Question

Read the proposed survey questions. Answer the following for each: Why is it weak? How can the question be re-worded to improve it?

1. When you were in 1st grade did you have neat handwriting?

2. How many days a week do you smoke marijuana?

3. Teachers work very hard and often spend their own money on classroom supplies. They also often spend their free time working on lessons, mentoring clubs, or tutoring students. Do you think teachers should be paid more for all the hard work they do?

Answer 1

• A survey is a data collection tool used to gather information about individuals. Surveys are commonly used in psychology research to collect self-report data from study participants. A survey may focus on factual information about individuals, or it might aim to obtain the opinions of the survey takers.
• Having close ended questions with options makes it easier to gather large amounts of data.The fact that questions of this type are easy to code makes them particularly useful when trying to prove the statistical significance of a survey’s results. Furthermore, the information gained by closed-ended questions allows researchers to categorize respondents into groups based on the options they have selected.
• 1.When you were in 1st grade did you have neat handwriting?
  Responses can be answered by choosing an option like: Yes,No,Maybe,Cannot say
• 2.How many days a week do you smoke marijuana?
• Response options: Every day, A few times per week, Once per week, A few times a month, Less than once a month, Almost never.
• 3.Teachers work very hard and often spend their own money on classroom supplies. They also often spend their free time working on lessons, mentoring clubs, or tutoring students. Do you think teachers should be paid more for all the hard work they do?
• Response options-Yes,No,Maybe,Not more than a certain fixed amount