Finalizing the Survey and Developing a Web Survey

So far this week my primary focus has been on creating a web survey that I will be able to distribute through email and other online media to gather more results at a faster rate.  While learning the software to create the survey was difficult to do, the greatest problem was finding the best way to word the questions.  I had to find a balance between making the questions extensive enough to gather the data I required, but also not so long as too discourage participants from completing the entire survey.

The goal of my online survey will be to gather more results to create more concrete data for my research.  Whereas I was limited by time and other limitations when handing out a physical survey, I have much more freedom when using an online survey.  Some pros of using an online survey as opposed to a physical survey include more anonymity, which will most likely cause the responses to be more truthful, and an easier method of reviewing the data.  Rather than going through each survey individually like I would have to do with a physical survey, all of my data is automatically compiled and shown in neat graphs.  The downsides to having an online survey are mainly based on the fact that it is less personal, so people may not care as much and make quicker answers without thinking as much about the question.

While creating the survey for Arizona residents did require a decent amount of time and thought, I think that creating the survey for homeless people will be more challenging.  Among the differences between the two populations, homeless people have significantly reduced access to computers, so I will be conducting only physical surveys to accommodate for this issue.  I imagine that a certain number of people that I interview may be illiterate, which is another reason while in-person surveys are better fitted for this task.  I am beginning to draft this version of the survey and am looking forward to the opportunity to work with and meet the homeless that I am interviewing.