[Cit AO2, MS AO4, MS AO6]
This is a practical exercise to research web usage amongst people
in your community by writing,
and carrying out a questionnaire, the results of which, you will collate
and present on this site.
The objective here is to produce some statistics, which you can present
to your class (and post to this site) electronically as a chart or graph.
For example, if you interview 10 people their responses can easily be
represented as a percentage. You should therefore try to interview multiples
of 10. If need be, get help from your school or college Maths or Computer
Departments with programmes that convert numbers to charts or graphs.
The important thing is to construct a questionnaire with ‘closed’
questions or ‘tick box’ answers. ‘Closed’ questions
demand a yes or no answer, or a choice of responses to tick:
- For example:
- Do you use the web
(Please tick one)A lot?
A little?
Not at all?
This will make it possible to convert each question to a numerical or
graphical format, to state that: 25% said 'A lot', 30% said 'A little'
and 45% said 'Not at all'.
Your survey should also find out how much use is made of the web by members
of your community falling into such categories as age, gender, social
class and/or race. Get details at the start of your questionnaire so that
you have all the evidence you need to come up with percentages.
Try to think of all kinds of answer options for your interviewees to choose
from:
- some people, for example: may not have a web enabled computer but use a friend’s
- some may use one at their place of work
- some may have one in their home for another member of the family or use a cybercafe
Try to get estimates of how long people spend online and offer a choice of broad time bands for online time eg:
- 3-5 hours per wk/month
- 5-10 hrs
- 10-20 hrs etc
If you can, it would be useful to find out the reasons for this. At the
moment, for example, there is an argument about phone calls costing too
much in this country. In America local phone calls are unmetered (so that
whether you are online for 2 minutes or 3 hours, the same charge applies).
Remember that even people who do not access the web should still be counted
as part of your statistics (what is their age, gender, class etc?).
Remember to look into why the web is used: think carefully about answer options for your questions about this, here are some examples you might use:
- For your work?
- For leisure?
- To shop?
- To study?
More advice on designing open and closed questions for a questionnaire
can be obtained from : Surrey
University’s Sociology web site.
Once you have the results and statistics from your survey you need
to write a report which summarises your findings and presents any assumptions
or conclusions you have come to.
Once this is complete you must post your report onto this site.
When you have finished your report you can go straight to Uploading
your Results.
When you post to Uploading Your Results, make
sure you:
- give your message a title, either using your own name or the name of your institution,
- state where you live, and
- give the date when you carried out your survey