Assignment 3 Technical Writing

Fall 2014

Survey/Interview Questions: Primary Research for

Your Final Project
Graded
deliverable
Length
Due
Submission
mode
Supplements

List of interview or survey questions

Audience description and analysis
A minimum of 10 questions
Monday, November 3 (optional pre-submission by 10/27)
Canvas
Complete contextual information (see detailed information
below)

Assignment Overview
Your final project must include some element of primary research. Whether you plan
to conduct interviews, design and distribute surveys, or both, you will have to
submit to me a list of well-crafted, carefully worded questions before you distribute
the surveys or conduct the interviews.
Remember that for surveys to be useful, you must demonstrate that youve
surveyed a representative sample of the population. Effective survey questions are
specific and unbiased, and they take into account your audiences preferences,
needs, and time constraints. Effective interview questions are clear, focused, and
open-ended (unlikely to result in yes-or-no answers).
For this assignment, youll write a minimum of 10 questions for a survey or an
interview. (You must identify which format you intend to use.) If you are using a
surveyparticularly a face-to-face/paper surveyyou must design and format your
assignment to reflect the survey you intend to distribute.
Youll begin by providing full context for your questions. For interviews, you will
identify your sources, and describe when and how youll contact them; for surveys,
describe your survey population and how and when you will be distributing and
collecting the survey. Next, provide the text you will use to introduce the questions
to your respondents.
Your options for this assignment are as follows:
All 10 questions may relate to one survey, or one interview.
If youd like to submit both interview and survey questions, please write five
of each.
You may write five interview questions for one source, and five interview
questions for a second source, but they must be substantially different.
This assignment is intended to give you good practice in writing survey and
interview questions. Its expected that your actual questions will change as your
research continues and you receive feedback from your classmates and me. Please

Assignment 3
Page 2 of 3
note that your survey may have more (or possibly fewer) than 10 questions; youll
hand in 10 so I can give you feedback that will help you craft further questions.
Whatever primary research you conduct should be completed three weeks before
the final project is due. Do not wait until the last minute to request interviews or
distribute surveys, or you run the risk of insufficient responses, which can
jeopardize the reliability of your data, your conclusions, and ultimately the viability
of your proposed ideas.

Grading
Your survey/interview questions will be graded on these qualities:
Content (50%)the extent to which your questions reflect an understanding
of the context, purpose, and audience of the survey or interview; the
incisiveness of your questions; relevance of the questions to the problem or
opportunity you intend to address;
Approach and organization (20%) preciseness, conciseness,
appropriateness of language; objectivity of the wording (no leading
questions);
Implementation plan (20%)proposed techniques for sample selection and
distribution (for surveys) or means of contacting (for interviews);
Style (10%)grammar, consistency, correctness, organization, clarity,
structure.
As indicated on the syllabus, this assignment will count as 5 percent of your total
course grade. It will become part of your final project portfolio, though it will not be
regraded at semesters end.

Additional Information and Tips for Success

Our readings and class discussion will provide guidance for this assignment. Your
textbook covers questionnaires and interviews in some level of detail. Think
carefully about the types of information you want to gather, and then decide the
best way to go about gathering it in the most representative manner.
Consider testing your questions on a friend or classmate before you finalize the
questions. Recruit a friend to play the role of your interview subject and practice
improvising follow-up questions. This will also give you a chance to find out if your
question is confusing or ambiguously worded.
If you intend to distribute a survey electronicallyeither by sending out a form or by
sending a link to potential respondentstry sending it first to an off-campus
contact, to ensure that your survey can be accessed without the authentication
thats inherent in your UMCP login.
Choices youll need to make

Assignment 3
Page 3 of 3

Will I use a survey, an interview, or some combination of the two?

How will I use the data I collect in my primary research?
What will I do if the responses highlight a different finding than the one I
expect?
What can I do to make sure respondents dont feel like Im taking up too
much of their valuable time?

Additional key points to keep in mind

Do not write questions that seem to want a particular answer. Doing so is
unethical and may skew your results.
Dont ask questions that your respondents cannot answersuch as ones that
call for conjecture on someone elses motives for an action.
Guess what? Looks still count, especially if you are creating a survey. Make
your documents look professional. Be consistent with formatting, even if you
vary the question types.
Give your respondents good, clear instructions for completing and returning
the survey.
Have I mentioned that you need to proofread your work carefully? By this
point in the semester, carelessness in your writing will have a noticeable
effect on your grade for the assignment. Pay special attention to errors
identified on previous assignments and dont make these same mistakes
again.