Survey Research
Survey Research is a quantitative method used in collecting information from several respondents by asking various survey questions.
For instance, my survey research is to know whether citizens are interested in taking a particular personal loan product. A bank conducts this survey to know whether or not to launch the new personal loan product or not.
- What sort of survey are you contemplating?
Survey research can be conducted in three main methods, which are derived from the medium used. They include online/email, phone, or face to face. The phone and face-to-face surveys are tiresome and involving and are used when the study population is small. In this case, the online survey and mails will be used. The link to a detailed questionnaire in the form of a Google form will be sent to the respondents through their mails.
- What sort of respondent are you targeting?
The targeted respondents would be the self-employed people because they mostly seek personal loans to boost their businesses. Generally, people who have just begun their career journeys do not get easy loans, same to children below the age of 18; thus, they do not require a personal loan. As a result, the respondents would be the self-employed individuals at the age bracket of 18 to 30 years and those above 30 years, whether employed since they may require a personal loan to develop themselves.
- What questions do you want answers to?
The first question is whether the respondents, who are potential clients, are interested in taking a personal loan.
If yes, then whether they would like to take the bank’s loan and whether or not they know the bank.
If not, the bank they opt for and why they opt for it.
As a result, it is important to structure the type, content phrasing, ordering, and layout of the survey questions. In this case, there are two types of survey questions; closed-ended and open-ended. The closed-ended questions offer respondents a predetermined set of answers and are suitable for quantitative research. On the other hand, open-ended questions are the best for qualitative research, just like the one I am conducting. It has no predetermined answers to choose from. Therefore, respondents are given a chance to answer from the heart and in their own words. In this case, only open-ended questions will be used to acquire more detailed information. Closed-ended questions with no and yes answers will be used for the most obvious questions.
- What response categories are you contemplating?
The expected response categories include any self-employed, who needs money and is interested in taking a personal bank loan for the closed-ended questions. In the open-ended questions, I will have to code the responses by assigning labels to each response and organizing them into their respective theme and categories.
- What sequence of questions should you pursue?
The questions will be arranged logically so that the easy and non-sensitive closed-ended questions will encourage the respondents to continue with the survey.
The open-ended questions will also be subdivided into various sections to help the respondents understand the question’s messages and know how to answer them.
If a question refers to or depends on the answer to another question, they should be placed directly next to each other.
- What is the layout of the survey instrument?
The layout used will be easy for the respondents to answer questions since every section would start with an example. A vertical layout is used through a step by step method for easy follow up.
- How will the sample be selected?
It is not easy to survey the entire population just as it is to respond to every person. The sample size depends on the size of the population. The sample size should be a representation of the whole population. The larger the sample and representation of the population, the more valid our conclusions. In this case, the available self-employed people in the city are 80%. A sample size of 500. This sample size would help the bank know whether people are interested in their new personal bank loan product.
Question 2
Archival research is the type of research involving primary sources held in an archive, a special collections library. They could include manuscripts, records, documents, objects, sound, and audiovisual materials; Archives store sources with different information. For instance, historical events are well preserved and documented in archives. Such information focuses on a state, a community, or governmental records. Some of Saudi Arabia’s historical events recorded in the archives are the origin of the Wahhabi Movement in the 18th century, Riyadh’s capture in 1902, the Anglo-Saudi treaty of 1927, the border dispute with Yemen, and the first oil exports in 1939. This information is in documents and pictures and is so valid due to it being a primary source. Archival research helps preserve information and events, whether historical or not, making it available for use in the future.
Question 3
The APA style includes a set of guidelines used in writing. The guidelines were set down by the American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual. The style’s main purpose is to facilitate scientific communication by promoting expression clarity and standardizing the organization in book chapters and research articles. It is also the best style for presenting the outcome of psychological research in both academic and professional contexts.
On the other hand, the MLA style is also a system used for documenting scholarly writing sources. It is usually used for classroom instruction and by scholars, journal publishers, and academic and commercial presses. This style recommends a single universal set of guidelines applied by writers to any source type. Like APA, the MLA style provides a consistent framework for which document or research work is formatted.
Question 4
It is possible for people researching to engage in immoral activities. This is prevented through some set ethical principles that guide researchers. The core principles focus on doing good and not harming the respondents. This means that a researcher should first obtain informed consent from potential research participants. Secondly, a researcher should minimize or eliminate any risk of harm to their participants. Then, a researcher needs to protect the anonymity and confidentiality of his participants. Again, the researcher should avoid using any deceptive practices or words. Finally, the researcher should give their participants the right to withdraw from the research upon their will.