Job Discussion Forums

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Who are you and why are you doing this ?

sicklyman · Joined: 02 Feb 2013 Posts: 930

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I just assume that all these "surveys" are from scammers or time-wasters.

sprightly · Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 136 Location: England

agree that it is standard to give a 'why do this survey' blurb in teh OP.
disagree that it is standard to pay ppl to do short surveys like this. very few student researchers could ever collect meaningful data if they had to pay every respondent.

timothypfox · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 492

I did the survey. I think people really shouldn't get caught with whether the survey was good quality or not. Not everyone here provided constructive feedback about how the survey could be improved, so just saying that this is poor and I am an expert is not good enough.

My feeling is that some worthwhile results can still be generated from this survey even if all the survey questions can't be used. The findings I think will help the researchers understand the shortcomings and help generate better future research. This is likely not the basis of a doctoral level research.

Here are my thoughts for areas of improvement for the survey. My feedback within the survey was that the "other" category in question 1 should have included a please explain for multi-national persons or for persons who changed nationality etc... There should have been more "other" categories throughout followed by a "please explain" to allow more flexibility in answering this. An additional question should be added at the end of the survey should encourage open comments, and constructive feedback of the survey.

Those that have assumed that this is not a legitimate survey, need to go to the end of the survey where they clearly state that they would like to share the results of the survey with participants via email. Sounds like it is real research to me.

sprightly · Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 136 Location: England

questoin 7, i think? asked if i had a teaching qualification, by which i assumed BEd or similar--i don't.

next question asked where i'd gotten it, but didn't leave an NA option.

that was one flaw.

hope OP comes back, but if this is for MA level research, a supervisor really should have picked up on some of these things.

Chancellor · Posted: Tue Jul 30, 2013 5:14 pm Post subject:

I have to admit that I'm always suspicious when I see these survey requests. I know there have been university professors that have asked their students to interview people in a particular category (e.g. people from another culture, people in a certain occupation) - even at the grad school level - but, it just doesn't seem like university-level work.

sprightly · Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 136 Location: England

i dunno.
when i did my MA, a handful of people in teh program did surveys. and i'm still on the mailing list, and a survey request comes through about every two months from students on the program.

just for fun, i'm trying to think of an academic survey topic but can't find one.

what is annoying me now is that OP has not been back to say 'thank you' or check up.