Creating Effective Surveys and Interviews

Whether or not you need IRB approval for your survey or interview (see Rules for Research on Humans), there are several ways to increase the effectiveness of these activities as you work on your wicked problem and the Habits of Mind Project.

First, make sure to provide some key details about your Habits of Mind project before you begin asking questions in a survey or interview. In an online survey, this could be a welcome page at the beginning. In an in-person interview, this could be a verbal explanation, or a one-page overview that you ask people to read. Key details to include are:

• All group member names
• Your instructor’s name and contact information
• The title of your course (Tackling a Wicked Problem) and section (for example, Mental Illness or Religious Division)
• A brief description of what your survey or interview is about, how much time it will take, and how you plan to use the responses
• A reminder that participation is voluntary and can stop at any time
• A description of who you would like to participate. For example, if you only want to hear from students currently living in PSU dormitories, you should state that clearly, so that people living off-campus or people who are not students do not participate!

Second, word your questions carefully so that they provide you with useful information:

• Open-ended questions are better suited to in-person interviews as they are good conversation starters. In surveys, it is best to use mainly multiple-choice questions, and limit questions that require people to write out responses.
• Double-barreled questions ask about multiple aspects of a topic, and should be avoided because it will be unclear what part of the question a person is responding to. For example, if you ask, “Are you worried about climate change and pollution?” and a participant answers “yes,” are they are worried about just climate change, just pollution, or both?
• Leading questions are phrased in a biased way that pushes the respondent toward a particular answer or way of thinking. For example, asking, “Are you worried about the catastrophic destruction of climate change” prompts people to see climate change negatively, while asking “Are you worried about left-wing claims of climate change?” prompts people to see climate change as a political hoax.

Third, make it easy for people to complete. This applies particularly to online surveys, which often have a low response rate. Be aware that the more questions you include, the greater likelihood there will be of people ending the survey prematurely before answering all your questions. A good rule of thumb is about 10 multiple-choice questions for a quick online survey.

Fourth, test it out! Use your classmates or friends as guinea pigs by having them read and respond to your survey or interview questions. Afterwards ask them to give you feedback on what was unclear or confusing. Your TWP instructor may allow you to use class time to do a trial run of your survey or interview.

Finally, think about your strategy for getting people to participate in your survey or interview. After all the work you have put into designing effective questions, it can be frustrating when few people actually respond.

Additional Resources:

StoryCorps is a nonproft oral history organization. They have created a list of great open-ended questions that promote conversations about a wide variety of topics. See: https://storycorps.org/participate/great-questions/

RISE Research is an organization for high school students to learn about and practice research with PhD mentors. They have a use-friendly guide to creating effective surveys. See: https://riseglobaleducation.com/blogs/how-to-design-a-research-survey