Primary Research Through Questionnairesby James G. Brosnan |
Dr. James G. Brosnan is an associate professor in the John Hazen White School of Arts & Sciences at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI, where he teachers composition, advanced composition, communication skills, technical writing, and the American Literary Experience. Since 1985, Dr. Brosnan has served as an adjunct professor of English at Bristol Community College, Fall River. |
How do English instructors guarantee adherence to a scholarly research model? They must explain and clarify the mechanics of the research paper, as well as impress upon students that the goal of university study is "to examine this process of making knowledge...by asking them to do it with some primary material..." (Chanock, 1994, p. 588). Thus, it seems likely that incorporating primary sources into their research investigation will guide the student researchers into the writing of more interesting and intellectually challenging assignments.
Different approaches to teaching the research paper have been utilized by college and university instructors to encourage scholarly research. The required use of primary as well as secondary sources helps to provide an opportunity for the student to experience some real-world contacts. For example, Jennie Cooper at Southeast Missouri State University contacts "clients" (government officials, business leaders, local citizens) who submit a list of topics or questions that they want researched (1994, p. 386). Students then interview this real-world person and send a copy of the finished product to the "client."
In my English Composition class, I have required that the research
paper integrate primary and secondary source material. Topic
guidelines are discussed prior to the library exploration. Students
are encouraged to do some reading on their topic of interest to
determine the availability of research material. Students must then
submit a research proposal which includes a detailed outline along
with a "working" bibliography of their sources. This bibliography
must list at least five secondary sources. If an interview is
planned, that citation must also be included.
Probably the most useful primary source tool is the questionnaire. Obviously, the construction of the final product is a painstaking process. There are two approaches that can be utilized in constructing the questionnaire for the research project. First, students can be solely responsible for constructing the entire questionnaire which will survey respondents about their attitudes on a particular topic. In this scenario students must design a professional looking document complete with a title, graphic, sponsoring organization (the college), rationale, directions for answering, demographics, and finally, survey items This method demands peer editing and instructor approval before students print and distribute their questionnaires. Examples should be distributed to students to serve as models.
When I use this approach, I have students design a questionnaire on an 8 1/2 x ii sheet folded in half. It gives the appearance of a four-page document. The front cover contains the title of their questionnaire, the sponsoring institution (in this case, the name of the college), and a graphic. Many students use computer graphics, but original sketches or tracings of some object are also options.
On the second page is the rationale(i.e. This survey is being conducted to provide [student's name] with primary source material for his/her research project in [name of course]; a guarantee of anonymity [i.e. No names please!]; and thanks for participation [i.e. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Directions are also provided(i.e. Please CIRCLE the number corresponding to your answer). The survey items (questions or statements) follow. For example, in one class survey where the general topic was education, a series of questions were contributed under the subheading of violence. A sample item asked respondents to agree or disagree with the following statement: "Metal detectors reduce the number of weapons in schools."
After these survey items, there is a section called demographics. Here student researchers indicate the need to know a little about the respondents. From this information, the researchers will be able to draw some conclusions about the attitudes of different types of people. Finally, respondents are encouraged to provide comments on the last page.
A second approach is the creation of a lengthier group questionnaire. In this case students can contribute two or three survey items to the class list. The other elements of the questionnaire (design, demographics, etc.) become a class decision. This approach, however, necessitates the assigning of a general topic to provide some continuity for those respondents who answer this longer questionnaire.
Although a few students grumble at first about being given a general topic, class members quickly use some creativity in choosing a subtopic of interest to them. In assigning education as a topic, students have researched such subtopics as: "The Value of Preschool," "Sex Equity in Schools," and "Financing a College Education."
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When I use the group approach, I have students decide on their area of interest. They brainstorm and submit two or three preliminary questions or statements. At the next class meeting, copies of the submitted items are distributed. The wording of these questionnaire items is then challenged in the classroom by the students for clarity, conciseness, correctness, and spelling. The object of this class exercise is to have the students clarify any item which could be misinterpreted by a respondent. This is why peer editing of questionnaires using the individual approach is so important.
After this revision process, students collectively work on an introductory statement which explains the purpose of the survey, guarantees anonymity, and explicitly states the directions necessary to complete the questionnaire. At this point, all of the items are ready for typesetting.
Actual questionnaire items are contributed by all students. Although they can comment in their research paper on the response to any item on the questionnaire, they are usually only concerned with those questions which pertain to their subtopic. In a class of 25, the questionnaire could contain about seventy-five items. These items can be sentences which measure the degree of agreement that a respondent has indicated from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." They can also be questions to which respondents react negatively or affirmatively or questions with multiple options.
The demographic section, which follows the actual questionnaire items, asks the respondents to categorize themselves according to age, sex, educational level, and any other classification that students feel are relevant to their research. The inclusion of these questions does make it possible for the students to make some critical judgments about the attitudes of certain groups of individuals concerning particular topics. Students should be cautioned to ask respondents only what is relevant and necessary.
There is an advantage for the instructor in assigning a general topic; the instructor becomes more of a specialist with the literature and source material available to the students on that particular subject area. Whether the instructor selects education, the environment, or health risks, the project is more manageable with one general topic than having students select varied subjects.
This method does have its limitations also. In addition to the topic limitation, other drawbacks include the task of typesetting and copying the survey in addition to a possible reluctance on the part of respondents to answer such a lengthy series of questions. I have typed the questionnaire in some classes, while a volunteer has completed the task in other classes. Since each student should survey at least ten respondents, I provide students with a copy which they can duplicate in sufficient numbers to get a representative sample. Some time should be spent explaining that the sample used will probably be biased and definitely too small for any valid inferences. The questionnaire is conducted as a learning experience to expose students to methods of collecting primary information.
In this six-page research paper, students must incorporate the results of their individual questionnaire items in a discussion where they contrast the primary source material with what they found in secondary sources. The results of the survey not only encourage originality but often cause students to be more reflective on their secondary source material. The project can demonstrate an interesting contrast between the two types of sources and certainly encourage original research.
At Johnson & Wales University where 1 teach full-time, I have mandated the use of both an individual questionnaire and an interview as primary sources in the research paper that students complete in an Advanced Composition course. The general topic of cultures has worked well. Students are encouraged to explore their own "roots" or a culture that interests them. Student research projects have varied from Native American tribes to the Amish, as well as a wide variety of European, Asian, African, and South American cultures. The questionnaire, in this instance, provides students with a measure of the average person's knowledge of a particular culture. Many international students have been dumbfounded that their American counterparts not only know little about other cultures but in many instances do not have any idea where another country is located. After discussing the research she had done on her country, one young student from Guatemala was quite upset when a classmate asked her if she came from Africa. Maybe this general topic will help promote global awareness.
Whatever approach is used, the exercise of creating a questionnaire is a positive experience which not only opens new horizons in research but also can help highlight the importance of such writing concerns as spelling, sentence structure, and usage.
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SPRING 1997 |