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AEE 578--Scientific Inquiry in Agricultural and Extension Education |
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Instrumentation |
Introduction:  |
In the book
of Matthew, there is a parable of two builders. One built a house on a
solid
rock and the other built a house on sand. The house built on sand did
not
last. An analogy could be made to conducting research. If you conduct
research
with a poorly constructed instrument, then you are building your
research
on sand. The data collection instrument basically serves as the
foundation
for your research. So you want your data collection instrument to be
rock
solid. We will look at how to construct sound research instruments in
this lesson. |
Learning
Objectives:  |
 Identify
the principles of designing quality survey instruments. Differentiate
between a Likert scale and a Semantic Differential Describe
briefly how mail surveys, telephone surveys, and face-to-face
interviews differ and state two advantages and disadvantages of each
type. Describe
the most common pitfalls in developing survey questions. Explain
the difference between a closed-ended and open-ended question.
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| Instructional Activities:  |
Read
Chapter 7 "Instrumentation" in How
to Design and Evaluate Research in
Education (Fraenkel & Wallen). Read Questionnaire
Design General Considerations from the StatPac web site. Read Qualities
of a Good Question from the StatPac web site. This tutorial on
designing survey instruments is a little long but contains some
very good suggestions and information. This short Review of Literature on how
to design a survey instrument is a quick read. Read chapters 6 and 8 from What is a Survey? (You will
need to click on the link to chapter 1, then click on the chapter 6 and
8 links) It is possible that
you might be looking for an instrument that has already been created
that measures creativity, motivation, learning styles, job
satisfaction, etc. If so, you should become familiar with the Buros
Handbook of Mental Measurements. The NCSU library
has a copy of this book. This boook provides factual
information, critical reviews, and comprehensive
bibliographic references on the construction, use, and validity of all
mental measurement tests published in English. This University of Maryland Online Survey
Design Guide contains a variety of formats and examples for writing
questions on a survey. This might provide some ideas. Researchers are moving toward online surveys.
This document
from Sage Publications has some good information and suggestions
about designing online surveys. There are several companies that provide
online survey tools for free or for a charge. You might want to check
them out: View
a PowerPoint
presentation
on Instrumentation. |
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Review:
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The
publisher of the textbook has some excellent
information to support the text; you should
check it out:
Visit
the
text site and complete the multiple
choice questions for Chapter 7
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Additional
Resources: |
IF
you want to see
more (NOT required):
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Assignments:
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There is no worksheet for the week. Use the time
instead to start work on one of the major class assignments which is
due in two weeks. Major assignment information: One of
the major assignments for this class is to develop a survey instrument.
Your first draft is due in two weeks. You basically have two options:
1. Take an idea that you are interest in researching, write several specific research objectives or questions, and then develop an instrument that collects the information that you need. Turn in the objectives/questions and your instrument. 2. Use the following information to design your instrument. Scenario: You are interesting in learning why people leave the profession (this could be extension, education or some other field). Your objectives are: A.
To compare the personal characteristics of those who leave the
profession with those who remain in the profession.
B. To identify factors that contributed to the departure of those who left the profession. C. To identify changes that could have been made to keep the person in the profession. Now
develop an instrument that gets at this information.
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