Student Design and Revision of a Class Survey

Surveys are a popular research method in many disciplines. In this presentation I will describe a classroom activity in which students develop and revise questions for a class survey. The activity is applicable to research methods and statistics classes in a variety of disciplines as well as any course in which students encounter research using surveys as a method of data collection. The activity is also quite flexible, and may be used as an early semester icebreaker, activity during a class covering survey design, or more formal assessment of student learning. A widespread practice in research methods and statistics classes is to collect data from students to create a class dataset that can be used for data analysis exercises throughout the course (Gelman & Nolan, 2002). After years of producing this dataset by having students complete a survey I created, I have recently begun asking students to create the survey themselves by writing questions related to information they would like to know about other students. Students write questions during the first week of classes and are later asked to revise and improve upon them following our class session on survey design. During the presentation participants will be broken into groups and asked to play the part of students by developing and revising survey questions. Different options for use and implementation of the activity will also be discussed. Gelman, A., and Nolan, D. (2002). Teaching Statistics: A bag of tricks. Oxford University Press. 

Zoom Recording ID: 88525352693 UUID: Z5PyKew+TpOnar4Z3kTcUA== Meeting Time: 2024-09-27 02:36:19pmGMT