This document outlines the research process, including defining the problem and objectives, determining the overall method such as a survey, experiment, or case study, identifying what concepts and variables will be measured, who the population and samples will be, how data will be gathered and analyzed, and how findings will be applied. It then provides detailed guidance on designing questionnaires, including determining question content and wording, response formats, and sequencing questions appropriately.

1. Research Process
Define Problem, Research Objectives
HOW?
Overall Method
•Survey
•Experiment
•Case Study
•Secondary Data
What?
•Concepts
•Variables
•Measures
Who?
•Population
•Sampling
Data Gathering
Analysis
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2. 1. Define study objectives
2. Identify information needs & study population(s)
3. Determine basic design/approach – Exercise B1 assume
- a self-administered survey
- could be mailed or on-site survey
4. Questionnaire design
5. Choose sample (frame, size, sampling design)
6. Estimate time, costs, manpower needs, etc.
STEPS IN A SURVEY
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3. Questionnaire Design
1. Preliminary Info
Information needed
Who are subjects
Method of communication
2. Question Content
3. Question Wording
4. Response Format
5. Question Sequencing/Layout
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4. What Information?
•Demographic, Socioeconomic, Physical
•e.g. income, age, weight, hometown,…
•Cognitive - Knowledge & beliefs
• e.g. Aware of a park or program, believe in global
warming
•Affective - attitudes, feelings, preferences
• Like or dislike park, satisfied, prefer this or that
•Behaviors
•Ski in last year, repeat visitor, stay overnight in
area?
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5. 1. Is this question necessary? useful?
2. Are several questions needed on this subject? Avoid
double barreled questions.
3. Do respondents have information to answer the question? Use
filter questions to screen.
4. Does question need to be more concrete, specific and related to
subject's personal experience? Is a time referent provided?
5. Is question sufficiently general? Do you want recent behavior
or "typical behavior"?
6. Do replies express general attitudes or specific ones?
7. Is content loaded or biased
8. Are subjects willing to answer?
9. Can responses be compared with existing information?
Question Content
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6. Wording
1. Will words be uniformly understood? Simple language.
Avoid technical phrases, jargon and abbreviations.
2. Does question adequately express the alternatives?
3. Is the question misleading due to unstated assumption
or unseen implications.
4. Is wording biased, emotional, or slanted?
5. Will wording be objectionable to respondents?
6. Should you use more or less personalized wording?
7. Ask in a more direct or more indirect way?
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7. 1. Open or closed-ended
2. If closed,
• ordered or unordered;
• number of categories,
• type of cue,
• forced or unforced choice
3. Response categories
•mutually exclusive
•exhaustive.
Form of Response
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8. Sequencing & layout
1. Will this question influence responses to
others?
2. Is question led up to in a natural way?
3. Placement to create interest, improve
response rate.
4. Branching, skipping, and transitions on
questionnaires.
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9. 1. Simple fill in the blank. Obtaining a straightforward
number or other easily understood response.
How old are you? ___________
(years).
In what county is your permanent residence?
_______________
( county)
How much money did you spend on this trip?
$ ________________
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10. 2. Open ended: To avoid leading subject, to obtain wide range
of responses in subject’s own words, or when you don’t
know kinds of responses to expect.
What is your primary reason for visiting the park today?
_______________________________________.
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11. 3. Partially closed ended. List major response categories
while leaving room for others.
Which of the following community recreation facilities do you
most frequently use? (check one).
neighborhood parks/playgrounds
swimming pools
community centers
natural areas
tennis courts
other (please specify) ___________________
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12. 4. Checklists: Allow subjects to check multiple
responses. Categories exhaustive & mutually exclusive
Which of the following winter recreation activities have
you participated in during the past month? (check all
that apply)
Cross-country skiing
Downhill skiing
Snowmobiling
Ice Skating
Sledding or Tobogganing
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13. 5. Likert Scales: Versatile format for measuring attitudes.
Please check the box that best represents your level of agreement
or disagreement with each of the following statements about
downhill skiing:
Strongly Strongly
Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Disagree
Downhill skiing is...
exciting
dangerous
expensive
Can replace “agree” with “importance” “satisfaction”, “interest” “preference”
and other descriptors to fit the attitude you wish to measure.
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14. 6. Rank Ordering: To measure preferences or priorities.
Limit to short lists.
Rank the following states in terms of your interest as
possible travel destinations for a summer vacation trip.
(Place a 1 beside the state you would most like to visit, place a 2 besides your
second choice, and a 3 beside your third choice.)
______ Michigan
______ Wisconsin
______ Minnesota
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15. 7. Filter Question. To screen for eligibility or
knowledge prior to asking other questions.
Did you stay overnight on your most recent trip?
NO YES
If Yes, How many nights did you spend
away from home? ________
To next question
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16. exciting ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ dull
expensive ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ inexpensive
safe ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ dangerous
8. Semantic Differential scale. Measure perception or image of
something using a set of polar adjectives.
For each of the characteristics listed below, mark an X on the line
where you feel downhill skiing falls with respect to that
characteristic.
(Could repeat with cross country ski and snowmobiling
and compare perceptions; or Coke and Pepsi.
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17. Suggested Surveys
• Visitors to a park or facility
• Resident population
• Group of managers or administrators
• Population of tourists
• Program participants
• other…
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18. Population - Who
• MSU students
• Impression 5 Museum Visitors
• MRPA members, Recreation faculty in US
• International students at MSU
• Visitors to Mackinac Island
• Tae-Bo class, MSU football players,…
• Food stamp recipients in Lansing area
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19. Objectives
• Describe the population
– Demographics, knowledge, attitudes, behavior
• Test for differences between subgroups
– Are men different than women in sports participation?
(gender related to partic.)
• Test for relationships between variables
– Does boat ownership vary with income?
• Evaluate a program (specify criteria as part of objective)
– How satisfied are customers? What do they like or
dislike about program?
– Estimate benefits (costs, impacts) of a program
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