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To: Dr. Lane Williams
From: Candice Andersen, Communications Student
Date: 4-9-14
Subject: Student Research Survey/In-Depth Interview Results
In November 2010, a survey was distributed among Brigham Young University-Idaho students. Te
purpose of this survey was to fnd out what students want to learn in a research class, where their current
knowledge is of basic research terms and other topics related to research.
A total of 67 students responded to the survey, in which 43 were females and 22 were males. Out of these
men and women, 29 were Freshman, 36 were Sophmores and 2 were categorized as other.
To provide additional insight as to what students opinions are, I conducted an in-depth interview with a
Communications student, Alexa Knutson who is a Junior at BYU-Idaho.
Between this survey and interview, I found some useful information to help you decide what kind of cur-
riculum would be useful in your future research classes based on students responses.
First, I propose that you continue teaching students how to fnd credible sources efciently and how to
cite them. From the survey, I found that from the short answer responses, 60% of students wanted to
learn how and where to fnd credible sources efciently and how to cite sources properly.
When I spoke with Alexa, she confrmed these fndings. She told me if she could learn one thing in a
research class, she would want to learn how to fnd credible sources. She mentioned that in the past, she
has just Googled things and wasnt sure how to decipher whether she was really fnding reliable sources
or not.
Another suggestion for the class is to have students do more in Excel. Alexa said that she only knows the
very basics of Excel. She said that when she takes a research class, she hopes to learn how to use Excel to
flter through information and fnd the most important data.
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Another piece of knowledge that students seemed to lack , was that of standard deviation from the mean.
In the survey they were asked the following question:One standard deviation away from a mean contains
approximately what percentage of people? 57% of students said that they did not know the answer, while
only 3% answered it correctly. Tis fnding indicates that standard deviation is something they need to
learn since more than half did not even take a guess at the answer.
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Te survey also suggested that students dont feel overly confdent with using the Excel program. 22% of
students said that they felt like they knew Excel more poorly than most of their peers. 6% of respondents
indicated that they knew Excel more poorly than almost all of their fellow classmates. While 28% of stu-
dents werent very confdent in their abilities to use the program, I believe this is a large enough percentage
to consider spending more time teaching them how to be profcent in Excel.
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Te last thing I propose for your future classes, is to continue expressing your enthusiasm for research
to the students. When students were asked what one word they associate with research, 15% of their
responses had a negative connotation to it. Some described research as boring, tedious, yuck, etc.
To showcase what students said, I created a Wordle.
When I spoke to Alexa about research, she was not enthusiastic about it. She said it was a class that
she was dreading to take. I reassured her that it can actually be fun, especially when you really want to
know something.
I suggest that as the teacher, you emphasize how applicable research is in every day life. If students like
Alexa, know that research has a purpose and its not just a pointless headache, then they can have a
new perspective on research and want to use it in real life situations.
Furthermore, it is my belief, that as the professor, you have the opportunity to get students excited
about research. By teaching them more about standard deviation, statistics, Excel and teaching them
why research is relevant, I believe that you will have a successful research class where students will
grow.
Best Wishes,
Candice Andersen