SHS

English for Academic and

Professional Purposes
Module 12
 Target

This module teaches you on how to conduct surveys, experiments or

observation. It gives advice on how to design the layout of the questionnaire,
including instructions to respondents, interviewer instructions and
introductory and concluding remarks.

In your previous lesson, you have learned how to design, test, and
revision of survey questionnaires.

After reading this module, the reader should be able to conduct

survey, experiment or observations that are suitable for addressing the
research issues at hand (CS_EN11/12A-EAPP-IIe-j-8). Specifically, you will
know how to:

• Write a simple survey questionnaire.

• Conduct a pilot test of the questionnaire.
• Adjust its final design according to the results.
• Present the results of your survey through a composition; and
• Share interpretation of the survey conducted.
 Jumpstart

Activity 1: Decipher Its Meaning

Directions: Read the text below. Highlight the important ideas you find in the
text to further understand the process of conducting a survey.

Survey questionnaires present a set of questions to a subject who with

his/her responses will provide data to a researcher. On the surface, it seems
a fairly simple task to write up a set of questions to collect information, but
there are many pitfalls that should be avoided to develop a good survey
questionnaire.

The key to developing a good survey questionnaire is to keep it short

while ensuring that you capture all of the information that you need. Once
you have developed your survey questionnaire, you can use your objectives to
go back through the questions and determine if each of the questions is
providing you with information that you need. Any question that is not
providing necessary information should be removed.

Activity 2: Please Answer Me

Directions: Did you know that there is a wide array of data collection methods
from which a researcher can select from? Can you identify some of the data
collection methods that you know? Cite examples. Write your answers in a
separate sheet.
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
 Discover

The word survey is used most often today to describe a method of

gathering information from a sample of individuals in order to learn
something about the large population from which the sample has been
drawn.
Information is collected using standardized procedures so that every
individual is asked the same questions in more or less the same way. The
survey’s intent is not to describe the particular individual who, by chance is
part of the sample, but to obtain a composite profile of the population. Surveys
provide a speedy and economical means of determining facts about peoples’
knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, expectations and behaviors.

Survey methods can be classified in many ways:

• One classification is by size and type of sample – special population

groups, geographical area, etc.
• Another classification is by method of data collection – mail, telephone
interview and in-person interview. Chart audits – extracting data from
sample of medical and other records – come under the heading of survey
methods.
• Third classification is by survey content – voter preferences, consumer
spending, transportation habits, and health issues.

Steps to follow in conducting a survey

1. Formulate the survey keeping in mind your overall substantive and

analytical needs.

✓ Define the problem you want to examine.

✓ Identify the population that will be surveyed.
✓ Determine what kinds of variables that you want to measure.
✓ What questions do you want to have answered? ; and
✓ What’s the best way to go about getting those answers?
2. Determine specifically what mode of collecting the data will be used.

✓ Personal interviews.
✓ Telephone surveys.
✓ Mailed questionnaires/drop-off surveys; and
✓ Web-based surveys and email-based surveys.

3. Determine the number of respondents/ participants of the survey.

4. Develop the questionnaire (the survey instrument)

✓ Each question should fit into the overall plan of research ; and
✓ Each question should be suitable for the mode you have chosen to
conduct the survey and for the population that has been sampled.

5. If you are using telephone or personal interviews, be sure the

interviewers are carefully trained.

✓ Interviewer effects (bias) can wreck otherwise well-designed surveys.

6. Conduct an early pretest of the survey, whenever possible

✓ Use these results to refine the instrument and work out any bus in
the survey procedures.

7. Execute the survey in the field and be ready to deal with problems.

8. Edit and process the data.

✓ Code responses in a reasonable and useable way.

✓ Make data machine-readable ; and
✓ Minimize errors.

9. Analyze the data

✓ Descriptive statistics.
✓ Inferential statistics (build models—ANOVA, ANCOVA,
regression, SEM).
✓ Develop your findings or conclusions ; and
✓ Write up a summary of what you have found.
Activity 2: Survey Time

Directions: Pretend that you are a researcher and choose the same data-
gathering method called survey that uses interview as its data-gathering
instrument. Interview your siblings, parents and other relatives at home
about their activities during the home quarantine. Using the same data-
gathering method, agree on the time limit for each interview session that you
should ask questions in a sequential order. Consolidate their answers in a
separate sheet of paper.

Deepen

Directions: At this point you are going to use the questionnaire you
have crafted earlier about the topic you have chosen on the activities done
during the home quarantine period.

Activity 1: Concept Transformation

Directions: Administer the questionnaire to the selected respondents of your

survey. Ask them to answer the questions in your questionnaire. After the
administration of the questionnaire, come up with a summary table showing
the consolidated answers of the respondents.
 Gauge

Directions: Considering your time and abilities, think of a problem that

parents, students, or teachers are experiencing during this pandemic. Choose

a data collection technique that fits your chosen topic. Then, write a simple

survey questionnaire as your instrument in data collection. After that,

conduct a survey. Present the results of your survey through a composition,

with the first part giving the descriptions of the data and the second part, the

interpretations of data. Give your teacher a copy of your written work.

References
How to do a Survey (A 9-Step Process) Mack C. Shelley, II Fall 2001 LC
Assessment Workshop
Oppenheim, A.N. 1992. Questionnaire design, interviewing and attitude
measurement. London: Pinter Publishers Limited.
Payne, S.L. 1951. The art of asking questions. Princeton University Press,
Princeton, New Jersey.
Schleicher, A.; Siniscalco, M.T.; Postlethwaite, N.T. 1995. The conditions of
primary schools. A pilot study in the least developed countries. A report
to UNESCO and UNICEF.
Sheatsley, P.B. 1983. Questionnaire construction and item writing. In: P.H.
Rossi; J.D. Wright; A.B. Anderson, Handbook of survey research. New
York: Academic Press.
Thurstone, L.L. 1928. Attitudes can be measured. In: American Journal of
Sociology, 33, 529- 554. UNESCO. 1976. International Standard
Classification of Education. Paris.
Wolf, R.M. 1993. Data quality and norms in international studies. In:
Measurement and Evaluation in Counselling and Development, 26: 35-
40.