Social Science Unit 4 Assignment Forum: Designing Survey Questions

PSY341 – Research Methods in the Social Sciences

Unit 4 Assignment Forum: Designing Survey Questions Due Dates:

• -- Post assignment to the forum.

• -- Respond to a classmate.

Points: 100

Overview: For this assignment forum, you will create survey questions on the psychology topic of your choice.

Instructions:

• Imagine that you are going to conduct survey research on your psychology topic. What information would you want to know?

• After watching the videos on sampling, answer the following questions:

o Who would your participants be?

o What would your sampling method be?

o How would you ensure your sample is representative of the population you chose?

o How would you avoid bias in survey responses?

• Review the “How to Create a Bad Survey Instrument” article under this week’s Readings and Resources. Then, create four (4) poor survey questions, making sure to create one of each category type listed below:

o A double-barreled question.

o A leading question.

o A question with acronymns, non-specific, or unfamiliar terms.

o A question with incomplete or overlapping answer choices.

• State which category each question exemplifies.

• Write four (4) effective research questions. Explain your rationale why each question qualifies as an effective question. Choose 4 separate reasons (one for each question).

• For your reply, choose two of your classmate’s questions. Do you have any recommendations to offer about how to put a different spin on the question wording to make the question either more or less effective? Use your knowledge of effective survey questions to craft your response and provide a rationale for your suggestions. Finally, do you believe your classmates’ sample is representative of the population they chose? Why or why not?

PSY341–Research Methods in the Social Sciences

Requirements:

• Post the assignment and your response to the Assignment Forum by the due dates listed above.

Be sure to read the criteria below by which your work will be evaluated before you write and again after you write.

Evaluation Rubric for Unit 4 Assignment Forum

CRITERIA Deficient Needs

Improvement Proficient Exemplary

0 – 14 Points 15 – 21 Points 22 – 26 Points 27 – 30 Points Survey Sample Description

Did not correctly describe survey sample, and/or rationale provided for sampling method was not appropriate.

Described the survey sample, including a description of participants and sampling method used. Rationale was provided for the sampling method chosen and was appropriate but was significantly lacking in important details.

Described the survey sample, including a description of participants and sampling method used. Rationale was provided for the sampling method chosen and was appropriate, but both the description and rationale may be lacking a few important details.

Thoroughly described survey sample, including a description of participants and sampling method used. Rationale was provided for the sampling method chosen and was appropriate.

0 – 6 Points 7 – 10 Points Bias in Survey Responding

Did not describe at least one way to avoid bias in survey responses, or description was completely inaccurate.

Thoroughly described at least one way to avoid bias in survey responding, based on Readings and Resources.

0 – 9 points 10 – 14 points 15 – 19 points 20 points Ineffective Survey Questions

Provided no examples of ineffective survey questions.

Provided less than four examples of ineffective survey questions and description of what makes each question ineffective is significantly lacking in detail or is inaccurate.

Provided four examples of ineffective survey questions but did not provide at least one question of each type. Described why each question is ineffective, but descriptions may be lacking a few important details.

Provided four examples of ineffective survey questions, with one question of each type provided (a double-barreled question, a leading question, a question with acronymns, non-specific, or unfamiliar terms,

CRITERIA Deficient Needs Improvement

Proficient Exemplary

and a question with incomplete or overlapping answer choices). Thoroughly describes why each question is ineffective.

0 – 9 points 10 – 14 points 15 – 19 points 20 points Effective Survey Questions

Provided no examples of effective survey questions.

Provides less than 4 effective survey questions and some rationale as to why they are considered effective. Rationale contains redundancies.

Provides 4 effective survey questions and rationale as to why they are considered effective. Rationale is mostly appropriate and is mostly not redundant.

Provides 4 effective survey questions and thorough rationale as to why they are considered effective. Each question has a different rationale.

0 points 5 points 8 points 10 points Peer Response No response post

was made to a classmate.

Peer response provided though minimal and lacking depth by restating or summarizing what was already expressed; details and new ideas missing or lacking.

Peer response elaborates on classmate’s ideas with further comment or observation but does not raise a question or offer an alternative perspective.

Peer response elaborates on a classmate’s ideas with further comment or observation; presents a relevant new idea or viewpoint for consideration; raises a question or politely offers an alternative perspective.

0 points 5 points 10 points Posting Due Dates

The main post and response were not posted by the due dates of the unit.

Either the main post or the response was not posted by the due date of the unit

Both the main post and response were posted by the due dates of the unit.