Required Resources Read Review The Following Resource 390356

Required Resourcesreadreview The Following Resources For This Activit

Required Resources Read/review the following resources for this activity: Textbook: Chapter 1, 15, 16 Lesson: Week 1, 7 Minimum of 1 outside scholarly source (in addition to the textbook) Instructions End-of-course student surveys exist for you to share your anonymous feedback on your courses. The purpose of the survey is to gather data from a specific population (you, the students) to understand your experience in the course, and to determine areas of success and improvement in our courses, including this one (so hopefully you do share your feedback because we always want to improve our courses and teaching). Chapter 1 of the textbook and Week 1 of this course explored the research process. As mentioned in Week 1, research is fundamental in the social sciences, and a survey is a common sociological data collection method.

If we look at the course surveys from a sociological perspective, we see that they are used to understand a specific population's perspective of a social experience/issue. For this discussion, then, you will observe and analyze and evaluate the survey itself, as the budding social scientists you all now are, based on your learning in this course! Now, to come full circle, analyze the end-of-course surveys for their effectiveness as a sociological measurement tool.

For the initial post, respond to one of the following options, and label the beginning of your post indicating either Option 1 or Option 2:

Option 1: How would you improve the survey itself to create the best snapshot of student impressions of this or any Chamberlain University Online course?

Option 2: What specific change or changes would you make in the survey, or in how it is administered, in order to increase the survey’s reliability and/or validity? Remember, as you learned in Week 1, reliability is consistency in results and validity asks the question: “Are you measuring what you intended to measure?”

Writing Requirements 1 Full page APA format for in-text citations and list of references Include citations from at least the assigned textbook/lesson reading and one additional outside scholarly source to support your response.

Paper For Above instruction

End-of-course student surveys serve as crucial tools in evaluating the effectiveness of educational programs and understanding student perceptions. As social scientists, it is essential to scrutinize these surveys not only in terms of content but also in their reliability and validity to ensure accurate data collection. This paper analyzes how the structure and administration of student surveys can be improved to better capture authentic student feedback on online courses, with specific references to sociological measurement principles.

First, an effective survey must accurately reflect the students’ experiences, which requires meticulous question design. Question clarity is fundamental; ambiguous or leading questions can distort results, thus compromising validity (Creswell, 2014). To improve the survey, I would recommend including more open-ended questions that allow students to express their views in their own words. Open-ended items can unearth nuanced insights that closed-ended questions might overlook. For example, instead of asking, "Did you find the course engaging?", a more open question might be, "Describe your experience in engaging with the course materials and activities." This approach enhances content validity by capturing the depth of student engagement (Bryman, 2016).

Secondly, the timing of the survey administration significantly impacts its reliability. Administering the survey immediately after course completion may lead to higher response consistency, yet students’ perceptions may be influenced by recent events or transient feelings. Spacing out this survey period or using multiple follow-up surveys can improve reliability by averaging out short-term biases and capturing more stable perceptions (Fowler, 2013). Additionally, ensuring the anonymity of responses encourages honesty, reducing social desirability bias, which enhances the reliability of the data collected.

Third, the sampling method influences both reliability and validity. A random sample of students ensures that the data is representative of the entire student body, thereby strengthening external validity (Neuman, 2014). Imposing stratified sampling techniques—such as segmenting students by program, year, or demographic factors—can yield more precise and relevant data, further improving the survey’s construct validity.

Furthermore, incorporating standardized scales with proven reliability and validity enhances the survey. Using validated measurement instruments from prior research ensures consistency across different populations and contexts, which is essential for longitudinal studies or comparative analyses (DeVellis, 2017).

In conclusion, optimizing student surveys involves careful question design, thoughtful timing and administration, representative sampling, and the use of validated measurement tools. These modifications aligned with sociological research principles can significantly improve both the reliability and validity of student feedback, thus providing a more accurate snapshot of the online learning experience.

References

• Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Sage Publications.
• Bryman, A. (2016). Social Research Methods. Oxford University Press.
• DeVellis, R. F. (2017). Scale Development: Theory and Applications. Sage Publications.
• Fowler, F. J. (2013). Survey Research Methods. Sage Publications.
• Neuman, W. L. (2014). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Pearson.
• Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Sage Publications.