Approaches to Classroom Research

SURVEY RESEARCH
Abdurrahman KUTLUAY akutluay@gmail.com

What is a survey?
a snapshot of conditions, attitudes, and/or events of an entire population at a single point in time by collecting data from a sample drawn from that population.
(Nunan & Bailey, 2009 p. 125)

Language surveys are any research studies that gather data on the characteristics and views of informants about the nature of language or language learning through the use of oral interviews or written questionnaires.
(Brown,2001 p. 2)

In this session, we focus on written questionnaires.

What do surveys offer?

According to Drnyei (2003), surveys can produce data through three kinds of questions. 1. Factual 2. Behavioral 3. Attitudinal

Factual Questions
Who are the respondents?
Age Gender Ethnicity Education Profession Location, etc.

Ex: How old are you?

Behavioral Questions
What do/did they do?
Actions Lifestyles History Experience
Ex: What kind of techniques do you use to teach grammar?

Attitudinal Questions
What do they think?
Attitudes Opinions Beliefs Interests Values The trainers communicative skills were a) High b) Average c) Low

Respondents (Samples)

Sampling Types
Simple random sampling Systematic sampling (e.g. every tenth person) Stratied sampling (random sampling from homogenous subgroups like the males and the females) Cluster sampling (randomly selecting a specic number of schools and test all the students in those selected places)

Sampling Types
Convenience or opportunity sampling (practical, accessible, available) Purposive sampling (researchers judgment of sample typicality e.g., a group of principals and senior managers of secondary schools to study the incidence of stress among them)

(Brown, 2001; Burns, 2010; Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2000; McKay 2006; Nunan & Bailey, 2009)

Questionnaire Design
Closed-ended items Open-ended items

Closed-ended items
LIST
What is your higher level of education? BA, MA, Ph.D.

CATEGORY
Indicate your grade on the KPDS A1, A2, B1, B2

YES / NO TRUE / FALSE

I like biology. _Yes _ No _ Sometimes

Closed-ended items
RATING SCALES
Speaking is more important than writing.
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

RANK ORDER ITEMS

Rank the following from 1 to 4 in order of difficulty. _ Listening _ Speaking _ Reading _ Writing

Closed-ended items
QUANTITY/FREQUENCY
How many hours did you sleep? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or more

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

How many students are in your CR class? a) 1-5 b) 6-10 c) 11-15 d) 16-20 Which grade do you teach at present (you may choose more than one)? a) 9 b) 10 c) 11 d) 12

Open-ended items
OPEN ITEMS GUIDED ITEMS STRUCTURED ITEMS

(Burns, 2010)

OPEN ITEMS
o Name (optional): __________________ o Please explain your reasons for selecting this course.

GUIDED ITEMS
Do you think that learning English is difficult?
Yes No
If you checked Yes, please explain why: __________________________________________ __________________________________________

STRUCTURED ITEMS
The thing I like best about studying CR is ____ _____________________________________ The thing I like least about studying CR is __ _____________________________________ My most difficult challenge in studying CR is _____________________________________

How to survey?
A good questionnaire should be clear practical reliable ethical

A questionnaire should not be

leading culturally biased irritating.

References
Brown, J.D. (2001). Using surveys in language programs. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in English language teaching. New York: Routledge Cohen, L., Manion, L.,& Morrison, K. (2000). Research methods in education. London, UK: Routledge Falmer. Dornyei, Z. (2003). Questionnaires in second language research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Nunan D. & Bailey K. M. (2009) Exploring Second Language Classroom Research - A Comprehensive Guide. Boston: Heinle Cengage Learning. McKay, S. L. (2006). Researching second language classrooms. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates