Writing Up a Surve

Survey two groups of people on a topic that interests you. Possible groups are men and women, people in business and in English programs, younger and older students, students and townspeople. Nonrandom samples are acceptable.

As Your Instructor Directs,

a. Survey 40 to 50 people.

b. Team up with your classmates. Survey 50 to 80 people if your group has two members, 75 to 120 people if it has three members, 100 to 150 people if it has four members, and 125 to 200 people if it has five members.

c. Keep a journal during your group meetings and submit it to your instructor.

d. Write a memo to your instructor describing and evaluating your groups process for designing, conducting, and writing up the survey. ( See Module 18 on working and writing in groups.)

As you conduct your survey, make careful notes about what you do so you can use this information when you write up your survey. If you work with a group, record who does what.

Use complete memo format. Your subject line should be clear and reasonably complete. Omit unnecessary words such as Survey of. Your first paragraph serves as an introduction, but it needs no heading. The rest of the body of your memo will be divided into four sections with the following headings: Purpose, Procedure, Results, and Discussion.

In your first paragraph, briefly summarize (not necessarily in this order) who conducted the experiment or survey, when it was conducted, where it was conducted, who the subjects were, what your purpose was, and what you found out.

In your Purpose section, explain why you conducted the survey. What were you trying to learn? Why did this subject seem interesting or important?

In your Procedure section, describe in detail exactly what you did.

In your Results section, first tell whether your results supported your hypothesis. Use both visuals and words to explain what your numbers show. ( See Module 25 on how to design visuals.) Process your raw data in a way that will be useful to your reader.

In your Discussion section, evaluate your survey and discuss the implications of your results. Consider these questions:

1. Do you think a scientifically valid survey would have produced the same results? Why or why not?

2. Were there any sources of bias either in the way the questions were phrased or in the way the subjects were chosen? If you were running the survey again, what changes would you make to eliminate or reduce these sources of bias?

3. Do you think your subjects answered honestly and completely? What factors may have intruded? Is the fact that you did or didnt know them, were or werent of the same sex relevant?

4. What causes the phenomenon your results reveal? If several causes together account for the phenomenon, or if it is impossible to be sure of the cause, admit this. Identify possible causes and assess the likelihood of each.

5. What action should be taken? The discussion section gives you the opportunity to analyze the significance of your survey. Its insight and originality lift the otherwise well-written memo from the ranks of the merely satisfactory to the ranks of the above-average and the excellent.