Target audience: Business practitioners or students interested in gathering opinions or customer survey data.

Learning outcomes:

1. Gain an understanding of the value and limitations of a number of quantitative and qualitative analysis tools;
2. Gain experience of using some simple tools.

Duration: 30 hours, over 3 weeks.

Module Chair: Dr James Aczel, The Open University, United Kingdom

Contents

1 Introduction

 1.1 Spaces & Meetings

 1.2 Assignment

2 Module Activities

 2.1 Week 1

 2.2 Week 2

 2.3 Week 3

3 Assignment Submission & Peer Assessment

4 References

5 Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

There is a huge range of tools used in business and management. This module gives you an opportunity to create and analyse a survey, while learning about different types of data collection and analysis tools.

1.1 Spaces & Meetings  

A. Forum for general communication:  Module 5A2

B. IRC Chats over Freenode on Channel: #openED (Dates to be announced at the forum and also at the timetable!)

C. Live sessions at UStream (Dates to be announced at the forum)

1.2 Assignment

During the three weeks of Module 5A2 you will be working with others, devising, running and analysing a survey. For your Assignment, you should write a document of no more than 2000 words in which in you...

1. Outline previous research in the area.
2. Indicate what is new or different about your survey.
3. Link to the survey, and explain why each item was chosen or devised.
4. Link to the presentation of the results, and mention any limitations.
5. Indicate as precisely as you can your role in the work.

You will upload the Assignment to the Assignment Directory.

Assignments will be "peer assessed", so make sure that you present your results in a clear and logic way that is understandable for others! Criteria for assessing assignments is is given in the Assignment Submission & Peer Assessment section below.

Please note: This module will show as completed in your "Self-Print Certificate" only when you have submitted your Assignment.

2 Module Activities

This module is divided into 15 activities, taking in total 26 hours to complete. You then need to allow a further 4 hours to complete the assignment. You may also want to allow additional time for IRC chats or other live interactions, depending on how many there are, perhaps around an hour a week.

2.1 Week 1

Activity 1: Decide the focus (2 hours)

First, in the forum decide with others what the focus of the survey should be.

Activity 2: Draw on relevant academic studies (3 hours)

Use the search services mentioned in openED Module 2 to draw up a list of academic studies relevant to your survey. Use these studies to write a short (1 page) description of previous research in the area, and to provide possibilities for items that you might include in your survey. Where possible, using items verbatim from previous studies allows you to compare your results directly with previous research.

Activity 3: Agree your survey items (2 hours)

Using the studies in Activity 2, agree the items to be used in your survey.

Activity 4: Create the survey (2 hours)

Use a public tool such as Google Forms, SurveyMonkey or LimeSurvey to create your survey.

Here are some useful videos on using SurveyMonkey: [1], [2], [3], [4]

Activity 5: Pilot survey (1 hour)

 Ask friends to try the survey. Use these pilot results and any feedback to revise the survey.

Congratulations! You have now finished Week 1. Please complete the learning reflection form for this week.

2.2 Week 2

Activity 6: Run your survey (1 hour)

Open your survey to the world and advertise it!

In his book, The Salmon of Doubt, Douglas Adams (2003) wrote “… everybody lies to people with clipboards” (p. 93).

While you are waiting for your survey data to arrive…

Activity 7: Pros and cons of online surveys (30 minutes)

Listen to the podcast from H809 (Week 11 podcast 1) in which Alan Woodley and Adam Joinson from the UK, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of online surveys over paper-based surveys, and telephone or face-to-face interviews.

Activity 8: Investigate quantitative analysis tools (2 hours)

Investigate quantitative analysis tools, both free (e.g. Google Spreadsheets, Google Fusion Tables) and paid-for (e.g. SPSS, Microsoft Excel). Share what you find in the forums.

Activity 9: Investigate qualitative analysis tools (2 hours)

Investigate qualitative analysis tools (e.g. NVivo, Interact). Share what you find in the forums.

Activity 10: Brush up on stats (1 hour)

If necessary, brush up on your statistical knowledge: openED Module 5A1 contains links to sources of help.

Activity 11: Reflecting on how questions are asked (30 minutes)

Consider these three variants of ‘asking questions’ using interviews:

Interview 1: A woman with a clipboard stops you in the street and asks you a lot of questions about soap powder.

Interview 2: Somebody phones you up to ask you how you are planning to vote.

Interview 3: You are asked to take part in an e-interview, using email, about your work.

They are all ‘interviews’ – the researcher asks questions and you, the respondent, answer them. However, they are different in a number of ways.

Spend 15 minutes noting down how you think the different variations might influence the conduct of the interview and the results. Then discuss your thoughts in the forums.

Activity 12: Reading about methods (2 hours)

Read and discuss one or more of the following papers in the forums. In particular, consider what alternative technologies you might use to collect and analyse the data.

1. Gioia et al. (2010)
2. Hwang & Powell (2009)
3. Kasowski & Filion (2009)
4. Reilly & Karounos (2009)

Activity 13: Sharing innovative studies (1 hour)

Share with others any studies you have found that you think might be out of the ordinary in terms of their research methods. For example, you might want to look at recent research analysing feelings in blogs: We Feel Fine is an entertaining example. It harvests newly posted blog entires around the world every few minutes.

Congratulations! You have now finished Week 2. Please complete the learning reflection form for this week.

2.3 Week 3

Activity 14: Analyse the data (3 hours)

Analyse your survey data.

Activity 15: Present the results (3 hours)

Present the results of your analysis and upload them to a public space, such as slideshare, scribd,  the Module 5A2 forum, or any other place you know about.

Congratulations! You have now finished Week 3. Please complete the learning reflection form for this week.

3 Assignment Submission & Peer Assessment  

1. Write your Assignment, as explained in the Assignment section above.

Assignments will be "peer assessed", so make sure that you present your results in a clear and logic way that is understandable for others!

Don't forget to indicate your role in the survey's design and analysis, otherwise it won't be clear how much of it you can actually gain credit for.

2. Upload your Assignment to the Assignment Directory.

Please note: This module will show as completed in your "Self-Print Certificate" only when you have submitted your Assignment.

3. Assess others' assignments by giving marks according the table below.

For each part of the task, high marks should be awarded to answers that are accurate, comprehensive, convincing, insightful and scholarly.

Being "scholarly" means using logical arguments; avoiding non sequiturs; substantiating claims; and using accurate spelling, grammar and referencing.

Furthermore, each part of the task also has a specific success criterion for achieving the highest marks:

4. References

1. Adams, D. (2003) The Salmon of Doubt, London, Pan Books
2. Gioia, D. A., Price, K. N., Hamilton, A. L., Thomas, J. B. (2010) “Forging an Identity: An Insider-outsider Study of Processes Involved in the Formation of Organizational Identity”, Administrative Science Quarterly, 55, 1–46, available from http://www.atypon-link.com/JGSCU/doi/abs/10.2189/asqu.2010.55.1.1 (accessed 17 August 2010)
3. Hwang, H. & Powell, W. W. (2009) “The Rationalization of Charity: The Influences of Professionalism in the Nonprofit Sector”, Administrative Science Quarterly, 54, 268-298, available from http://www.atypon-link.com/JGSCU/doi/abs/10.2189/asqu.2009.54.2.268 (accessed 17 August 2010)
4. Kasowski, B. & Filion, L. J. (2010) “A Study of the 2005 Fortune 500 Vision Statements”, Working paper no. 2010-04, HEC Montréal, ISSN: 0840-853X, available from http://expertise.hec.ca/chair_entrepreneurship/2010/05/17/working-paper-2010-04-a-study-of-the-2005-fortune-500-vision-statements/ (accessed 17 August 2010)
5. Reilly, A. H. & Karounos, T. J. (2009) “Exploring the Link between Emotional Intelligence and Cross-Cultural Leadership Effectiveness”, Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, 1, available from http://www.aabri.com/jibcs.html (accessed 17 August 2010)

5. Acknowledgements

The first draft of this module was created by James Aczel and Pascale Hardy.