Survey Report - What Are the Possible Barriers You May Face in Using a Survey?

Running head: SURVEY REPORT

Survey Report

Jon Schutte

Davenport University

Abstract

Surveys are one of the most popular tools for collecting data during a research study. However, there are some key areas that need to be addressed when creating an effective and valid survey. This paper will take a look at some of those areas and also answer the following questions:

• What are the possible barriers you may face in using a survey?

• What are the possible outcomes?

• What information in particular needs to be collected?

• Why is a survey the best form of data collection? If not, why?

• Is there a validated survey that can be used to perform your research? If so, how was it validated? If not, what are some of the potential challenges in developing a survey?

Survey Report

What are the possible barriers you may face in using a survey?

Although surveys can be incredibly useful for gathering data from a large number of people, they are not without their disadvantages. One challenge when creating a survey is making the questions general enough to be minimally appropriate for all recipients. Surveys are as standardized as you can get, and therefore you have to create questions that are applicable to the majority of candidates. Otherwise they become worthless. By making the questions so general, the survey creator can wind up missing what is most appropriate to a lot of recipients. With other data collection tools, you can change the tool to make sure it evolves appropriately as the research progresses. For example, in interviews, if I determine after interviewing someone that three interview questions need to be changed or revised in order to receive the most valuable data, I can do that. Surveys however are very inflexible, and you only get one shot to get your questions right, which means the survey creator needs to put in due diligence to create the best possible questions. (Writing@CSU, 2011)

One of the biggest barriers with surveys, especially with surveys that are mailed out, is getting enough responses. I know personally I have simply thrown away surveys I have received in the mail simply because I didn't want to take the time to answer them. It's a lot easier to get a high response rate when you personally know the people you are surveying such as in my situation of surveying my co-workers. One way that the surveyor can help to ensure a large number of replies is to somehow show