ Male Female 8. How many foreign countries have you traveled to during your life? 1 2 3 4 More than 4 _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ 9. Do you prefer to live in a country that is NOT your native country? Yes No ______ _______ Items to measure your dependent variable (DV). Write three questions that do this. Examples (I give four examples; you only need to write three): 10. I have a strong desire to study abroad. _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree 11. I am not interested in studying abroad. _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree

12. I am passionate about learning about other cultures. _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree 13. I would enjoy living abroad for part of my university study experience. _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Notice the Question 11 (Q11) is worded negatively, so the coding will be reversed. You need to indicate this in your code book. We use reversed coding to check for respondents who might agree (or disagree) with everything, for example.

Controls. There are almost always some factors that you don’t care about (you have no hypotheses relating to them) but they affect the outcome you are trying to predict, the DV. Often these are background questions. Additionally, there may be some non-background control questions that you need to ask in order to “control” for the effects of these factors. Here are two examples of such questions. Remember you think these have a effect on the outcome you want to predict, but you don’t care about them—they are not a part of any theory predictions you are testing. You are including them so no one can review the research and say, for example, “you forgot to account for ability to write in a foreign language.” Examples of control questions (I’m giving three examples–you only need to write two): 14. Have you previously studied abroad? Yes No ______ _______ 15. Have any of your brothers or sisters studied abroad? (if you have no brothers or sisters, answer “No”) Yes No ______ _______ 16. I do NOT enjoy eating the food of countries other than my native country. _______ ________ _______ ________ _________ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Order of the questions/items: Put the background questions either before or after the hypotheses questions—in a long survey, after is better. You have a short survey, so you can put the background Qs before the hypotheses Qs. Put the DV Qs early in the survey, before the IV Qs. In a survey you planning to actually distribute and administer to a sample of people, you would mix up the order of the questions. We don’t need to do that here—it makes the survey easier to write and also to read. Your complete survey should 14 total questions. This is your target for your submission: 14 Qs. With the exception of Gender, you must create all original questions, as well as research question, and hypotheses in your submission. Key Details: Give the survey a title.

Example: “Survey on Attitudes Towards Study Abroad” Create a short introduction paragraph. See the example introduction in the sample survey file below. You can use that text, or write something similar but using your own original phrasing (preferred). Submit your work via Turnitin.com at the link given below. This assignments Opens on Sept. 15, 2019, at0000hrs, and Closes on Dec. 2, 2019, at 2359hrs.

Summary of the deliverables for Survey and Items (14 items/questions total):

Introductory paragraph (brief) explaining the survey. 6 total hypothesis (independent variable) questions (3 for each hypothesis). 3 background questions. 3 dependent variable questions. 2 control questions

The code book: Review the sample codebook. It’s a great guide on how to create a code book. It is simply a survey, but you fill in the numbers you would score for each response. Examples (from the above items): 9. Do you prefer to live in a country that is NOT your native country?

Yes No ___1___ ___0____ 10. I have a strong desire to study abroad. ___1___ ___2____ ___3____ ___4___ ___5___ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree Remember to reverse to coding for negatively worded questions. Example: 16. I do NOT enjoy eating the food of countries other than my native country. ___5___ ___4___ ___3___ ___2____ ___1____ Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Disagree –––––––––––– IMPORTANT: Submitting the assignment. There is one link (on iLearn) for submitting one document containing both the survey and code book. Use your last name in the filenames for both files. This will help us put things together for the evaluation of your work. Example of a good filename: SmithSurveyCodebookIBUS620.docx (Use only Word or PDF files – Word is preferred ! .docx) The next section (Part 2) deals with the content of a Research Question and Hypotheses in great detail. It will also help you complete this assignment with a minimum of issues. Please read the last part of this document carefully.

Part 2: Crucial details on wording in research questions and hypotheses This clarifying and explanatory material can help everyone in the class. The source of this document, like many of the best resources in this class, is a student’s questions. I am grateful to students who ask questions. Thank you. I have elaborated and refined the IBUS 620 Team's response to the student. I believe you will all find this useful! First, as elsewhere, I abbreviate dependent variable as DV, and independent variable as IV in this note. Second, my main comment, which holds for all the questions below is that things need to be (1) measurable, and (2) measurable using a survey (these are two important conditions for the Res. Q and hypotheses). Our student has crafted a technically OK Research Q and two hypotheses, but are they measurable, and if so, are they measurable BY A SURVEY INSTRUMENT? Again, this comment goes for everything in this note--read on! Student's first question: 1. Re: Research Question: Is this survey [research] question is okay: "What factors determine the importance of international students attending Skyline College?" Comments: Should be "Research Question", not Survey Question. The research question specifies only the dependent variable (DV). Hypotheses specify both the IVs and the DV. Also, in the above research question, "importance" is rather hard to measure and too abstract an idea for a dependent variable in this case. I'd drop that as a DV. So we need a new DV. I prefer (for example): "What factors determine favorable attitude towards US culture among international students attending Skyline College?" Here, "degree of favorable attitude towards US culture" is a measurable DV, and it's measurable by a survey! It works! One possible survey item to measure this DV: "I think US culture is great." ___Strongly Disagree ___Disagree ___Neutral ___Agree ___Strongly Agree NOTE: a survey item measures ONLY ONE THING AT A TIME. It is a common mistake to try to measure two things (e.g., the IV and DV) with poorly worded survey items. Note that "attitudes towards US culture" is much more specific, and hence more easily measurable by survey, than importance. Student's second question: 2. Re: Hypotheses--"Are these hypotheses OK?" (I'm paraphrasing here) For the student's original draft H1: As International Student enrollment increases, their drop-out rate decreases.

Comments: The DV and IVs are not measurable by a survey, though they could be measured in other ways--we want to explore survey-friendly hypotheses in this class. I strongly prefer, for example, and using my Res. Q from above: H1: As an international student's English language skills increase, his/her attitude towards US culture is increasingly positive. [DV is attitude towards US culture, IV is strength of English language skills]. Here’s the learning message from the above paragraph on revised H1: As A increases, B increases -- this is the general form of the hypotheses we want students to make. That's what we see in H1. Another form that would be OK is "As A decreases, B increases. We don't have a need for that format here. I go deeper into this area (wording hypotheses) in other materials you have already been assigned and have hopefully read. For the student's original draft H2: H2: As the international student transfer rate to Universities increases, the desire to attend Skyline College increases. Comments: International student transfer rate does not seem measurable by a survey question to me--this is an institutional-level set of data (not survey-able) that one would normally have no access to because of privacy issues. We need IVs we can measure via a survey instrument. Though, interestingly, "desire to attend Skyline College" is well-measurable via a survey, so the student could go ahead and use it in both hypotheses for the DV, no problem. To be consistent in my existing examples, however, I am sticking to my revised dependent variable, "attitude towards US culture," from above, for H2. So H1 and H2 have the same DV--this is also key. Typically, the IV changes from one hypothesis to the next, NOT the DV (another important learning takeaway). The reason is that each distinct DV needs its own regression analysis, but you can have multiple IVs in one regression equation. Testing theory works well this way! You have one DV, and you want to know what factors (IVs) have an effect on it (the DV). One regression model will do the job--tells you what matters and what does not. I again emphasize that the student's original DV for H2, "desire to attend Skyline College," is definitely measurable by a survey, and would make a fine DV for the research question, and also both hypotheses. Here, however, for completeness, is my corrected version of H2, using my own DV, "attitude towards US culture." H2: International transfer students have a more positive attitude towards US culture than non- transfer students at Skyline College. The wording above is a little different from the above examples, but this works. You would not say H2: As a student is increasingly a transfer student, their attitude towards US culture is increasingly positive. It's awkward, since an international student is either a transfer student or not! This is why the wording above that I have suggested for H2 is fine.

Pushing further into the assignment, we would write and code (book) the survey question for this IV as follows... How it might look in the Survey: Are you a transfer student? ____Yes ____No How it might look in the Code Book: ...and code it in the code book as follows: Are you a transfer student? __0__Yes __1__No The required survey items could all be written from these hypotheses (don't forget the "control" measures--see the prompt). See my previous explanatory material on iLearn, as well as the previous email on some of the other important aspects of this assignment. You need to read this material to get the complete picture. The IBUS 620 Team hopes this helps you in both understanding and completing the assignment. Questions? Email us! -Prof. Heiman and the IBUS 620 Team