Upon completing this semester of Social Research and Program Evaluation, I have successfully learned how to conduct research and construct surveys. Throughout the semester I learned how to make well-written surveys; surveys that will receive feedback and data. Some of the best practices for survey research are to design questions that are clear to the respondent, have correct grammar, only ask about what the research wants to know, avoid bias, avoid double barrel questions, and use easy-to-read language. The more clear and more straightforward questions are on a survey, the more likely respondents are willing to take the time and answer the questions. I have learned that sometimes it is best to avoid an overwhelming amount of open-ended questions because people do not want to take the time to write out their answers, respondents like questions with check boxes for answers. The easier and shorter a survey is, the higher the response will be and since the goal of the surveys is to receive 100% feedback, it is very crucial to follow these practices when conducting surveys.
This semester in SOCL 345, we focused on family involvement among students and their families at Head Start and the Andy Taylor Center. We started this project by discussing and defining what family involvement is. Family involvement is so many things, it is: helping your child with school work, going on family walks, watching movies, communicating, and so much more. We wanted to measure family involvement and in order to do this we conducted surveys that went along with Family Fun Time Activities, activities that another class had made to send home to students and families who attended Head Start or the Andy Taylor Center, in these surveys we asked questions about the activities itself and we asked, “How involved was your family throughout the activity?” Parents were to complete the surveys after they finished the activities. We wanted to receive the most feedback that we could so as an incentive we sent home a book for the child to have. Once we had the returned surveys, we were able to gather data from the answers provided and analyze the data. It was found that families who completed the Family Fun Time Activities increased the amount of family involvement within their family. Each student in SOCL 345 also chose an independent variable, my independent variable was socioeconomic class. I wanted to find out if there was a correlation between socioeconomic class and family involvement or in other words, I wanted to know if family involvement was affected by a family’s socioeconomic class. To operationalize my independent variable, the surveys that were sent home with children also asked, “What is your annual household income?” The answers to this question were listed and the respondents were to circle an answer. Since only sixteen surveys were completed and returned back before we started to analyze our data, I found that there wasn’t a genuine correlation between socioeconomic class and family involvement. I also learned that surveys and survey responses are very critical when it comes to gathering data.
Before taking this class, I had never conducted research or created my own research and surveys. Since we spent all semester looking at research, conducting our own research, and creating our own surveys, I now feel confident in my abilities to do so. This class taught me how to do all of those things and I also learned how to write a research paper and what all goes into a research paper. I learned how to write a literature review, how to look deep into previous research and put it into my own words, and how to cite all of the work that I used. Before this class, I had never completed a paper where I needed to use APA format when citing research and I had never used in-text citations in APA format. I learned how to correctly cite journals and articles throughout my own work, I learned how to look through journals and articles and find the research I needed for my own research. Overall, I have learned a lot of crucial strategies that will help me in future college courses and in future research that I conduct. I now know how to conduct research, how to write surveys, and how to write an adequate research paper and correctly cite my sources.