Research Process Define Problem, Research Objectives

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Research Process Define Problem, Research
Objectives

• HOW?
• Overall Method
• Survey
• Experiment
• Case Study
• Secondary Data

• What?
• Concepts
• Variables
• Measures

• Who?
• Population
• Sampling

Data Gathering Analysis Application
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STEPS IN A SURVEY
1. Define study objectives 2. Identify
information needs study population(s) 3.
Determine basic design/approach Exercise B1
assume - a self-administered survey - could be
mailed or on-site survey 4. Questionnaire
design 5. Choose sample (frame, size, sampling
design) 6. Estimate time, costs, manpower
needs, etc.
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Questionnaire Design
1. Preliminary Info Information needed Who are
subjects Method of communication 2. Question
Content 3. Question Wording 4. Response Format 5.
Question Sequencing/Layout
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What Information?

• Demographic, Socioeconomic, Physical
• e.g. income, age, weight, hometown,
• Cognitive - Knowledge beliefs
• e.g. Aware of a park or program, believe in
  global warming
• Affective - attitudes, feelings, preferences
• Like or dislike park, satisfied, prefer this or
  that
• Behaviors
• Ski in last year, repeat visitor, stay overnight
  in area?

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Question Content
1. Is this question necessary? useful? 2. Are
several questions needed on this subject?
Avoid double barreled questions. 3. Do
respondents have information to answer the
question? Use filter questions to screen. 4.
Does question need to be more concrete, specific
and related to subject's personal experience? Is
a time referent provided? 5. Is question
sufficiently general? Do you want recent behavior
or "typical behavior"? 6. Do replies express
general attitudes or specific ones? 7. Is content
loaded or biased 8. Are subjects willing to
answer? 9. Can responses be compared with
existing information?
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Wording
1. Will words be uniformly understood? Simple
language. Avoid technical phrases, jargon and
abbreviations. 2. Does question adequately
express the alternatives? 3. Is the question
misleading due to unstated assumption or unseen
implications. 4. Is wording biased, emotional, or
slanted? 5. Will wording be objectionable to
respondents? 6. Should you use more or less
personalized wording? 7. Ask in a more direct or
more indirect way?
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Form of Response

• 1. Open or closed-ended
• 2. If closed,
• ordered or unordered
• number of categories,
• type of cue,
• forced or unforced choice
• 3. Response categories
• mutually exclusive
• exhaustive.

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Sequencing layout
1. Will this question influence responses to
others? 2. Is question led up to in a natural
way? 3. Placement to create interest, improve
response rate. 4. Branching, skipping, and
transitions on questionnaires.
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1. Simple fill in the blank. Obtaining a
straightforward number or other easily understood
response. How old are you? ___________
(years). In what county is your permanent
residence? _______________ (
county) How much money did you spend on this
trip? ________________
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2. Open ended To avoid leading subject, to
obtain wide range of responses in subjects own
words, or when you dont know kinds of responses
to expect. What is your primary reason for
visiting the park today? ________________________
_______________.
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3. Partially closed ended. List major response
categories while leaving room for others. Which
of the following community recreation facilities
do you most frequently use? (check one). ?
neighborhood parks/playgrounds ? swimming
pools ? community centers ? natural areas ?
tennis courts ? other (please specify)
___________________
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4. Checklists Allow subjects to check multiple
responses. Categories exhaustive mutually
exclusive Which of the following winter
recreation activities have you participated in
during the past month? (check all that
apply) ? Cross-country skiing ? Downhill
skiing ? Snowmobiling ? Ice Skating ? Sledding or
Tobogganing
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5. Likert Scales Versatile format for measuring
attitudes. Please check the box that best
represents your level of agreement or
disagreement with each of the following
statements about downhill skiing
Strongly Strongly Agree
Agree Neutral Disagree
Disagree Downhill skiing is... exciting ? ? ? ? ?
dangerous ? ? ? ? ? expensive ? ? ? ? ? Can
replace agree with importance satisfaction,
interest preference and other descriptors to
fit the attitude you wish to measure.
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6. Rank Ordering To measure preferences or
priorities. Limit to short lists. Rank the
following states in terms of your interest as
possible travel destinations for a summer
vacation trip. (Place a 1 beside the state you
would most like to visit, place a 2 besides your
second choice, and a 3 beside your third
choice.) ______ Michigan ______ Wiscon
sin ______ Minnesota
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7. Filter Question. To screen for eligibility
or knowledge prior to asking other questions.
Did you stay overnight on your most recent trip?
? NO ? YES
If Yes, How many nights did you spend away from
home? ________
To next question
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8. Semantic Differential scale. Measure
perception or image of something using a set of
polar adjectives. For each of the
characteristics listed below, mark an X on the
line where you feel downhill skiing falls with
respect to that characteristic.
exciting ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
dull expensive ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
inexpensive safe ___ ___ ___ ___
___ ___ dangerous
(Could repeat with cross country ski and
snowmobiling and compare perceptions or Coke and
Pepsi.
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Suggested Surveys

• Visitors to a park or facility
• Resident population
• Group of managers or administrators
• Population of tourists
• Program participants
• other

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Population - Who

• MSU students
• Impression 5 Museum Visitors
• MRPA members, Recreation faculty in US
• International students at MSU
• Visitors to Mackinac Island
• Tae-Bo class, MSU football players,
• Food stamp recipients in Lansing area

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Objectives

• Describe the population
• Demographics, knowledge, attitudes, behavior
• Test for differences between subgroups
• Are men different than women in sports
  participation? (gender related to partic.)
• Test for relationships between variables
• Does boat ownership vary with income?
• Evaluate a program (specify criteria as part of
  objective)
• How satisfied are customers? What do they like or
  dislike about program?
• Estimate benefits (costs, impacts) of a program