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  2. EDU S010B

Designing Surveys and Questionnaires: Principles and Methods
EDU S010B

Course Information

Description

Questionnaires are among the most common data collection methods that educational researchers and other social scientists employ. Thus, surveys wield tremendous impact on the data based decision making that increasingly permeates our educational system and in society more broadly. Yet producing high-quality survey measures is not a straightforward task. Survey designers must choose between open ended, ranking, or rating items; between asking questions or posing statements for respondents to agree/disagree with; how many response options to offer; and the organizational logic of their survey. Empirical studies exist to guide each of these choices and maximize the quality of the data collected. This course will familiarize students with the steps and procedures that are essential to developing high quality surveys. The major topics of the course include defining constructs; creating items and item wording; response anchors; organizing, ordering, and formatting surveys; and bolstering response rates. The course is not designed to cover sampling procedures, analysis of survey data, or interviewing. As a final project, students will design a short questionnaire.

Prerequisites: none, though successful completion of S-012 or S-040 is strongly encouraged.

School Graduate School of Education
Credits 2
Cross Reg

Available for Harvard Cross Registration

Department Education
Course Component Regular Course
Instruction Mode In Person
Subject Education
Grading Basis HGSE Student Option (Letter Graded, Sat/Unsat)
Learning Goals <p>This course will introduce students to the principles of questionnaire design, helping them to craft instruments which elicit answers which are as useful as possible. We will discuss how to both decide how to craft items and how to order surveys. Upon completion of the class, students should be able to design a questionnaire for use in actual research, as well as to critically evaluate the decisions made by other survey designers. The class will not cover the analysis of questionnaires in any depth.</p>
Career Focus N/A