Design and Implementing Data Questionnaires of Using the Internet - Coursework Example

 Design and Implementing Data Questionnaires and Interview A. Developing and Trialing Questionnaires and Interviews The questionnaires and interview designs are conducted to give light to the study that looks and explores the effects of using Internet on learning Reading in English language at high schools in Sydney, Australia. We will look into the opinion and views of teachers, students and parents regarding the use of the internet as a tool for learning and student assessment. Aside from using the internet as a tool for learning, teachers use technology and the internet to connect to students and co-educators in providing instructions, grades and performance to students. The first part of the questionnaires is for the study group, or the students who will be using the Internet for the duration of the study. 1.) Do you get enough knowledge, information and data from the Internet? 2.) What kind of learning do you get from the internet? 3.) What information do you get from the internet? 4.) How much time do you spend using the internet at home? 5.) Do you think the internet is a helpful tool for learning Reading in English? 6.) Do you learn Reading in English from the Internet? 7.) Has this helped you, in any way, in your Reading and Comprehension in English? 8.) Has the internet helped you in your studies as a whole? 9.) What kind of materials do you get from the internet that have helped you in learning Reading in English from the Internet, if there are any? 10.) Are these downloadable materials? 11.) Do you think you need particular software for learning Reading in English? 12.) Do you get enough information aside from books and other reading materials in the traditional library? 13.) What sort of information and data do you get from the internet? 14.) Do you think the internet is an easy and inexpensive method of research? 15.) Are most of your assignments and lessons in the class found in the internet? 16.) How reliable are the information provided by the internet with regards your assignment and other lessons and school work? With regards your personal needs or future plans in your student life? 19.) Do you think high school students should have absolute access to the internet at home or in school? 20.) Shouldn’t they be banned from surfing the internet, especially the unethical and illegal practices? 21.) How much time should a student spend surfing or researching the internet? 22.) Do you think more regulations should be enforced regarding commercials and other information uploaded and downloaded through the internet? 23.) What sort of stuff do you upload and download through the internet? 24.) Do you have full access to any kind of website if you have a credit card? 25.) Can you enumerate some of the benefits of using the internet aside from English learning? 26.) Are these useful in your studies? 27.) Do you think the internet should be here to stay to help you in your studies? 28.) Do you indulge in some other activities using the internet aside from using it as a tool for learning? The following questionnaire is for teachers, parents and students (both members of the study group and the control group) designed by just encircling the number to indicate the degree of agreement or disagreement to the statements provided: 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Neither Agree Agree Strongly Disagree Nor Disagree Agree Using the internet for high schools in Sydney, Australia … 1. …has improved the students’ Reading and Comprehension in English 1 2 3 4 5 2. …has helped a little in the students’ learning in Reading in English. 1 2 3 4 5 3. …has not helped them at all. 1 2 3 4 5 4. …has wonderful tools that will help the students in their studies. 1 2 3 4 5 5. …should be cancelled in the learning process for high school. 1 2 3 4 5 6. … should only be for other areas of information gathering and not for English Reading. 1 2 3 4 5 7. …should never have been a part of the learning process for high schools. 1 2 3 4 5 8. … should be further studied and reviewed by experts to determine its efficacy and use. 1 2 3 4 5 9. … should be continued and supported to help the students’ learning in English Reading. 1 2 3 4 5 10. …have to be added with some features and software to be more effective in learning. 1 2 3 4 5 Questionnaire for the parents and teachers: 1.) Do you have a personal computer at home connected to the internet? 2.) Do our students have absolute access to the internet? 3.) Do you think the internet is helpful our students in their studies? 4.) Is the internet helpful to our students’ learning Reading and Comprehension in English? 5.) If yes, how? 6.) Do you think if there’s no internet our students won’t have much improvement in learning Reading in English the way they have now? 7.) Does the internet consume much of the time for the students? 8.) How much time? 9.) Do our students use the internet for most of school assignments? Personal purposes? 10.) Do you think the internet is helping, in any way, in our students’ studies, in terms of assignments, research work, information or data gathering? 11.) Do you think using the Internet has to continue in our students’ learning process? 12.) Why should this be continued? Or stopped? 13.) Do you think children or minors be allowed absolute access to the internet? 14.) Do you think schools, especially high schools, should continue using the internet in acquiring knowledge or in using the internet as a tool for learning? 15.) Do you think the students are safe with the internet? 16.) Do you think there should be more regulations regarding commercials and online posts? 17.) With the emergence of unethical materials and illegal and prohibited information in the internet (e.g. pornography and other clandestine ways of conducting business using the web) do you think this will affect the students’ learning process? 18.) Do you think we should limit the internet to what should only be ethical? 19.) How do you think should we safeguard our children from the “hazards” of the internet? 20.) Do you think parents and teachers (or school administration) should have a hand in regulating the use of the internet for whatever reason? Part B: Reflection Information and data collection are one of the exciting parts of research, though they can be tiring. But this is not to say that they are difficult. When you put a lot of effort in it, data collection can be challenging. You have to earn the cooperation of your respondents; you’ve to build a close rapport with them. In the initial part of the information gathering, some doubts and negative thoughts entered my mind as to how the whole thing can be quite successful, to say the least. Gathering all the data together, doing all the things that seemed to be countless tasks, and executing what I had in mind, seemed impossible to do all at the same time. Then, a lot of ideas also entered my mind which seemed not to point to a particular direction. Aside from the preparations for the interviews and questionnaires, I had to do a lot of research from previous studies, and opinions of experts, teachers, and parents, not only on the contents of the questionnaires but on the actual conduct of the interviews. Finally, I came to the conclusion that I had to be calm and sit it down with a fresh mind. We have to write down the things that we do. Langosch (1999) says: After you have tried the techniques of brainstorming, branching, or making up journalistic questions and flowcharts, you may also find it useful to try discovery writing. This step can be helpful, especially once you have formulated a thesis statement. (69) This is putting ideas into writing without first arranging or editing them. Just put them down into writing, and then later you’ll discover what and how they’ll come out. Langosch says this is known as “free writing” or “discovery writing”. Langosch cites the American novelist of the 1930s, William Faulkner, who “said that he did not know what he was thinking until he wrote it down. Others say that they do their best writing in the shower or waiting at a traffic light.” (69) This innovative idea is applicable to research writing and data collection. We can not really put down all the questions in one sitting, or just with a flash of lighting, and out there all the ideas and questions have come out, then you’re ready to write them down, or put them in formal writing, and the report or thesis is all done. That is not so. Ideas, questions, and all the necessary writing techniques for data collection, questionnaire and interview collection, have to be done with a lot of preparation and time. Preparation is the key. You have to exert effort, put more time, talent and skill in brainstorming, researching, and studying. Langosch (1999) adds: Discovery writing is a technique for putting ideas down without organizing them or worrying about their accuracy; however, do not think that because you were able to get a lot of ideas on paper, you can submit these early attempts to your instructor. Once you have begun to get words on paper, you will be encouraged to write more, but do not allow your writing to grow “cold”. In other words, do not wait to go over it; always underline the best sentences, circle ideas, and make further notes in the margins. (69) I did a lot of reviews, repetitions and practice on what I have done. Editing and polishing my work required a lot of time. I had to polish my writing too, because as Turk (1982) says, “Writing is a skill; like other skills, it can be learnt, and like most skills it is not inborn.” Good writing, therefore, is part of good communication skills. This means too, that aside from my perfect oral presentation, I had to write perfectly well. I decided on one very important thing needed in every aspect of work, and this is pursuing the truth through my good communication skills. My purpose is to communicate effectively, i.e. to get to my audience, which include the students, teachers, and parents, and the members of my team. A concise and direct to the point piece of communication is required. How well is my form of communication accepted by my audience? I have to follow some form of a game plan or outline to get the necessary information in my research. Every move that I made pointed to a direction which was to get a lot of data and information through the questionnaires and interviews as my tool. And my first worry of mixing and arranging all the “mess” of ideas was becoming a little clearer and fruitful now. Barker (2001) says: The first and most important reason for communicating is to build relationships with other people. Recent research (commissioned from the Social Issues Research Centre by British Telecom) suggests that about two-thirds of our conversation time is entirely devoted to social topics: personal relationships, who is doing what with whom, who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out’ and why. (3) In doing my interviews, I have to be able to make a good rapport with the respondents – the students, teachers, and parents. All my efforts could not have been done without a certain amount of convincing, interacting, and reacting with the people who are considered my clients. To me, this is to make the discussion and interaction lively and casual. By doing so, you can get a lot of information and data. By letting the respondents at home to your questions, by not letting them feel nervous, and by giving them a chance to express themselves, a lot of things will come out; and you can attain your mission with much success. Opinions of the teachers and parents are so much valuable that they have to be analyzed thoroughly. The outcome of the research also depends on the students’ perception of the internet as a tool – or not – for their learning Reading in English. After all the collection, everything has to be reviewed, and the data incorporated in one simple paper. All the data, including the smallest details, are valuable input that can be helpful in my present research and future empirical studies and information gathering. Some other methods of data collection may not be confined to mere questionnaires and interviews, although what I have in mind is still on the subject of interviews. Informal interview is what I recommend, in addition to the ones that we have been conducting. This sort of data gathering can be effective if all of the things done are thoroughly documented through recording – video or audio. The analysis part may be more complex and work intensive. In my analysis of the situation, however, there are some hazards to the students’ use of the internet as a tool for learning. There are some instances that they can be tempted to use the internet for reasons other than being a tool for learning. More regulations should be done on this part. Although this recommendation can be taken in some other time and study. References Barker, A., 2001. Improve Your Communication Skills (Creating Success). United Kingdom: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Langosch, S., 1999. Writing American Style: An ESL/EFL Handbook. New York: Baron’s Educational Series, Inc. Read More