Survey/Interview Questions Rough Draft

Survey/Interview Questions - one submission per group

• Rough draft due: October 13 by 5 pm. 

• Length: Depends on your topic, typed

For your final project, if you plan to conduct interviews, design and distribute surveys, or both, you will have to turn in a list of questions beforehand. Remember that for surveys to be useful, you must demonstrate that you have surveyed a representative sample of the population(a minimum of 100 people). Effective survey questions are specific and unbiased, and take into account your audience’s preferences, needs, and time constraints. Effective interview questions are clear, focused, and open-ended (unlikely to result in yes/no answers). For this assignment, you will write ten questions for a survey or an interview. (You must identify which.)

You will also want to review the guidelines on the OWL website.

You’ll begin by providing full context for your questions (for interviews: who your sources will be, when you will contact them, and how; for surveys: who you will survey, how, when, and include introductory text intended for your respondents). Your options for this assignment are as follows:

• All ten questions may relate to one survey, or one interview.

• If you would like to submit both interview and survey questions, please write five of each.

• You may write five interview questions for one source, and five interview questions for a second source, but they must be substantially different.

This assignment is intended to give you good practice in writing survey and interview questions; it is expected that your actual questions will change as your research continues and you receive feedback from your classmates and me. Please note that you may have more (or fewer) than ten questions per survey.

Please remember that whatever primary research you conduct must be completed no later than two weeks prior to the end of the semester. 

Please remember to submit an electronic version of your work. 

Here is more information to complete this assignment.  

Assignment: Survey OR/AND Interview Questions

Length: as needed (depends on your project)

Format:  Memorandum

Audience:  Your professor will be the audience for this assignment, in the role of reviewer and adviser. 

How to submit:  Submit electronically.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Two forms of primary evidence you might use for your final project are a SURVEY or/and an INTERVIEW of an authority.  You might use a survey to determine that a problem exists, or to determine its scope and severity, or to gather ideas for solutions, or to determine how stakeholders might react to a certain possible solution.  For these same purposes you might interview an individual who is an “expert” on the topic, either within the organization or outside of it.  Your task in this assignment is to create either a survey or an interview aimed at gathering information for your final project, either with respect to the problem or the solution. 

POSSIBILITIES FOR A SURVEY OR INTERVIEW:

• Interview or survey members of the organization which is the focus of your topic
• Interview or survey members of the community in which your organization is located (for example, if the topic relates to some department in the University of Maryland, you can interview or survey students about their experience using the service provided by that department)
• Interview an expert within your organization (NOT the person to whom the proposal will be addressed).
• Interview an expert outside of your organization – for example, a faculty expert at UMD.  See this site: http://lib.guides.umd.edu/content.php?pid=144643&sid=1244696 Links to an external site. (access path:  “How do I….” > Course Related Pages > English 39X, Professional Writing)
• Interview someone in an organization similar to yours - for example, if your topic pertains to your fraternity; interview a leader in another, similar fraternity.

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR MEMORANDUM:

1. What is the topic of the proposal for which the survey or interview will be used?
2. What is the purpose of the survey or interview? (What information is hoped to be gained)?
3. For a survey:
4. Who is the target audience for the survey? That is, what people will be surveyed? Submit audience analysis. 
5. How many people will be surveyed?
6. How would the survey be distributed? Be specific – times, places, media (electronically, or with paper handouts?)
7. What time frame is allowed for responses? (Allow enough time to analyze the information and apply it to the writing of the final proposal – or to redesign and re-administer the survey if necessary).
   1. For an interview:
   2. Who is the person to be interviewed, and what is the basis of his or her expertise? Submit an audience analysis. 
   3. When and where will the interview be conducted?
      1. List the actual survey or interview questions.

RELEVANT READINGS:

• OWL at Purdue:  “Creating Good Interview and Survey Questions” http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/559/06/ Links to an external site.
• Modules

GRADING CRITERIA:

1.     Does your memorandum answer all the questions above in a way that makes it clear to me how the survey will be used?

2.     Does it seem likely that your survey or interview will produce credible and relevant information that will be useful for the indicated final project?

3. Do the survey or interview questions follow the guidelines explained in the reading and as discussed in class?

4. Is your memorandum written in mature, business-like style, free of errors? You will be expected to demonstrate mastery of all points of style taught up to the due date of this assignment. Any instance of one of the “common errors” will negatively impact your grade.

5. Did you submit an audience analysis?