Discussion 1: Issues And Controversies In Survey Research

If whether to ask open-ended or closed-ended questions was the only decision you had to make, developing a survey research study would be easy. Although this may have been a major debate at one time, more complex controversies regarding survey research have developed. From properly phrasing questions to adopting the demeanor of an interviewer, you must consider many variables that could negatively affect your research results. Obstacles to accurately accepting or rejecting your hypothesis lurk in the planning, development, and execution of your survey research process.

One way to ensure the precision of your survey is to test it with a sample from your target demographic. You also may incorporate a peer review in order to accurately test both the perception of the respondent and the perception of the researcher in your survey. It will help you determine whether participants on both sides of the survey agree when interpreting the survey questions, which can be a critical piece of the process. Traditionally, peer review involves two to three peers and colleagues, but you may wish to include one reviewer who is not a research methodologist. This person will read your work at face value and may catch issues that you overlooked.

Based on your Research Proposal experience, as well as on the larger context of the course material related to a research proposal in general, review the issues and controversies in survey research you explored in Week 1 (including all of the readings). Then consider any specific issues and controversies that you encountered when developing your Survey Research Proposal for the Final Project.

With these thoughts in mind:

By Day 4

Post by Day 4 a description of specific issues and controversies in survey research that you encountered when developing your Survey Research Proposal (Attached). Explain how you accounted for and addressed these issues when designing your proposal.