Research Methods: Survey Construction

The goal for this assignment is to allow you to design a survey of what TAMUC students think about the new food truck pilot program that the university just started in the fall of 2023. Check the university announcements and Facebook page for more information. Quantitative survey methods are designed to allow you to ask the same questions to a large number of people so that people’s responses can be compared with one another.

Questionnaire Design

Step 1: Write down your research question. Start with a simple question that you want to know the answer to: for example, “What do TAMUC students think about _____________?”

Step 2: Choose and write down your dependent variable.

Step 2: Operationalize your dependent variable. Consider what questions you could ask to determine what people think about your dependent variable. Think of several different ways you could have people give their answers. Construct
at least two measures of the dependent variable. Be as specific and objective as possible. Provide a finite list of answers.

Step 3: Choose your independent variables. Think about ways that TAMUC students differ. They could be “demographic characteristics,” identities, attitudes or opinions they hold, or something about their position on campus (e.g. Greek, major, cohort, etc). Select
at least 6 of these as independent variables (characteristics of respondents that might shape their attitude towards your dependent variable).

Step 4: Operationalize your independent variables. Think about the best ways to get respondents to report these characteristics. Construct one measure for each of your independent variables. Be as specific and objective as possible. Provide a finite list of answers.

Step 6: Write your hypothesis. Write a hypothesis for each independent variable. It should be based on what you think is the likely answer to this research question. Remember, your hypothesis should be testable and falsifiable: you should be able to imagine different results that would “support” or “not support” your hypothesis.

Step 7: Construct your questionnaire. Construct a questionnaire that includes all of your measures of independent and dependent variables. Include several additional items in the questionnaire to make it less obvious what your research question is (and to make it less likely that your questionnaire format will bias the responses). Your questionnaire should have a
minimum of 10 separate items/questions.