Write a survey of at least 7 close-ended questions related to your topic. The survey should be intended for administration to the general public as a face-to-face interview (if you wish to desgin a survey for a specific population, please see your instructor). The questions and layout of the survey should reflect the fact that you will be reading them out loud to the respondents. The questions should include gender and age as shown below (on the next printed page) as the last two items (unless you wish to ask about income, in which case that may be the last item).
Try to lay out the questions on the page following Babbie's guidelines. In other words, make sure you have read the chapter on surveys before doing the assignment. Look at the web page on survey layout for ideas about how to do this. You are welcome to try various fonts and font sizes as well as any other ideas that seem useful even for the sections on the next page.
Spelling and grammar are especially important here since mistakes can add to confusion for respondents. Read your survey out loud before handing it in and change any items that don't "speak" smoothly or comfortably. It will also be worthwhile to review Guidelines for Writing Questions before you begin and check them again when you have a complete draft.
You may use survey questions from other researchers, the Question Bank or the General Social Survey. However, if you do so, you should attach a separate sheet with the citation information.
Bring two printed copies of the survey plus a copy of the word processing file to the lab on a diskette (or place a copy in the digital dropbox in Blackboard). To get credit for both this assignment and the lab you must hand in a hard copy at the beginning of the lab. You will need the disk copy to get credit for the lab.
The top of the survey should say (fill in the blanks with appropriate information):
(Instructions to interviewers are enclosed in parentheses. When doing the interviews, read out loud all of the text that is not in parentheses exactly as it is printed.)
Hello, my name is ___________. I am carrying out a survey for a sociology class on research methods. The survey is on the subject of _________. I would appreciate it if you would consent to be interviewed. It should take less than 10 minutes to complete the interview. Your participation in this survey is totally voluntary and you may stop the interview at any time. Neither your name nor any other identifying information will be recorded on the survey, and your responses will be kept completely confidential. In order to keep the information completely confidential, please do not put your name on the survey.
My instructor is Professor ____________ of the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Lehman College. He/she can be reached at 718-960-7820 or room B60 of Carman Hall on the Lehman College Campus if you have any questions.
Sex (Code yourself by looking at the person. Ask ONLY if you are not sure)
| [] Male [] Female |
How old are you?
| ______ | ||
| (If respondent refuses to answer ask): Are you ...
|
Bring a hard copy and the disk copy of your survey to the lab. To get credit for both this assignment and the lab you must hand in a hard copy at the beginning of the lab. You will need the disk copy to get credit for the lab.