So I have began to think about my questionnaires, what questions I need to ask to ensure that I get all the information I need and how am I going to distribute these questionnaires? Already I have come across a few major issues firstly I am now unsure if a survey is the best research tool to use on this occasion as many of the questions I wish to as could have some quite long winded answers and I am concerned that the students will not give me as much written information as they would if they were to answer verbally. I do not want to interview each student as it will be very time consuming and I wanted to use the survey as a screening process to select which students I wish to interview. I think I am going to have to stick to this method of data collection with the knowledge that I might have to use another method is a large number of the students choose to not to answer the questionnaire properly.
Another issue I have thought of is how I distribute the questionnaires? Ideally I would like to use Survey Monkey give the students the link and ask them to complete the questionnaire but I am concerned how many of them will actually do it. I know that this is a risk you take when using a questionnaire but I think the risk is higher when you ask school students to do something for school which is not mandatory. I can insist that the students that I teach fill them in during class time but I cannot expect other teacher to do the same. I plan to discuss this matter with the head of the department to see if he has any suggestions.
The distribution of questionnaires is something I have been pondering too. I am worried that although it is technically easier for the survey to be done online, the response rate will be poor. I am now leaning towards giving the questionnaire out by hand. I am going to speak to the teachers in question and see if they would be willing to give me 5/10 (if I'm lucky) minutes at the end of their class in which to hand deliver and collect responses from students. The students will still of course have the option of not completing the survey. I don't know if this will work either because it is so time consuming. It's a difficult one.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advise Mark, i have spoken to some of the teachers involved and they think that using the on line survey will be the best distribution method but as i suspected no one has completed the survey!! Now I am unsure what to do, how long should I wait until I give up on this method and ask them to distribute paper copies? I knew that it would difficult to get the students to cooperate but I never thought it would be this bad, why can't people just do what is asked of them?
ReplyDeleteI think you have the right idea trying to get the students to fill them out in class unfortunately I am involving kids from three schools two of which I will only visit after the information from the questionnaires has been collected and I am performing the interviews. I think my only option is to repeatedly remind the students and teachers and stress to them how important this is to my inquiry.
Ensuring response rates is challenging. One thing to do is to give as much information as possible to the intending participants about the reasons behind the survey and persuade them that ultimately it could benefit them or those who come after. Usually, the purpose of inquiries is to improve things, inform professional practice etc. Companies who use surveys as a method of gathering data sometimes offer an incentive to those who participate. In the past I have known students to offer a small voucher (say a £10 itunes card) as prize to one who completes the survey - the prize is randomly picked from the returnees. On the point of the actual design of the questionnaire it's challenging as you say to expect long detailed responses, this you would get better from an interview. The survey design could include Likert style options where to some degree attitudes can be measured. Another option could be a focus group with a group of students in order to gather the more qualitative data you seek
ReplyDeleteI have revised some of the questions so that they do not require quite such detailed answers. I have also discussed the issue of the distribution method with some of the of the other members of staff at my school and they believed that using survey monkey would be the the most efficient and time effective method. On this advise i have passed on the links to the heads of departments in the three schools i am involving in my inquiry (i did this over a week ago) since then i have no response, not one person has fill it in. I have pestered the students in my school but as of yet it has not helped. I wish i could offer them some sort of incentive but our school has a very strict policy about staff involvement with students and what they can and cannot give pupils and i have been advised that this might be my best course of action. The head of our art department has agreed that if they have not done it by next week he will get them to fill it in in the lesson while he watches them. As for the other two schools i am still thinking of what to do.
ReplyDeleteDue to the poor response i plan to contact more school around the country and as they if they would be willing to ask their students to complete my questionnaire, this is where their involvement in my inquiry will end. I am hoping that this will not only result in a larger number of responses but also give me a better overview of the teaching of art in general.