Identifying conceptual questions and researchable questions
The empirical focus of the project will be student organizations on 5
The overarching conceptual question:
Does the Internet provide students a significant medium in which they can express themselves politically? If so, how? (If not, why not?)
Variations on this question include:
Researchable questions include:
Þ What are the goals of or issues addressed by the organization? What issues are seen as important?
Þ What media of communication do the organizations employ?
Þ Do they receive information from other organizations through the Internet?
Þ How do organization members feel/think Internet has affected the organization?
Þ How often do they email constituents? If so, what do they sent?
Þ How often do they use the Internet? How long do they use it?
Þ Does the organization have a website?
Þ What is the nature of the website’s content?
Þ What is the intent or purpose of the website (or what purpose(s) does it serve)?
Þ What website links exist? Are they fractured? To what issues are the links directed?
Þ Do organization members feel that there is a disparity today between users and non-users of the Internet?
Þ What are the different race/ethnic backgrounds of organization members or participants?
Þ Are there computers at organizations? Are they available for members to use?
Þ Does an organization only draw its membership from students?
Þ Are there fees associated with membership?
Þ How long has the organization been operating at the university?
Þ Is it part of an umbrella organization? Do other chapters exist?
Þ What percent of activities are community-oriented and/or political?
o Rank importance relative to other types of activities (e.g., recreation, socialization)
o To what extent is the Internet employed for community service and political activities?
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Further discussion of the survey design and questions in relation to the over-arching conceptual question (stated above in the box) identified four important areas to focus on. These include: documenting goals of the organizations, assessing the significance of the Internet for organizations’ activities, identifying which activities organizations engage in, and identifying characteristics of the organization and its members. Gathering information to address these four topic areas will proceed with generating and identifying survey questions that will allow us to generate analyses to provide insight into out over-arching conceptual question. This work has begun, but finishing it entails a longer process. Towards this end, the table below offers a record of the day’s discussion and it has been constructed to show 1) which of the four topic areas are addressed by the question, 2) how that question will be answered (e.g., closed-ended vs. open-ended), and 3) what type of data the question aims to supply (e.g., behavioral, attribute, or beliefs).
|
Question |
Topic Area |
Type of Question |
Type of Data |
|
How much of your
organization’s communication (or other
activity) is done using the Internet? |
Significance |
Closed-ended, rank-order
set of choices |
Behavior |
|
What term best characterizes
the frequency with which your organization uses the Internet for a particular
activity? |
Significance |
Closed-ended, rank-order
set of choices |
Behavior |
|
Do you think that the
Internet offers an important means of political expression for your
organization? |
Significance |
Open-ended |
Attitude |
|
What types of activities
does your organization engage in using the Internet? |
Activities |
Open-ended, or close-ended
w/unordered choices |
Behavior |
|
What types of activities does
your organization engage without
using the Internet? |
Activities |
Open-ended, or close-ended
w/unordered choices |
Behavior |
|
How important to your
organization is using the Internet for communication (or other activity)? |
Significance |
Closed-ended, rank-order
set of choices |
Beliefs |
|
In what ways is it
important/ please explain? |
Significance |
Open-ended |
Beliefs |
|
Has using the Internet
changed the way that your organization works to pursue your goals? |
Significance |
Open-ended |
Beliefs and behavior |
|
Have you noticed that there
are limits to the usefulness of the Internet for achieving your
organization’s goals? If so, please explain. |
Significance |
Significance |
Beliefs |
|
What are your
organization’s goals? |
Goals |
Open-ended and ask for
mission statement |
Attitude |
|
Has using the Internet
affected your organization’s ability to reach these goals? (If, so how?) |
Goals |
Open-ended |
Beliefs and behavior |
|
Do you think that your organization’s
goals are political? Why? |
Goals |
Open-ended |
Beliefs |
|
How many student members
are in the organization? |
Characteristics |
|
Attributes |
|
Are there non-student
members? |
Characteristics |
Closed-ended |
Attributes |
|
How often do members meet? |
Characteristics |
Open-ended |
Attributes |
|
Does organization receive
funding from the university? From members? From private donations? |
Characteristics |
Closed-ended |
Attributes |
|
How do people become involved/
a part of the organization |
Characteristics |
Open-ended |
Attributes |
|
Is your organization
affiliated with other organizations on campus? On other campuses? With other
private organizations? |
Characteristics |
Closed-ended |
Attributes |
In addition to developing these questions, we anticipate adding benchmark questions from other surveys and studies. Furthermore, it is recognized that the format in which these questions will be asked will likely change. Perhaps the most important contribution that this exercise offers to the task of survey design is a mapping out of which topic areas are being addressed and what strategies of data analysis are implied in the questions that are being asked.
We have not yet addressed two important issues raised in previous discussions: 2) Does on-line activity shape offline activity (and vice versa)? 2) The content and purpose of organizations’ websites.