MODULE 5 – QUARTER TWO

The Reports, Survey Questionnaire and Methods of

Administering It

The Various Kinds of Reports

Reports are more likely needed for business, scientific and technical subjects,
and in the workplace. They are of different types and they differ in their aims and
structures.

TYPES DEFINITION/ OBJECTIVES

DESCRIPTION
1. Survey Report It is written after getting
To collect people’s
data from a survey. responses or answers
about a particular issue or
topic
2. Laboratory or It is commonly called lab To present results or
Scientific report. It is written in a findings from
Technical Report formal and organized experiments.
manner.
3. Field Report It is sometimes called trip To describe and analyze a
report. systematic observation.

Among these types of reports, survey is the most popularly and widely used
as it is the easiest way to gather information about any topic or issue from a big
number of people or groups.

Survey Questionnaire

It is a data gathering tool having set of questions used in a survey and is

utilized in various fields such as politics, research, marketing, media and so on. It is
intended to gather data, views, opinions and others from individuals or a particular
group of people.

It is an important method used in order to collect the necessary information

that will benefit the people and the community.

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Methods of Administering a Survey
Administering a survey calls for a more systematic way in order to achieve the aims of
a certain survey conducted. The following methods are introduced by Sarah Mae Sincero.

1. Personal Approach

This involves the person himself/ herself conducting the survey.

a. Face-to-face Structured Interview

The interview is set personally and the people
involved face each other in order to gather the
necessary information. Questions on the survey
are asked directly to the respondent by the
researcher.

b. Telephone Survey

The survey is done using telephone or cellular

phones. The calls are made to ask individuals
on particular questions. This method can be
used for asking consequential questions. [Link]
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2. Self- administered Approach

In this type, the survey is administered by the researcher himself/herself.

a. Paper- and - pencil Survey

This is a traditional method wherein the respondents
who are usually not computer literate must be
present in the administration of the survey.

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 b. Online Survey

This is a useful technique that will cater to

a big sample size coming from different
locations.

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c. Mail Survey

This popular tool requires an easy-

administering of the survey where survey
questionnaires are mailed to individuals
who are given enough time to read and
ponder on the information asked.
[Link]
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Should and Not Should of a Survey Questionnaire

Concise and easy to understand questions lead to a successful survey. Thus,

a well -designed survey questionnaire will ensure an effective data and information
gathering.
A survey questionnaire should be well – constructed so that the respondents
could read carefully and understand thoroughly and be motivated to complete it.
Therefore, a questionnaire…
1. Should use words that have clear meaning.

The questions should not be vague and difficult to comprehend so that the
questionnaire will not be left unanswered.

2. Should cover all possible options.

The respondents should just be given at most five ranking options and should
cover all so that they will not be tired of choosing a lot of options which do not
give the choices they look for. If this will not be observed, this will lead to an
abandoned questionnaire.

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3. Should not ask two or more questions in one sentence.

The question should focus on one topic or item at a time so that the
respondents will not be confused which to answer and what to choose.

4. Should provide an out- option.

The survey should give the respondents the option to choose “Does not apply
“ or “None” for questions they do not feel answering.
5. Should consider appropriate time reference.

Respondents could not easily recall past long experiences and be doubtful
as to the exact measurement or time they spent.

6. Should have a clear question structure.

Survey questionnaire should follow the three parts: the question stem,
additional instructions and response options so that the respondents will not
be confused what to answer or choose. This will result to unreliable gathered
data.

7. Should have open specific response options.

The respondents should be guided on what to choose. So the survey should

provide specific options to choose from so that respondents will not be
confused in answering.

8. Should not have any bias or prejudice.

Questions should be objective and lead to an honest answer. The

respondents should not be lead to a biased option that they may fail to give
their truthful response.

9. Should not include too personal or too embarrassing questions.

Questions should be gender and culture sensitive so that the respondents

may not feel awkward or embarrassed in giving their responses.

10. Should avoid double negative questions.

Double negatives may occur when respondents are asked of their

agreement on a certain issue. This should be avoided so that the
respondents ‘response will be clear and precise.

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11. Should outline instructions or directions clearly and understandably.

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LESSON 2 Conducting a Survey

A Survey is one of the best ways we will know and understand the people’s
choices, attitudes, or feelings on certain issues. We will be able to determine the
reactions of the respondents and based on the survey results, we could design some
possible actions to be best done, or a solution to a problem, or a remedy to a
disease or an answer to a question.

THREE STEPS IN CONDUCTING A SURVEY

There are three steps in conducting a survey.

1. Decide on a four or five option survey question. Then make a tally

chart having its heading and appropriate title.

The question should follow the guidelines of making an effective survey

question. Formulate questions that address to the aim and need of the
research. The question should be clear, concise and efficient. The
heading and the title should reflect the focus of the survey.

2. Conduct a survey then tally all the answers.

In conducting a survey, ethics should be observed. You should be

polite and show respect to the respondents. You should maintain a
friendly atmosphere so that respondents may not feel so intimidated.
Make sure all answers are noted. Plan for a more systematic way of
tallying.

3. Count the answers marking the item having the least to the greatest
tallies. Then make a graphic representation of the results.

Be careful in tallying so you should observe accuracy and honesty.

Results can be presented using any graphics. Most commonly used
are charts and organizers. Choose the most appropriate graphics that
best represent the result of the survey.

NOTE: When you will conduct a survey, you should write a letter of consent. In the
letter you should also emphasize that the information given by the respondents/
participants will be held with utmost confidentiality

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 LESSON 3 GATHERING INFORMATION FROM SURVEYS

What is It

Types of Survey Questions

1. Open-ended questions
These types of questions do not have predetermined options or answers. The
respondents are allowed to answer the questions freely. Responses must be
recorded verbatim-especially because coding and analysis will rely on the subject’s
exact responses. Open-ended questions often need probing or follow-up questions
to clarify certain items in the subject’s response. These question typically ask the
“how” and “why” of something.
Example: Why did you choose to vote for candidate X? Kindly explain.

2. Dichotomous Questions
Dichotomous questions have two possible answers, often either yes/no,
true/false, or agree/ disagree. These questions are used when the researcher wants
to clearly distinguish the respondent’s opinion, preference, experience or behaviour.
Example: HIV/AIDS is transmitted through saliva:
True False

3. Multiple–response questions
There are certain questions that necessitate the respondents to provide more
than one answer. For example, a typical advertising survey would ask the question,
“How did you find about the particular service or item”? A respondent may have
encountered more than one of the probable ways.

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Example: How were you able to know about the graduate program of
Development Policy offered in De La Salle University? Check all that applies.

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 By word of mouth (friends,
Print families, etc.)
Advertisement

DSLU Website Telephone inquiry

DSLU Social Networking Physical appearance/ inquiry

page

Others, please specify:

4. Matrix questions
There are instances where a number of questions you intend to ask have the same
set of possible answers. Thus, it is possible to construct a matrix of items and answers for
the sake of streamlining the survey.
Example: Qualities of a Good Leader
Beside each of the qualities of a good leader, kindly indicate how well the person in
inquiry manifests the said quality with 1 being the lowest and 5 as the highest.

Sample Matrix Question Set

Qualities/ Rating 1 2 3 4 5
Integrity
Inclusiveness
Information-Driven
Innovative

Shown above is a numerical scale (matrix).The respondents are required to choose

from a number of categories that determine their preferences.
Another common scale is the Likert Scale which tries to assess the subject’s
agreement/disagreement or approval/ disapproval on a five point scale-with one end being
the most positive answer, and the other end being the most negative answer. The categories
correspond to the numerical values 5,4,3,2,1, and are encoded as their numerical equivalent
(Singh 2007,75). The total score per item is determined. From here, you formulate your
inference.

Example: Performance-Based Incentive System

The new performance-based incentive system encouraged me to work over-time.

(5) Strongly Agree (4) Agree (3) Undecided (2) Disagree (1) Strongly

Disagree
5. Contingency Questions
Contingency questions are intended for certain respondents only, depending on the
provided answers. A familiar example would be a follow-up question provided after a
respondent agrees to a certain item. A respondent is asked whether they used any illegal
drugs or substances. Only those who answered yes are required to answer the succeeding

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items.

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 Example:
4. Have you ever tried any illegal drugs and/or substances?
Yes No
4.1 If yes, what illegal drugs and/or substances have you used? Check all that
apply. Crystal Meth
Cocaine
Heroine
Marijuana
Ecstasy
Others, please specify:

Points to remember in crafting survey questions

1. Keep the questionnaire as short as possible.

2. Ask short, simple, and clearly worded questions.
3. Start with demographic questions to help respondents get started comfortably.
4. Use dichotomous (yes/no) and multiple choice questions.
5. Use open-ended questions cautiously.
6. Avoid using leading-questions. Make your question ask for the other person’s opinion.
Do not make it clear what your own opinion is. (this would be called a biased question or a
leading question).
A bad example would be: Fishing is a very cruel pastime. Do you agree?
A better question might be: Do you think that fishing is a cruel pastime?
A) strongly agree B) agree C) neutral D) disagree E) strongly disagree
7. Pre-test a questionnaire on a small number of people.
8. Think about the way you intend to use the collected data when preparing the
questionnaire.

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 LESSON 4. DISSEMINATING INFORMATION FROM SURVEYS

What’s New
What do you do with the data or information you have collected after
conducting your survey? Information or data gathered from surveys should be
properly organized before it could be disseminated.

What is It
According to Cambridge International Organization, data can be organized in
several ways. Which method is chosen depends largely on the type of data being
collected. A simple way of recording the results is by constructing a tally and
frequency table.
For example, a survey is carried out to test the manufacturer’s claim that there
are ‘about 36 chocolate buttons in each packet.’ The number of buttons in each of 25
packets is counted, giving the figures below.
35 36 34 37 36 36 38 37 36 35 38
34 35 36 36 34 37 38 37 36 35 36
36 37 36

Displayed as a list, the numbers are not clear, however, they are easier to
analyze if they are recorded in a tally and frequency chart like this.

Number Tally Frequency

34 III 3 The tally column is filled in as the survey is being carried
35 IIII 4 out. The frequency column is completed by counting up
the tally marks at the
36 IIII IIII 10
37 IIII 5

38 III 3

Sometimes if there is a big range in the data, it is more useful to group the data in a
grouped frequency table. The groups are chosen so that no data item can appear
in two groups.
For example, the ages of 30 residents in a Home for the Aged are shown below:
98 71 76 77 72 78 77 73 76 86

75 79 81 105 100 74 82 88 91 96
85 90 97 102 83 101 83 84 80 95
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Constructing a tally and frequency table with a list of individual ages will not be very
useful as most ages in the range will only have one or two results. Grouping the data
into the age ranges 71-80, 81-90, etc. produces this more useful table.

Age Tally Frequency

71-80 llll llll ll 12
81-90 llll llll 9
91-100 llll l 6
100-110 lll 3

The ages could have been grouped 71-75, 76-80, 81-85, etc. The group size is the
decision of the person collecting the data, but it is important that the groups are all
the same size and do not overlap.

Displaying data
Once the data has been collected, it can be displayed in several ways. Which
method is chosen depends on the type of data collected and the audience it is
intended for. One of the simplest and most effective is to use a pictogram.
This method uses pictures to represent the frequency. The chocolate button
data can be displayed on a pictogram like this, using one circle to represent one
chocolate button.

Number of chocolate buttons Frequency

34
35
36
37
38

Sometimes one symbol represents more than one item. In the pictogram below,
each circle represents four chocolates and fractions of a circle represents smaller
amounts.

Number of Key
Frequency
chocolate buttons
34 = 4 chocolates

35
36 Look at the key to see what each symbol

37
38

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 An alternative to a frequency diagram is a bar-line. Instead of bars, lines are
drawn to represent the frequencies. The height of each line indicates the frequency.
The data about students’ favourite subjects can be shown on a bar-line graph like this.

Favourite subject

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Sports Science Math Art Languages

In frequency diagrams and bar line graphs, each frequency is represented by the
height of a bar or line. Another way of displaying data is on a pie chart. On these,
each frequency is represented by a fraction of a circle.

Worked example

Look again at the data about students’ favourite subjects. Show this information on a
pie chart.

● First you need to express the frequency of each subject as a fraction of the total
number of students
Sports is 40 = 1 of the total
120 3

Science is 20 = 1
120 6

Maths is 30 = 1 of the total

120 4

And Art and Languages are 15= 1 each.

120 8

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To draw the pie chart without a protractor, an understanding of fractions helps. For
example, Sport and Science together represent half of the total, and Maths, Art and
Languages represent the other half of the total.

The pie chart has a

heading and a key,
and each slice is
clearly labeled
Sport Science Maths Art
Languages

The pie chart is divided

into slices, which are
fractions of the circle.
The size of each slice
represents the
frequency, as a fraction
of the total number of
students.

What’s More

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 What Is It

LESSON 5
Summarizing Findings and Executing The Report Through
Survey

A component of summary of the findings is to provide a discussion for each of

the findings, using anchor verbiage that justifies rather than distorts the intent of the
findings. Tells us how the findings are important or relevant based on the aim and
scope of your study.

A summary is a synthesis of the key ideas of a piece of writing, restated in your own
words – i.e., paraphrased. You may write a summary as a stand-alone assignment
or as part of a longer paper. Whenever you summarize, you must be careful not to
copy the exact wording of the original source.

Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text,
how to ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a
meaningful way. Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what is
read. Summarization strategies can be used in almost every content area.

Due to clarity demand, summary of findings must contain each specific question
under the statement of the problem and must be written first to be followed
by the findings that would answer it.

The findings should be textual generalizations, that is, a summary of the important
data consisting of text and numbers.
How to Write a Summary

Preparing to Write : To write a good summary it is important to thoroughly

understand the material you are working with. Here are some preliminary steps in
writing a summary.

1. Skim the text, noting in your mind the subheadings. If there are no
subheadings, try to divide the text into sections. Consider why you have been
assigned the text. Try to determine what type of text you are reading with.
This can help you identify important information
2. Read the text, highlighting important information and taking notes.
3. In your own words, write down the main points of each section.
4. Write down the key support points for the main topic, but do not include minor
detail.
5. Go through the process again, making changes as appropriate.
 What Is It

LESSON 6
Writing A Survey Report

Survey report

Is a formal piece of writing based on research. When reporting the results of

a survey, the figures gathered should be given in the form of percentages and
proportions.

Survey

Is a method of collecting information or data in which people self-report their

own opinion/behaviors in response to the questions

The purpose(s) of writing a survey report is to study a research topic thoroughly,

and to summarize the existing studies in an organized manner. It is an important step
in any research project

.
Steps in writing a Survey Report

1. Break the report into separate sections with heading. Survey

reports usually use headings for each section.
2. Write a 1-2 page executive summary paraphrasing the report.
3. State the objectives of the survey in the background section.
4. Provide background information by explaining research and studies.

Tips in conducting a successful Survey

1. Make sure that every question is necessary.

2. Keep it short and simple.
3. Ask direct questions.
4. Ask one question at a time.
5. Avoid leading and biased questions.
6. Speak your respondent’s language.
7. Use response scales whenever possible
8. Avoid guiding grids or matrices for responses.

A Survey Method is the technique of gathering data by asking questions to people

who are thought to have desired information. A formal questionnaire is prepared.
Generally a non-disguised approach is used. The respondents are asked questions
on their demographic interest or opinion.

Guidelines for Writing the Survey Report

1. Value Communicated
Objective, accurate and honest presentation of facts and results
2. Basic Content
a. May consist of eyewitness accounts of first – hand information.
b. May contain facts, data, figures or statistics on or from people,
Events, phenomena, structures, experiments,
questionnaires, interviews and library research.

c. May include materials and procedures or methods.

3. Modes of Ordering
a. Chronological or time order.
b. Geographical or space / spatial order.
c. Logical – Inductive and Deductive
d. Problem – Solution
e. Cause and Effect
f. Formal
g. Abstract – Introduction – Background – Statement of the
problem
h. Materials – Method or Procedure – Results – Discussion –
Summary
i. Conclusion and Recommendation
4. Basic Qualities of a Good Report
a. Objective, not subjective point of view.
b. Accurate, not sloppy presentation of facts , numbers, statistics
and data
c. Honest, not false or incomplete details and results.
d. Brief and direct
HOW TO WRITE A SURVEY REPORT

A survey report is a formal piece of writing based on research.

I - Structure

Introduction

State the purpose/aim of the report, when and how the information was gathered.

Main Body

All the information collected and analyzed is presented clearly and in detail (break
down the respondents into groups according to sex, age and place of residence,
state the main differences between groups). Subheadings, numbers or letters can be
used to separate each piece of information.

Conclusion

Sum up the points mentioned above. If necessary a recommendation can be

included as well (one way of summing up is making some general comments).

II . Useful hints and phrases:

Present Tenses, Reported Speech and an impersonal style should be used in survey
reports. Use a variety of reporting verbs such as claim, state, report, agree,
complain, suggest, etc.

When reporting the results of a survey, the figures gathered should be given in the
form of percentages and proportions. Expressions such as “one in four” or “six out
of ten” can be used, or exact percentages e.g. 25% of the people questioned, 68%
of those who filled in the questionnaire, etc. Less exact expressions such as: the
majority of those questioned, a large proportion of, a significant number of, etc. can
also be used.

III. Useful language for reports:

To introduce: The purpose/aim of this report, As requested, This survey was carried
out/ conducted by means of…,the questionnaire consisted of etc.

To generalize: In general, generally, on the whole, etc.

To refer to a fact: The fact is that…, In fact, In practice, etc.

To conclude/ summarize: In conclusion, All things considered, To sum up, All in all,
It is not easy to reach any definite conclusions, If any conclusions may be drawn
from the data, It is clear that, The survey shows/indicates/demonstrates, etc.

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Assessment

Directions: Read each item carefully and follow directions. Write the letter of the
appropriate answer on your paper.

1. It is a formal piece of writing based on research.

A. position paper B. writing a questionnaire C. survey report
2. A technique of gathering data by asking questions to people who are taught to
have a desired information.
A. deductive method B. survey method C. questionnaire method
3. The following are the guidelines in writing a survey report, except:
A. keep it simple
B. modes of ordering
C. basic qualities of a good report
4. What is the purpose of writing a survey report?
A. to have better report
B. to study a research topic thoroughly
C. to conduct a survey
5. It is a textual generalization, consisting of text and numbers.
A. demand B. summary C. findings D. writing
6. In conducting a survey report it is important that the objective .
A. not clear B. accurate C. focused D. readable
7. In writing a summary, what should not include?
A. do not include your own comments or evaluation
B. the summary should not cover the original text as whole
C. the material should not be presented in a neutral fashion.
D. none of the above
8. Summarizing teaches students how to discern the most important ideas in a text.
A. yes B. no C. maybe D. not sure
9. Which of the following structure state the aim/purpose of the report, when and how
the report gathered?
A. conclusion B. main body C. objective D. Introduction
10. It is where all the information collected and analyzed is presented clearly and in
detail.
A. introduction B. conclusion C. main body D. objective

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