Survey creation

I continued to read in the survey texts and made notes on creating a cover letter:

The Cover Letter
I. Purpose
a. Explain the project
b. Win the cooperation of respondents
II. Needs to answer the questions:
a. What is this about?
b. Who wants to know?
c. Why do they want this?
d. Why was I picked?
e. How important is this?
f. Will this be difficult?
g. How long will this take?
h. Will it cost me anything?
i. Will I be identified?
j. How will this be used?
k. What’s in it for me?
l. When should I do it?
III. Should not be too stiff, too formal, not too sophisticated but not condescending.
IV. Address it Dear Respondent or if you know the respondents: Dear General Microbiology Students, Dear so and so (greater response rate)
Show respect to the reader, don’t demand
V. Appearance matters - make it look nice to increase the chance of response.

I then created the survey trying my best to adhere to the advice given in the text. I wanted to use the new online UWyo survey tool. Unfortunately, I found it to be incompatible with my Safari browser and had to load a new Firefox browser. Once this was complete, I was able to type questions into the online survey tool. Following is the cover letter and the link to access the online survey.

Hello everyone,

As many of you already know, I am always searching for new techniques and media to improve student access to course material and appeal to students with a wide variety of learning styles. With this goal in mind, I have worked with others to create online notes, dichotomous keys, the summary of biochemical tests, and the Virtual Edge laboratory supplements. These are provided to you in their current form due to previous studies and questionnaires. The opinions of the students in this course are the determining factor in whether a new tool is introduced and continually used.

In order to collect information on student opinion an online questionnaire has been developed to assess your opinions regarding podcast lectures. This questionnaire has been designed so that you can complete it very quickly and easily. It takes only a few minutes, and you need only select a response from the list of options provided after each question. A forum for additional suggestions is also provided at the end of the survey.

This survey is completely voluntary and anonymous. You can be absolutely sure that all of the information you provide is strictly confidential, and no individual student will be identified. Should you choose to complete this survey your answers will be combined with those of your classmates and used only for statistical analysis to help determine whether further use of podcast lectures is warranted.

Your honest opinions, whether favorable or unfavorable, are very necessary to ensure that General Microbiology is taught in the most effective manner possible. The results of this survey will determine the extent to which podcast lectures will be available to future students. Your candid opinion is greatly appreciated.

The survey is web based and can be accessed at https://survey.uwyo.edu/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=78L28m6

If you have any questions about the survey or how the data will be used please contact me at rwatson@uwyo.edu or Christi Boggs at cboggs@uwyo.edu.

Thank you for your help; you all Rock My World,



Rachel