Information about additional sources of information:
| Interviews | Web Site sources | Survey- Oral | Survey- Written |
Write down your questions
Set up an interview with a person (give them the topic and time to prepare)
Interview the person
Read the question
Write down exactly what the person says
Ask the next question
Write the name of the person you interview, the date and location of the interview
Write down (copy & paste) the www. address
Write down the date YOU looked at it
Write down any other publication information you can find (page/site title, author of the page, © date, publisher) – if you can’t find most of this, find a new source, ‘cause it’s not a reliable source without this information
Write your question(s). They should be multiple choice.
Ask a random sample of people the question(s)
Get relevant demographic information from the people you question.
Write down all of the following:
where you sample,
when you sample,
the general demographic sampled
how many people from each demographic category sampled
"Demographic" means "a group within a larger category." For example, some demographic groups could be as follows:
12-14-year-olds, 15-18-year-olds, 19-24-year-olds, 25-35-year-olds, etc.
graduated from middle school, graduated from high school, graduated from college, graduated from a post-baccalaureate program, etc.
Holmdel resident, Freehold resident, Belmar resident, Hazlet resident, etc.
Earns less than $20,000/year, earns $21,000-$50,000/year, earns $51,000-$100,000/year, earns more than $100,000/year
Where your information comes from is as important as the information itself; that's why demographic information MUST be collected and included with survey information.
If you do a survey about whether or not kids should have later bed times, and you only survey kids, you will probably get 100% of your survey respondents saying "Yes." Anyone who looks at that information needs to know it's all kids who said this, or the data could be misinterpreted to mean that parents think kids should have later bed times.
Basically the same as an oral survey, but written down.
Write your question(s). They do not have to be multiple choice, but it is easier to tabulate your results if they are.
Provide spaces for any demographic data you think would be relevant.
Have a random sample of people fill out the survey.
Tabulate your results.