Always having trouble with the university: surveys for your bachelor's thesis, term papers, etc.
“So, dear fellow students - now I have to annoy you too: I would ideally need all of you for a special survey...” the horror that probably every student has already experienced begins in something like this. Because at some point there will most likely come a point during your studies where you should, may or even have to create such a survey as part of a seminar or bachelor's thesis.
Unfortunately, in most cases it's not really that much fun: after all, the participants have to be taken from somewhere - but, if you please, a good amount so that the empirical findings are definitely watertight.
Nevertheless, evaluated survey data is simply part of a bachelor's, master's or seminar paper , as it represents an important component in supporting the theses you have put forward or discussed. And of course you can only get this survey data with the help of a survey.
The (potential) problem with a survey for your bachelor's thesis
Oh, if only it were that simple: Not only is there often a lack of motivated participants , but when one or two people do take pity, it often becomes apparent quite quickly that the question design is on a completely different piece of paper . How do you actually create a completely successful survey for your bachelor's thesis ? Which question makes sense? How can statements, if possible, be formulated in such a way that they can be understood by every participant? What could a possible scale look like? And what actually happens if the result you expected is not reflected in the survey data at all?
Questions upon questions - only one thing is clear: a survey like this is tough, time-consuming and costs a lot of patience, nerves and - when things get tough - money too.
The solution: Useful tips for conducting your survey
First of all: Don't panic! Because anyone who has already despaired has basically bad cards. Instead, it is important to stay calm and think about the basic process as a first step. So first consider the following:
- Do I have certain expectations of the result?
- Which question formulation can I use to elicit the desired statements from the participants?
- Which scale makes the most sense in this context?
First of all, the primary goal of such work is usually not to provide new and groundbreaking findings. Normally, neither the content nor the time frame of a seminar or bachelor's thesis is sufficient for this. It is important that you work on the topic you have presented to the best of your knowledge and belief, approach the matter in a structured manner and ultimately be able to show results - and even if your expectations were not met, that is still an important result! Therefore: Don't panic if your survey doesn't deliver the results you expected in point 1 - rest assured, your examiner will still see that you've put some thought and work into it.
In order to elicit specific results from participants - this is called elicitation - specific questions can be asked, the evaluation of which you can then use for your work. The important thing here is to try to ask the questions as simply, understandably and uncomplicated as possible. To see if it really works, just present your list of questions to your little sister, your best friend or even your grandma - because if it goes smoothly, everything should be fine. Good to know: Ideally, the test subjects should know at least a little about the subject matter, otherwise the results may be distorted.
In the next step, you will find out which evaluation method makes the most sense for your topic. For example, if you want to know the individual attitude of the respondent towards a certain object - for example as part of a study on dialects : "How natural does sentence XY sound to you?" In this case, the use of the so-called four-stage Likert scale has become established. The even number ensures that the person surveyed does not choose the simple middle path, but rather has to decide between “rather good” or “rather bad”. These and similar scales are available for all sorts of surveys - so it's usually best to simply ask the examiner in question how best to proceed.
Creating surveys is annoying, nerve-wracking and tiring - we'll show you how to do it stress-free.
