A whole course or module is built round a survey research project devised in collaboration with a partner agency which may be an outside body  (e.g. local government) or a unit in the teaching institution (such as a research group or the library).  Other elements of the course/module, such as methodology, may extend and qualify understandings gained through the project

Bonney, N.

van Teijlingen, Edwin

English

Bournemouth University Research Online

[pic]Real Research   Research training in a ’real-life’ survey   |                                                                            ||Summary                                                                     ||A whole course or module is built round a survey research project devised in||collaboration with a partner agency which may be an outside body  (e.g.     ||local government) or a unit in the teaching institution (such as a research ||group or the library).  Other elements of the course/module, such as        ||methodology, may extend and qualify understandings gained through the       ||project.                                                                    ||                                                                            |  Aim To learn about research methods by undertaking a class research project. Objectives To improve relations with outside bodies, to utilise their expertise andknowledge, to gain access to research areas where they are gatekeepers and to obtainfinancial assistance from them to facilitate the study. Skills development o Some of the work is carried out in task-oriented small groups sostudents learn about effective co-operative working methods.o Practical training for students in all aspects of the survey process including: • questionnaire design• interviewing• coding and data entry• computerised statistical analysis• reporting the results.o To introduce students to word processing (e.g. Word 5).o To introduce students to computer-data analysis (eg. SPSS-PC).Designed for Students in their second or subsequent year of study in Higher Education.Class size 12 - 25  (Maximum depends on staffing but it may get difficult to manage whennumbers are significantly greater than 25)  Number of sessions This depends on the length and intensity of the course.  For example, atleast three hours a week would probably be required for a 10 - 15 week course/ module.There need to be different types of session according to the activity and phase of the project- such as planning the survey, data entry, computer analysis and report writing. Duration of sessions 1 - 3 hours per session Description Undergraduate students enroled in the Research Methods course in theDepartment of Sociology at the University of Aberdeen  receive practical training in allaspects of the survey process through participation in a collaborative survey researchproject.  The project can be in-house or with an external agency.The idea behind this approach is threefold:• Institutions of Higher Education are more and more pressing for outside (realistic)input into the institution.• Students receive research training in a ’real-life’ survey.• The outside body brings in certain resources the teaching institution cannot alwaysprovide, such as organisational skills and expertise in the field of research, andpossibly some financial support to conduct the survey.  In return the partner agencygets a survey done which it might not otherwise have been able to afford and has thedata analysed in a more detailed and sophisticated way.  This project covers the whole of the practical part of the Research Methods course.  Otherparts of the course cover other methodological approaches and a critique of survey methods. The survey is set up in such a way that the students are involved in all stages of the research- from sampling, questionnaire design and piloting to interviewing, data mounting andanalysis.  The fact that students are working on a real survey helps to keep them interested inan aspect of sociology which does not always engage student interest.  We have found that,compared with previous years when there was no concrete focus for skills development,students show much more interest in the actual course and the survey topic.Room requirements A classroom with computers: either PCs or terminals connected to amainframe computer.  Ideally each student should have access to his/her own computer, butwe found that two students sharing works well and leads to some cooperation.    Equipment required Appropriate software (eg. MINITAB or SPSSx). Resourcing Facilities for production and, possibly, mailing of questionnaires. Staff preparation Initial contacts have to be made with the partner agency and preliminaryjoint-planning carried out.  The project needs to be planned ahead to cover the whole periodof the course/module.  The partner agency has to be willing to adapt to the teachingrequirements and time-tabling of the course/module and to nominate a person to liaise withthe teachers.  The survey will probably take longer under this arrangement than if the partneragency were to contract out the research to a commercial organisation.Pre-briefing • The seriousness of the commitment required of the students should be stressed.and the importance of their role in all stages of the research should be clearlyindicated. • The method of assessment for the course work should be made explicit.  Student preparation A useful text is D. A. de Vaus (1990) Surveys in Social Research,Allen &  Unwin. Students could profitably read the chapter pertinent to the phase of theproject at appropriate points in the course/module.  De-briefing Preparation of the survey report for the partner agency and its distribution tostudents.  A final evaluation meeting should include discussions about the complexity of theresearch process, and the strengths and weaknesses of the particular survey and surveymethods used.  Students should be made aware of other research methods in order to avoidover-generalisation on the basis of a single research project. Other comments • The great merit of this approach is that it is ’real’ research and gives students anoverview of the whole research process, warts and all.• Firm agreements must be made at the outset about the ownership of the final data.  Itshould be available to the teaching institution, the partner agency and all those whocooperated in producing the data by agreeing to be interviewed.  Clearly, there shouldbe respect for the principle that participation be voluntary on the basis of informedconsent and that it is inadequate for the partner agency to agree ’on behalf’ of itsclients or employees for interviews to be conducted.  It is important that legal andethical issues are addressed explicitly with the students and that reference is made toethical guidelines.  (See the BSA guidelines reproduced in STH.• Only projects which give educational value and which are non-controversial should beselected.  Students may still object that they are being used as cheap labour, or thatthey do not approve of the work of the agency or the possible uses to which the datacollected in the project may be put.  (If funds are available payment can be made forconducting interviews and mounting data.)  The likelihood of such objections dependsupon the partner body as well as the nature of the project, and it is not unreasonable forteachers to state a case to students as to why they should participate in the research. The educational value of participating will be recognised by students and the ethicalissues raised will help students to think about the implications of ’doing’ research. However, objections from students must be respected and, as a last resort, anopportunity for opting out of the project and engaging in alternative work withoutprejudice to their academic record should be offered.• The work of all stages of the project is shared equally among the class members.  Bearin mind that at any one time students will be missing classes (for whatever reason), andarrangements should be made for these students to be covered by others. • Assessment of students can be based partly on individual contributions to the researchproject.  For example, each student can be made responsible for  interviewing anumber of respondents, coding questionnaires, mounting data etc. and these steps canbe monitored and assessed.  Further assessments can be made through exam questionsor essays based on the research project.  Contributors     Dr. Norman Bonney, University of AberdeenEdwin van Teijlingen, University of Edinburgh An earlier version of this contribution appeared in Computer Education, Nov. 1992

Research training in a ‘real-life’ survey

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