This past week was a good one :) Data collection workshop on Tuesday and delicious food and family on Thursday! And now this is the last sumblog of the semester!! I mean... aww, sad day :( Anyway, here are my general thoughts regarding our recent proposal workshop:
1) What are some of the major obstacles/challenges in creating your research proposal?
Much of my survey includes demographic characteristics, such as sex, place of residence, and so on. This means a lot of my questions are pretty easy to make up. However, I struggled with figuring out a way to ask people if they affiliate with a specific religion. Do I simply ask if they affiliate? Or should my question be exhaustive of possible religions and have them select a specific one? Of course, I have to have the options of "none," "nothing in particular," and other categories that would qualify the respondents as "nones." This was my main challenge.
2) What would you like to do if other variables were different (time, money, access to population, etc.)?
If I had an unlimited budget, I would send surveys to every household in the United States. I know I would still missing parts of the population, but someone has to compete with the Gallup Poll!!! I would also hire staff in each state or county or town so interviews could be completed in a timely manner and all data was recorded around the same time. I would also hire someone to help me write the survey and interview questions so I didn't ever have to stress about it :)
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