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21 Questionnaire Templates: Examples and Samples

Questionnaire: Definition

A questionnaire is defined a market research instrument that consists of questions or prompts to elicit and collect responses from a sample of respondents. A questionnaire is typically a mix of open-ended questions and close-ended questions ; the latter allowing for respondents to enlist their views in detail.

A questionnaire can be used in both, qualitative market research as well as quantitative market research with the use of different types of questions .

LEARN ABOUT: Open-Ended Questions

Types of Questionnaires

We have learnt that a questionnaire could either be structured or free-flow. To explain this better:

• Structured Questionnaires: A structured questionnaires helps collect quantitative data . In this case, the questionnaire is designed in a way that it collects very specific type of information. It can be used to initiate a formal enquiry on collect data to prove or disprove a prior hypothesis.
• Unstructured Questionnaires: An unstructured questionnaire collects qualitative data . The questionnaire in this case has a basic structure and some branching questions but nothing that limits the responses of a respondent. The questions are more open-ended.

LEARN ABOUT:   Structured Question

Types of Questions used in a Questionnaire

A questionnaire can consist of many types of questions . Some of the commonly and widely used question types though, are:

• Open-Ended Questions: One of the commonly used question type in questionnaire is an open-ended question . These questions help collect in-depth data from a respondent as there is a huge scope to respond in detail.
• Dichotomous Questions: The dichotomous question is a “yes/no” close-ended question . This question is generally used in case of the need of basic validation. It is the easiest question type in a questionnaire.
• Multiple-Choice Questions: An easy to administer and respond to, question type in a questionnaire is the multiple-choice question . These questions are close-ended questions with either a single select multiple choice question or a multiple select multiple choice question. Each multiple choice question consists of an incomplete stem (question), right answer or answers, close alternatives, distractors and incorrect answers. Depending on the objective of the research, a mix of the above option types can be used.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) Question: Another commonly used question type in a questionnaire is the Net Promoter Score (NPS) Question where one single question collects data on the referencability of the research topic in question.
• Scaling Questions: Scaling questions are widely used in a questionnaire as they make responding to the questionnaire, very easy. These questions are based on the principles of the 4 measurement scales – nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio .

Questionnaires help enterprises collect valuable data to help them make well-informed business decisions. There are powerful tools available in the market that allows using multiple question types, ready to use survey format templates, robust analytics, and many more features to conduct comprehensive market research.

LEARN ABOUT: course evaluation survey examples

For example, an enterprise wants to conduct market research to understand what pricing would be best for their new product to capture a higher market share. In such a case, a questionnaire for competitor analysis can be sent to the targeted audience using a powerful market research survey software which can help the enterprise conduct 360 market research that will enable them to make strategic business decisions.

Now that we have learned what a questionnaire is and its use in market research , some examples and samples of widely used questionnaire templates on the QuestionPro platform are as below:

LEARN ABOUT: Speaker evaluation form

Customer Questionnaire Templates: Examples and Samples

QuestionPro specializes in end-to-end Customer Questionnaire Templates that can be used to evaluate a customer journey right from indulging with a brand to the continued use and referenceability of the brand. These templates form excellent samples to form your own questionnaire and begin testing your customer satisfaction and experience based on customer feedback.

LEARN ABOUT: Structured Questionnaire

USE THIS FREE TEMPLATE

Employee & Human Resource (HR) Questionnaire Templates: Examples and Samples

QuestionPro has built a huge repository of employee questionnaires and HR questionnaires that can be readily deployed to collect feedback from the workforce on an organization on multiple parameters like employee satisfaction, benefits evaluation, manager evaluation , exit formalities etc. These templates provide a holistic overview of collecting actionable data from employees.

Community Questionnaire Templates: Examples and Samples

The QuestionPro repository of community questionnaires helps collect varied data on all community aspects. This template library includes popular questionnaires such as community service, demographic questionnaires, psychographic questionnaires, personal questionnaires and much more.

Academic Evaluation Questionnaire Templates: Examples and Samples

Another vastly used section of QuestionPro questionnaire templates are the academic evaluation questionnaires . These questionnaires are crafted to collect in-depth data about academic institutions and the quality of teaching provided, extra-curricular activities etc and also feedback about other educational activities.

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National Research Council (US) Committee to Examine the Methodology for the Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs; Ostriker JP, Kuh CV, editors. Assessing Research-Doctorate Programs: A Methodology Study. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2003.

Assessing Research-Doctorate Programs: A Methodology Study.

• Hardcopy Version at National Academies Press

D Sample Questionnaires

(These questionnaires are subject to further review and revision.)

• Institutional Questionnaire
• Program Questionnaire
• Faculty Questionnaire
• Questionnaire for Admitted-to-Candidacy Doctoral Students
• Questionnaire for Program Graduates

To the institutional coordinator: This questionnaire is intended to collect data about university-provided resources that are available to all doctoral programs. Typically, the ideal respondent will be in the university's office of institutional research. Most of the questions apply to all programs. One, on laboratory space, applies only to the sciences (including some social sciences). In listing programs, please refer to the attached taxonomy and answer for those programs that are present at your institution.

1. For the libraries at your institution: (Please enter the average over the past three years)

a. What is the average size of your professional library staff in total FTEs?______

b. What is the average annual library budget?______

c. What is the average annual budget for acquisition of books?______

d. What is the average annual budget for acquisition of:

print journals______electronic journals______?

e. What is the average annual budget for microprint and electronic databases?______

2. Is health care insurance available to graduate students under an institutional plan?

a. If available, health care insurance is made available to:

❏ Students only ❏ Students and faculty

b. If available, what is the level of institutional support? (Check all that apply)

Institution covers premium costs for:

❏ Teaching assistants ❏ Research assistants

❏ All other full-time graduate students ❏ All graduate students

Institution covers partial premium costs for:

No institutional contribution for:

❏ Teaching assistants ❏ Research assistants ❏ Other graduate students

3. Does the university provide childcare facilities that are available to graduate students?

❏ Yes ❏ No

a. If yes, is the cost subsidized by the institution?

b. If not, does the institution provide a listing of childcare providers to graduate students?

4. Is university-subsidized student housing available to doctoral students?

If so, what is the percentage of the doctoral students who live in university-provided housing? _______

5. Are graduate students are unionized on your campus?

If yes, ❏ Some students ❏ All students

If yes, are teaching assistants unionized? ❏ Yes ❏ No

If yes, ❏ Some teaching assistants ❏ All teaching assistants

If yes, are research assistants unionized? ❏ Yes ❏ No

If yes, ❏ Some research assistants ❏ All research assistants?

6. Which of the following apply to the doctoral program at the institutional level?

a. The institution confers awards to honor graduate students for teaching and/or research.

b. Awards are given to faculty for mentoring or other activities that promote scholarship of doctoral students.

c. The institution provides some form of travel support for doctoral students to attend professional meetings.

d. There is an organized program at the institutional level to help doctoral students improve their teaching skills.

e. The institution provides an office that assists doctoral students in learning about employment opportunities. ❏ Yes ❏ No

7. For the information displayed in the following table, please provide in a file sent by email to ude.san@tolipdr

For the each doctoral program in science (including the social sciences) and engineering at your institution, what is the net assignable square feet (NASF) of research space dedicated to the program (exclude space that is used only for undergraduates)? Please use the same definitions for NASF and research space that are used in the NSF Survey of Scientific and Engineering Research Facilities. See [Taxonomy] for a list of the program fields in the study, and provide the information in the Email file for only those doctoral programs that are offered at your institution.

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Background Information

This information will enable the National Research Council to contact you if there are any questions about the data. It will also permit us to contact faculty for the purpose of administering a questionnaire to elicit reputational ratings and background data and to contact students to obtain information about their perceptions of the practices and offerings of the doctoral program.

Please note that in addition to the web questionnaire, we would like lists of faculty and previous employers to be sent to us via e-mail.

Please indicate the doctoral program to which the following information applies

________________________________________

1. Please provide the name and e-mail address of the program respondent who will serve as the primary contact with the graduate program.

Name:_____________________________________________

Title:______________________________________________

E-mail address:______________________________________

Mailing Address:_____________________________________

__________________________________________________

City______________________State_______Zip Code_______

If this is an interdisciplinary program, please list the departments affiliated with the program.

___________________________________________________

For each individual identified in questions 2 and 3, please provide in a file sent by email to ude.san@tolipdr the information displayed in the table for the question.

2. Program Faculty: For each faculty member or senior research fellow or associate who participates in your doctoral program by directing theses, serving on doctoral committees, or teaching graduate courses, please provide the following information.

3. Faculty Employment History: For each faculty member listed in Question 2 who joined your program within the past five years, please provide the institution, company, or organization where he or she was employed immediately before joining your institution.

4. For the doctoral students in your program, please provide the number of students that fall into each of the following categories.

a. Total number of students:______

b. Status: Full-time______ Part-time______ Unknown______

c. Gender: Male______ Female______ Unknown______

d. Race/Ethnicity (if U.S. citizen or Permanent Residents)

e. Percentage of doctoral students with master's degree

Program Information

5. Does your program have a mission statement?

❏ Yes No ❏

If so, what is the mission statement? (50 words or less)

_______________________________________________

If there are particular areas of research emphasis in your doctoral from the subfields in [Taxonomy]:

______________________ _______________________

6. How many Ph.D.s have been awarded in the program in each of the past five years? (Note: Years span from July 1 to June 30)

2001–02 ____ 2000–01_____ 1999–00_____ 1998–99_____ 1997–98_____

7. For each of the academic years listed in the following table, enter the number of students who entered the program in the year and the number who completed their degrees in 4, 6, or 8, years or are still in the program. (Note: Years span from July 1 to June 30)

7a. Averaged over the past three years, what percent of entering students withdrew from the program before completing two years of study? ______%

7b. Averaged over the past three years, what has been the median time to degree for those who completed the program?_____(Note: the median time is the number of years it takes half of the number of students from the same entering year who are admitted to candidacy to complete their degree.)

8. Is a master's degree required of students prior to admission to your program?

9. What proportion of your full-time first-year doctoral students receive full support throughout their first year (tuition and an adequate living allowance provided as stipend or salary in program related work (TA or RA)? ________

10. How many years of full financial support could students entering your doctoral program expect to receive from your institution or an external source? _________

11. Over the past five years approximately what fraction of the first-year students in your program received financial support either from your institution or from extramural grants or fellowships?

Tuition only _____

Tuition and stipend _____

Stipend only __________

12. What proportion of currently enrolled doctoral students in your program (included in multiple categories if appropriate) are currently supported by:

13. Averaged over the past three years, what are the average and minimum GRE scores for students accepted into the program?

Do you require GRE subject scores for all students entering the program?

14. In each of the last three academic years, how many students did you accept into your doctoral program, and how many enrolled?

15. What percentage of the doctoral students in your program have individually assigned workspaces for their exclusive use?

TAs _____RAs _____ All students _____

16. On average, how many courses per term is each graduate teaching assistant in the program expected to teach or assist a faculty member in teaching?

With sole responsibility ____ As an Assistant to a faculty member ____

17. Which of the following apply to your doctoral program?

a. The program confers awards to honor graduate students for teaching and/or research.

❏Yes ❏ No

c. The program provides some form of travel support for doctoral students to attend professional meetings.

d. There is an organized program to help doctoral students improve their teaching skills.

e. The program provides organized assistance to help doctoral students explore employment opportunities.

18. List up to 5 institutions with which your program normally competes for graduate students:

Institution #1________________________________________

Institution #2________________________________________

Institution #3________________________________________

Institution #4________________________________________

Institution #5________________________________________

19. Does your program collect data about employment outcomes for your graduates?

If yes, do you provide potential applicants with this information?

20. Please list those interdisciplinary centers in which doctoral students from your program participate (conduct research or teach).

_______________________

This questionnaire is part of the National Research Council's Pilot Test of the Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. Your university has volunteered to participate in this pilot test to assist the National Research Council's study of the methodology used to assess doctoral programs. Further information about the methodology study may be found at www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html

You have been selected to receive this questionnaire because you are a member of the faculty who participates in the education of doctoral students at your university. This means that you either teach courses to doctoral students or supervise their dissertations. If this is not the case, please indicate that in question 1.

The assessment of research doctoral programs is conducted approximately every ten years and consists of a reputational survey of doctoral programs and the collection of data about doctoral faculty and students in fifty-seven areas of study. This questionnaire provides information that will assist the study in a number of ways: 1)it will help us construct a pool from which to select raters for the reputational survey; 2)it will provide us enough information about you that we can collect data on grants, citations, and publications from other sources; and 3)it will permit a statistical description of the faculty in the graduate program or programs with which you are affiliated. Your answers will be treated as completely confidential by the National Research Council and will only be released as part of a statistical analysis.

I. Program Identification

a. Do you supervise dissertations, serve on doctoral committees, or teach graduate courses in a doctoral program?

If your answer was “No”, you do not need to complete the rest of the questionnaire.

b. From the pulldown list, please choose the program of your primary affiliation/appointment

___________________________[Pull Down List of Res-Doc Programs]

If you have difficulty locating your program on the list, please refer to the [Taxonomy] list with fields and subfields

c. Please list all programs in which you supervise dissertations, serve on dissertation committees, or teach graduate courses and the average percentage of your time during the past year that you spent in all activities for each program with which you are associated. (Do not list programs where you are an outside reader.)

d. For the articles and books that you have published in the past five years, please list what fields you have published in Table 1 . If you have a single publication that spans multiple fields, please indicate them and their fields in Table 2 .

Table 1 Books and articles in a single field published in the past 3 years

Table 2 books and articles in multiple fields published in the past 3 years.

II. Current Employment

a. Department affiliation:_________________

d. Year first employed at current institution: [If employment was not continuous, please list year of most recent appointment at this institution.] __________________

e. Have you received an extramural grant or contract support in the past year?

f. Subfields of current research interest (refer to [Taxonomy] with subfields):

Subfield # 1: _________________

Subfield #2: __________________

Subfield #3: __________________

g. Do you consider part of your research to be interdisciplinary? ❏ Yes ❏ No If so, what is the area of that research? _____________________

h. Under what names or variants of your name have you published books or articles?

____________________________________________

III. Prior Experience

What was your status prior to your current position?

❏ Student ❏ Postdoc ❏ Faculty. ❏ Other:________________

Previous employer:_______________________________

Address: ______________________________________

City_____________________State/Country_______Zip Code______

Title: __________________________________________________

Employment Sector:

❏ Industry (for profit)

❏ National laboratory

❏ State or local government

❏ Federal government agency

❏ International agency

❏ 4-year college or university

❏ 2-year college

❏ K-12 school

❏ Hospital or clinic

❏ Foundation or nonprofit

❏ Military

❏ Other (specify: __________)

IV. Educational Background

b. Institution that conferred highest degree:

_________________________________________

c. Field of highest degree:

_________________________________[Pulldown List]

Other: ____________________________

d. Year of highest degree:

e. To what extent does the field of your current research, teaching, or professional activities differ from the field of your highest degree?

❏ Very similar ❏ Somewhat similar ❏ Very different

V. Demographic Information

a. Date of birth: __________(mm/dd/yy)

VI. Please provide your preferred e-mail address (where you can be reached if there are questions.)

________________________________________________

Thank you for your time.

This questionnaire is part of the National Research Council's Pilot Test of the Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. Your university has volunteered to participate in this pilot test to assist the National Research Council's study of the methodology used to assess doctoral programs. One innovation we are considering is adding student responses about the educational processes of the program. We believe that students' input is important to improving the quality of the educational experience. Further information about the methodology study may be found at www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html

You have been selected to receive this questionnaire because you are a student who has completed over half of your doctoral program. If this is not the case, please indicate that in question 1.

The assessment of research doctoral programs is conducted approximately every ten years and consists of a reputational survey of doctoral programs and the collection of data about doctoral faculty and students in fifty-four areas of study. This questionnaire will provide information that will assist the study in a number of ways: 1) it will provide a statistical description of students in your program; 2) it will provide information about practices in your program; and 3) it will help future students in the selection of graduate programs.

Your answers will be treated as completely confidential by the National Research Council and will only be released as part of a statistical analysis. Individual answers will not be shared with faculty or administrators of your doctoral program except in aggregated form.

Institution: _______________________________________________

Doctoral Program: _________________________________________

1. Educational Program

A. Year of enrollment in this doctoral program:_________

B. Year you expect to receive your doctorate:__________

C. Did you (or will you) receive a master's degree before this doctorate? ❏ Yes ❏ No

D. Did you (or will you) receive a master's degree in your doctoral field as part of your training?

⇍ Yes ⇍ No

If yes, did you write a master's thesis? ❏ Yes ❏ No

E. During the course of your study for the Ph.D. will you also receive any of the following as part of a joint, concurrent, or combined degree program:

Professional doctorate (e.g., MD, DOS, OD, JD)? ❏ Yes ❏ No

Professional master's (e.g., MBA, MPA, MPH)? ❏ Yes ❏ No

F. During the course of your study for the Ph.D. will you also receive a certificate in another field?

G. What were your career goals at the time you entered graduate school? [check all that apply]

U.S. Employment:

❏ Industry ❏ Government ❏ Nonprofit ❏ University

❏ 2-yr. college ❏ 4-yr. college Other: ______________

Non-U.S. Employment:

❏ 2-yr. college ❏ 4-yr. college Other: _______________

❏ Unknown

H. What are your current career plans? [check all that apply]

I. Of the following sources of support, which have been your primary sources during your doctoral studies? (Check the three largest)

2. Program Characteristics

A. Professional Development

1. During your doctoral program have you received (or will you receive) instruction, practice or professional development training in:

2. In your doctoral program did you have an opportunity to obtain teaching experience? Check the type(s) of teaching experience you have had:

If you have had teaching experience, please answer the following,

B. Program Environment

1. Does your program provide an annual or more frequent assessment of your progress?

2. Do you receive timely feedback on your research?

3. Do you have access to career advice covering a variety of employment sectors?

a. If yes, are you encouraged to use it? ❏ Yes ❏ No

4. Do you have one or more faculty members at your institution that you consider mentors (i.e., individuals from whom you seek advice about your education, career development, and other matters of concern to you as a graduate student)?

5. How would you rate the quality of teaching by faculty in your program?

❏ Excellent ❏ Good ❏ Fair ❏ Poor

6. How would you rate the quality of your research experience?

7. How would you rate the curriculum of your Ph.D. program?

8. How would you rate the overall quality of your program?

9. How would you rate the intellectual liveliness of your program?

10. Considering the overall intellectual environment of your university, how much do you feel you have benefited from it?

❏ A lot ❏ Some ❏ A little ❏ Not at all

C. Infrastructure

1. Does your program give you access to:

2. Does your program provide adequate space for interaction among students?

3. Are the library resources available to you adequate to support your research and education? ❏ Yes ❏ No

D. Research productivity

1. How many research presentations (including poster presentations) have you made at research conferences

2. How many research publications have you authored or co-authored during your doctoral studies (include pieces accepted for publication but not yet published)?

3. Background Information

E. Dependent care responsibilities:

1. Number of children living with you:

Age 6 or under ______ Over age 6 _______

3. Parents or other dependents

G. Marital Status:

Do you have a spouse or partner who lives with you?

• Five-Seven Years Post-Ph.D Questionnaire

This questionnaire is part of the National Research Council's Pilot Test of the Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. Your university has volunteered to participate in this pilot test to assist the National Research Council's study of the methodology used to assess doctoral programs. One innovation that we are considering is to add student responses to questions about the educational process of the program. Further information about the methodology study may be found at www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html

You have been selected to receive this questionnaire because you are a student who has received a Ph.D. from this program five to seven years ago. If this is not the case, please indicate that in question 1.

The assessment of research doctoral programs is conducted approximately every ten years and consists of a reputational survey of doctoral programs and the collection of data about doctoral faculty and students in fifty-four areas of study. This questionnaire provides information that will assist the study in a number of ways: 1) it will help us learn whether a high enough percentage of students respond so that we can add student observations to the larger study; 2) it will provide us enough information about practices in your program that we can compare the practices of graduate programs in your field at different universities; and 3) it will permit a statistical description of the first-year students in the graduate program. Your answers will be treated as completely confidential by the National Research Council and will only be released as part of a statistical analysis. Individual answers will not be shared with faculty or administrators of your former doctoral program except in aggregated form.

a. Name of the program where you received your Ph.D. degree:

__________________________________________

b. Year of enrollment in the above Ph.D. program:___________

c. Year you received your Ph.D.: _________

d. Did you receive a master's degree at this institution before this Ph.D.? ❏ Yes ❏ No

e. Were you enrolled as a full-time student throughout your Ph.D. program? ❏ Yes ❏ No

f. Did you attend graduate school prior to enrollment in the above Ph.D. program?

If so, what degrees or certificates, if any, do you hold?

❏ Certificate ❏ Master's ❏ Doctoral ❏ Professional

g. What was your career goal when you completed your Ph.D.?

h. Have your career goals changed since you received your Ph.D.? ❏ Yes ❏ No

i. During your Ph.D. program, were you supported by funds from outside the institution? ❏ Yes ❏ No

(Check all that apply)

Type: ❏ Fellowship ❏ Training Grant ❏ Research Grant

❏ Your employer ❏ Other(Specify:_________)

j. Did you receive institutional support?

Type: ❏ Teaching Assistantship ❏ Research Assistantship ❏ Fellowship

❏ Tuition scholarship or waiver only ❏ Loan ❏ None ❏ Other(Specify:_)

2. Employment and Career Status

a. First employer or place of postdoctoral study after Ph.D. completion:

Name: __________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________

City___________________State/Country_______Zip Code______

Title: _________________________________________________

b. Employment Sector:

❏ University

❏ 4-year college

❏ Other (specify)

c. If you hold or have held a postdoctoral position or positions, how many_______, and at what institutions, companies or government agencies were they located? List chronologically starting with the most recent.

d. Current employer:

Name: __________________________________________________

Address:_________________________________________________

City______________State/Country__________Zip Code____________

Title:_____________________________________________________

e. Current Employment Sector:

3. Ph.D. Program Characteristics

a. During your Ph.D. education, in which of the following areas was training PROVIDED, which skills or experiences have you USED since graduation, and which area do you wish you had learned MORE about? (check all that apply)

1) Teaching experiemce ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

2) Oral communication; presentation skills ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

3) Writing proposals for funding ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

4) Manuscript preparation ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

5) Experience working in collaborative groups ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

6) Critical analysis ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

7) Locating and applying information ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

8) Experience working with people of varied educational levels ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

9) Experience working with people from diverse backgrounds ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

10) Experience working in teams ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

b. Research Productivity

1) How many books or edited books have you published or are currently accepted for publication? ___

2) How many articles or book chapters have you published or are currently accepted for publication? ___

3) How many books or articles have you reviewed for publication? ______

4) How many reviews, enumerated in 3), have been or will be published?

5) How many refereed papers have you or a coauthor presented at professional conferences? ___

6) How many awards have you received? (Respond to all categories.)

a) For teaching: _______

b) For research: _______

c) From professional societies: _______

d) From your institution or employer:________

7) How many patents or licenses have you received? ________

8) How many grants have you received from your employer or institution? _____

9) How many grants have you received from extramural funding agencies? _____

4. Background Information

d. Race/Ethnicity (if U.S. citizen)

❏ American Indian or Alaskan Native

❏ Asian

❏ Pacific Islander

❏ Black

❏ White

❏ Hispanic (❏ Mexican American, ❏ Puerto Rican, ❏ Other)

❏ Multiracial

f. Number of Children: Age 6 and unde r______ Over age 6

h. Is English your first language? Yes ❏ No ❏

• Cite this Page National Research Council (US) Committee to Examine the Methodology for the Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs; Ostriker JP, Kuh CV, editors. Assessing Research-Doctorate Programs: A Methodology Study. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2003. D, Sample Questionnaires.
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Dissertation Questionnaire

Questionnaire generator.

A dissertation is a document usually a requirement for a doctoral degree especially in the field of philosophy. This long essay discusses a particular subject matter uses questionnaires   and other sources of data and is used to validate its content. The  questionnaire’s importance is evident in the processes of data gathering as it can make the dissertation factual, effective and usable.

Having a well-curated and formatted document to follow when making a dissertation can be very beneficial to an individual who is currently immersed in the data gathering stage of the specific research study. We have gathered downloadable samples and templates of questionnaires so it will be easier for you to curate your own.

Dissertation Timeline Gantt Chart Template

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Dissertation Research Gantt Chart Template

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Dissertation Project Gantt Chart Template

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Dissertation Plan Gantt Chart Template

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Dissertation Research Questionnaire

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Dissertation Proposal Questionnaire

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Sample Dissertation Questionnaire

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What Is a Dissertation Questionnaire?

A dissertation questionnaire can be defined as follows:

• It is a document used in the processes of data gathering.
• Questionnaires in PDF used for a dissertation contain questions that can help assess the current condition of the community which is the subject of study within the dissertation.
• It specifies the questions that are needed to be answered to assure that there is a basis in terms of the results that will be presented in a dissertation.

How to Write a Dissertation Questionnaire

Writing an efficient and comprehensive dissertation questionnaire can greatly affect the entire dissertation. You can make one by following these steps:

• Be specific with the kind of dissertation that you are creating and align the purposes of the dissertation questionnaire that you need to make to your study.
• List down the information needed from the community who will provide the answers to your questions.
• Open a software where you can create a questionnaire template. You may also download  survey questionnaire examples   and templates to have a faster time in formatting the document.
• The purpose of the dissertation questionnaire.
• The guidelines and instructions in answering the dissertation questions.
• The name of the person to who will use the questionnaire results to his/her dissertation.
• The institution to whom the dissertation will be passed.
• List down the questions based on your needs.

Undergraduate Dissertation Questionnaire

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Project Management Dissertation

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Guidelines for Writing a Dissertation Questionnaire

There are no strict rules in writing a dissertation questionnaire. However, there are some tips that can help you to create a dissertation questionnaire that is relevant to the study that you are currently doing. Some guidelines:

• Make sure that you are well aware of the data that is needed in your dissertation so you can properly curate questions that can supply your information needs.
• It will be best to use a dissertation questionnaire format that is organized, easy to understand, and properly structured. This will help the people who will answer the dissertation questionnaire quickly know how they can provide the items that you would like to know.
• Always make sure that your instructions in answering the questions are precise and directly stated.
• You may look at  questionnaires in Word   for comparisons. Doing this will help you assess whether there are still areas of improvement that you may tap with the content and format of the dissertation questionnaire that you have created.

Keeping this guidelines in mind and implementing them accordingly will allow you to create a dissertation questionnaire that is beneficial to the processes that you need to have an outstanding dissertation.

Text prompt

• Instructive
• Professional

Create a fun quiz to find out which historical figure you're most like in your study habits

Design a survey to discover students' favorite school subjects and why they love them.

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Harvard University Program on Survey Research

• How to Frame and Explain the Survey Data Used in a Thesis

Surveys are a special research tool with strengths, weaknesses, and a language all of their own. There are many different steps to designing and conducting a survey, and survey researchers have specific ways of describing what they do.

This handout, based on an annual workshop offered by the Program on Survey Research at Harvard, is geared toward undergraduate honors thesis writers using survey data.

PSR Resources

• Managing and Manipulating Survey Data: A Beginners Guide
• Finding and Hiring Survey Contractors
• Overview of Cognitive Testing and Questionnaire Evaluation
• Questionnaire Design Tip Sheet
• Sampling, Coverage, and Nonresponse Tip Sheet
• Introduction to Surveys for Honors Thesis Writers
• PSR Introduction to the Survey Process
• Related Centers/Programs at Harvard
• General Survey Reference
• Institutional Review Boards
• Select Funding Opportunities
• Survey Analysis Software
• Professional Standards
• Professional Organizations
• Major Public Polls
• Survey Data Collections
• Major Longitudinal Surveys
• Other Links

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• Knowledge Base
• Methodology
• Doing Survey Research | A Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

Doing Survey Research | A Step-by-Step Guide & Examples

Published on 6 May 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on 10 October 2022.

Survey research means collecting information about a group of people by asking them questions and analysing the results. To conduct an effective survey, follow these six steps:

• Determine who will participate in the survey
• Decide the type of survey (mail, online, or in-person)
• Design the survey questions and layout
• Distribute the survey
• Analyse the responses
• Write up the results

Surveys are a flexible method of data collection that can be used in many different types of research .

Table of contents

What are surveys used for, step 1: define the population and sample, step 2: decide on the type of survey, step 3: design the survey questions, step 4: distribute the survey and collect responses, step 5: analyse the survey results, step 6: write up the survey results, frequently asked questions about surveys.

Surveys are used as a method of gathering data in many different fields. They are a good choice when you want to find out about the characteristics, preferences, opinions, or beliefs of a group of people.

Common uses of survey research include:

• Social research: Investigating the experiences and characteristics of different social groups
• Market research: Finding out what customers think about products, services, and companies
• Health research: Collecting data from patients about symptoms and treatments
• Politics: Measuring public opinion about parties and policies
• Psychology: Researching personality traits, preferences, and behaviours

Surveys can be used in both cross-sectional studies , where you collect data just once, and longitudinal studies , where you survey the same sample several times over an extended period.

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Before you start conducting survey research, you should already have a clear research question that defines what you want to find out. Based on this question, you need to determine exactly who you will target to participate in the survey.

Populations

The target population is the specific group of people that you want to find out about. This group can be very broad or relatively narrow. For example:

• The population of Brazil
• University students in the UK
• Second-generation immigrants in the Netherlands
• Customers of a specific company aged 18 to 24
• British transgender women over the age of 50

Your survey should aim to produce results that can be generalised to the whole population. That means you need to carefully define exactly who you want to draw conclusions about.

It’s rarely possible to survey the entire population of your research – it would be very difficult to get a response from every person in Brazil or every university student in the UK. Instead, you will usually survey a sample from the population.

The sample size depends on how big the population is. You can use an online sample calculator to work out how many responses you need.

There are many sampling methods that allow you to generalise to broad populations. In general, though, the sample should aim to be representative of the population as a whole. The larger and more representative your sample, the more valid your conclusions.

There are two main types of survey:

• A questionnaire , where a list of questions is distributed by post, online, or in person, and respondents fill it out themselves
• An interview , where the researcher asks a set of questions by phone or in person and records the responses

Which type you choose depends on the sample size and location, as well as the focus of the research.

Questionnaires

Sending out a paper survey by post is a common method of gathering demographic information (for example, in a government census of the population).

• You can easily access a large sample.
• You have some control over who is included in the sample (e.g., residents of a specific region).
• The response rate is often low.

Online surveys are a popular choice for students doing dissertation research , due to the low cost and flexibility of this method. There are many online tools available for constructing surveys, such as SurveyMonkey and Google Forms .

• You can quickly access a large sample without constraints on time or location.
• The data is easy to process and analyse.
• The anonymity and accessibility of online surveys mean you have less control over who responds.

If your research focuses on a specific location, you can distribute a written questionnaire to be completed by respondents on the spot. For example, you could approach the customers of a shopping centre or ask all students to complete a questionnaire at the end of a class.

• You can screen respondents to make sure only people in the target population are included in the sample.
• You can collect time- and location-specific data (e.g., the opinions of a shop’s weekday customers).
• The sample size will be smaller, so this method is less suitable for collecting data on broad populations.

Oral interviews are a useful method for smaller sample sizes. They allow you to gather more in-depth information on people’s opinions and preferences. You can conduct interviews by phone or in person.

• You have personal contact with respondents, so you know exactly who will be included in the sample in advance.
• You can clarify questions and ask for follow-up information when necessary.
• The lack of anonymity may cause respondents to answer less honestly, and there is more risk of researcher bias.

Like questionnaires, interviews can be used to collect quantitative data : the researcher records each response as a category or rating and statistically analyses the results. But they are more commonly used to collect qualitative data : the interviewees’ full responses are transcribed and analysed individually to gain a richer understanding of their opinions and feelings.

Next, you need to decide which questions you will ask and how you will ask them. It’s important to consider:

• The type of questions
• The content of the questions
• The phrasing of the questions
• The ordering and layout of the survey

Open-ended vs closed-ended questions

There are two main forms of survey questions: open-ended and closed-ended. Many surveys use a combination of both.

Closed-ended questions give the respondent a predetermined set of answers to choose from. A closed-ended question can include:

• A binary answer (e.g., yes/no or agree/disagree )
• A scale (e.g., a Likert scale with five points ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree )
• A list of options with a single answer possible (e.g., age categories)
• A list of options with multiple answers possible (e.g., leisure interests)

Closed-ended questions are best for quantitative research . They provide you with numerical data that can be statistically analysed to find patterns, trends, and correlations .

Open-ended questions are best for qualitative research. This type of question has no predetermined answers to choose from. Instead, the respondent answers in their own words.

Open questions are most common in interviews, but you can also use them in questionnaires. They are often useful as follow-up questions to ask for more detailed explanations of responses to the closed questions.

The content of the survey questions

To ensure the validity and reliability of your results, you need to carefully consider each question in the survey. All questions should be narrowly focused with enough context for the respondent to answer accurately. Avoid questions that are not directly relevant to the survey’s purpose.

When constructing closed-ended questions, ensure that the options cover all possibilities. If you include a list of options that isn’t exhaustive, you can add an ‘other’ field.

Phrasing the survey questions

In terms of language, the survey questions should be as clear and precise as possible. Tailor the questions to your target population, keeping in mind their level of knowledge of the topic.

Use language that respondents will easily understand, and avoid words with vague or ambiguous meanings. Make sure your questions are phrased neutrally, with no bias towards one answer or another.

Ordering the survey questions

The questions should be arranged in a logical order. Start with easy, non-sensitive, closed-ended questions that will encourage the respondent to continue.

If the survey covers several different topics or themes, group together related questions. You can divide a questionnaire into sections to help respondents understand what is being asked in each part.

If a question refers back to or depends on the answer to a previous question, they should be placed directly next to one another.

Before you start, create a clear plan for where, when, how, and with whom you will conduct the survey. Determine in advance how many responses you require and how you will gain access to the sample.

When you are satisfied that you have created a strong research design suitable for answering your research questions, you can conduct the survey through your method of choice – by post, online, or in person.

There are many methods of analysing the results of your survey. First you have to process the data, usually with the help of a computer program to sort all the responses. You should also cleanse the data by removing incomplete or incorrectly completed responses.

If you asked open-ended questions, you will have to code the responses by assigning labels to each response and organising them into categories or themes. You can also use more qualitative methods, such as thematic analysis , which is especially suitable for analysing interviews.

Statistical analysis is usually conducted using programs like SPSS or Stata. The same set of survey data can be subject to many analyses.

Finally, when you have collected and analysed all the necessary data, you will write it up as part of your thesis, dissertation , or research paper .

In the methodology section, you describe exactly how you conducted the survey. You should explain the types of questions you used, the sampling method, when and where the survey took place, and the response rate. You can include the full questionnaire as an appendix and refer to it in the text if relevant.

Then introduce the analysis by describing how you prepared the data and the statistical methods you used to analyse it. In the results section, you summarise the key results from your analysis.

A Likert scale is a rating scale that quantitatively assesses opinions, attitudes, or behaviours. It is made up of four or more questions that measure a single attitude or trait when response scores are combined.

To use a Likert scale in a survey , you present participants with Likert-type questions or statements, and a continuum of items, usually with five or seven possible responses, to capture their degree of agreement.

Individual Likert-type questions are generally considered ordinal data , because the items have clear rank order, but don’t have an even distribution.

Overall Likert scale scores are sometimes treated as interval data. These scores are considered to have directionality and even spacing between them.

The type of data determines what statistical tests you should use to analyse your data.

A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analysing data from people using questionnaires.

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Assessing Research-Doctorate Programs: A Methodology Study (2003)

Chapter: appendix d: sample questionnaires.

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

Appendix D Sample Questionnaires {These questionnaires are subject to further review and revision.) 1. Institutional Questionnaire 2. Program Questionnaire 3. Faculty Questionnaire 4. Student Questionnaires a. Questionnaire for Acimittecl-to-Cancliclacy Doctoral Students b. Questionnaire for Program Gracluates 105

106 Institutional Questionnaire To the institutional coordinator: This questionnaire is intended to collect data about university-provided resources that are available to all doctoral programs. Typically, the ideal respondent will be in the university's office of institutional research. Most of the questions apply to all programs. One, on laboratory space, applies only to the sciences (including some social sciences). In listing programs, please refer to the attached taxonomy and answer for those programs that are present at your institution. I. For the libraries at your institution: (Please enter the average over the past three years) a. What is the average size of your professional library staff in total FTEs? b. What is the average annual library budget? c. What is the average annual budget for acquisition of books? d. A, ~ What is the average annual budget for acquisition of: print journals electronic journals ? What is the average annual budget for microprint and electronic databases? 2. Is health care insurance available to graduate students uncler an institutional plan? Yes No a. If available, health care insurance is made available to: ~ Students only ~ Students end faculty b. If available, what is the level of institutional support? (Check all that apply) Institution covers premium costs for: Teaching assistants ~ Research assistants ~ All other full-time graduate students ~ Al] graduate students Institution covers partial premium costs for: Teaching assistants ~ Research assistants ~ All other full-time graduate students ~ All graduate students No institutional contribution for: ~ Teaching assistants ~ Research assistants ~ Other graduate students 3. Does the university provide childcare facilities that are available to graduate students? O Yes ~1 No a. If yes, is the cost subsidized by the institution? ~ Yes :] No b. If not, does the institution provide a listing of childcare providers to graduate students? O Yes ~ No 4. Is university-subsidized student housing available to doctoral students? :] Yes ~ No APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D If so, what is the percentage of the doctoral students who live in university-provided housing? 5. Are graduate students are unionized on your campus? ~ Yes ~ No If yes, ~ Some students ~ All students If yes, are teaching assistants unionized? ~ Yes ~ No If yes, ~ Some teaching assistants ~ All teaching assistants If yes, are research assistants unionized? ~ Yes ~ No If yes, ~ Some research assistants ~ All research assistants? 6. Which of the following apply to the doctoral program at the institutional level? a. The institution confers awards to honor graduate students for teaching and/or research. ~ Yes ~ No b. Awards are given to faculty for mentoring or other activities that promote scholarship of doctoral students. Yes ~ No c. The institution provides some form of travel support for doctoral students to attend professional meetings. ~ Yes ~ No d. There is an organized program at the institutional level to help doctoral students improve their teaching skills. ~ Yes ~ No e. The institution provides an office that assists doctoral students in learning about employment opportunities. ~ Yes ~ No 7. For the information displayed in the following table, please provide in a file sent by small to rdpilof~as~ed~ For the each doctoral program in science (including the social sciences) and engineering at your institution, what is the net assignable square feet (NASF) of research space dedicated to the program (exclude space that is used only for undergraduates)? Please use the same definitions for NASF and research space that are used in the NSF Survey of Scientific and Engineering Research Facilities. See "Taxonomy] for a list of the program iEelds in the study, and provide the information in the Emai! i ile for only those doctoral programs that are offered at your institution. 107

APPENDIX D Program #3 108 Program Research space NASF Shared space with other programs (Y/N) Program #1 Pro cram #2

APPENDIX D Background Information Program Questionnaire This information will enable the National Research Council to contact you if there are any questions about the data. It will also permit us to contact faculty for the purpose of administering a questionnaire to elicit reputational ratings and background! data ant! to contact students to obtain information about their perceptions of the practices and offerings ~ ~ ~ 1 of the doctoral program. Please note that in addition to the web questionnaire, we would like lists of faculty and previous employers to be sent to us via e-mail. Please indicate the doctoral program to which the following information applies 1. Please provide the name and e-mai! address of the program respondent who will serve as the primary contact with the graduate oro cram. Name: Title: E-mail address: Mailing Address: State Zip Cocle- If this is an interdisciplinary program, please list the departments affiliated with the program. For each individual identified in questions 2 and 3, please provide in a file sent by emai! to rdpilot~)nas.~du the information displayed in the table for the question. Program Faculty: For each faculty member or senior research fellow or associate who participates in your doctoral program by directing theses, serving on doctoral committees, or teaching graduate courses, please provide the following information. Name Rank Highest Gender Race/ US Citizen or Tenure E-mail l | Degree | (M or F) | Ethn city | Permanent | Status | Addres (Y/N) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 = Faculty Employment History: For each faculty member listed in Question 2 who joined your program within the past five years, please provide the institution, company, or organization where he or she was employed immediately before joining your institution. pros

110 Name Prior employer Position at that employer 4. For the doctoral students in your program, please provide the number of students that fall into each of the following categories. a. Total number of students: b. Status: Full-time Part-time Unknown c. Gentler: Male Female Unknown d. Citizenship: U.S. Permanent Resilient Temporary Visa Unknown cI. Race/Ethnicity (if U.S. citizen or Permanent Residents) American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific Islander Black White Hispanic Mexican American Puerto Rican Other Multiracial Unknown e. Percentage of doctoral students with master's degree Program Information 5. Does your program have a mission statement? If so, what is the mission statement? (50 words or less) ~ Yes :] No If there are particular areas of research emphasis in your doctoral program, please choose from the subfields in ETaxonomy]: APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D 6. How many Ph.D.s have been awarded in the program in each of the past five years? (Note: Years span from July ~ to June 30) 2001-02 2000-01 1999-00 1998-99 1997-98- 7. For each of the academic years listed in the following table, enter the number of students who entered the program in the year and the number who completed their degrees in 4, 6, or 8, years or are still in the program. (Note: Years span from July 1 to June 30) Entering Number Student of Academic Entering Year Cohort Doctoral Students 1992 1993 1993-1994 1994-1995 1995-1996 1996-1997 1997-1998 1998-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 Number of Students admitted to candidacy by the end of the 4th year of enrollment Of those admitted to candidacy, number who complete within 4 years Of those admitted to candidacy, number who complete within 6 years Of those admitted to candidacy, number who complete within 8 years Of those admitted to candidacy, how many are still enrolled after 8 years? . I_ 7a. Averaged over the past three years, what percent of entering students withdrew from the program before completing two years of study? % 7b. Averaged over the past three years, what has been the median time to degree for those who completed the program? (Note: the median time is the number of years it takes half of the number of students from the same entering year who are admitted to candidacy to complete their degree.) 8. Is a master's degree required of students prior to admission to your program? ~ Yes ~ No 9. What proportion of your full-time first-year doctoral students receive full support throughout their first year (tuition and an adequate living allowance provided as stipend or salary in program related work (TA or RA)?

112 10. How many years of full financial support could students entering your doctoral program expect to receive from your institution or an external source? 1. Over the past five years approximately what fraction of the first-year students in your program received financial support either from your institution or from extramural grants or fellowships? Tuition only Tuition and stipend- Stipend only- 12. What proportion of currently enrolled doctoral students in your program (included in multiple categories if appropriate) are currently supported by: Externally funded fellowships: Externally funded traineeships: Externally funded research assistantships: University funded teaching assistantships: University funded research assistantships: University funded tuition waivers, fellowships, or stipends: 13. Averaged over the past three years, what are the average and minimum GRE scores for students accepted into the program? Average Verbal GRE: Minimum Verbal GRE: Average Quantitative GRE: Minimum Quantitative GRE: Do you require GRE subject scores for all students entering the program? ~ Yes ~ No 14. In each of the last three academic years, how many students did you accept into your doctoral program, and how many enrolled? 2000-2001 2001 -2002 2002-2003 Accepted Enrolled 15. What percentage of the doctoral students in your program have individually assigned workspaces for their exclusive use? TAs RAs All students 16. On average, how many courses per term is each graduate teaching assistant in the program expected to teach or assist a faculty member in teaching? With sole responsibility As an Assistant to a faculty member 17. Which of the following apply to your doctoral program? APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D a. The program confers awards to honor graduate students for teaching and/or research. ~ Yes ~1 No b. Awards are given to faculty for mentoring or other activities that promote scholarship of doctoral students. ~ Yes :] No The program provides some form of travel support for doctoral students to attend professional meetings. ~ Yes ~ No d. There is an organized program to help doctoral students improve their teaching skills. ~ Yes n No e. The program provides organized assistance to help doctoral students explore employment opportunities. Yes ~1 No 8. List up to 5 institutions with which your program normally competes for graduate students: Institution # 1 Institution #2- Institution #3 Institution #4 Institution #5 1 9. Does your program collect data about employment outcomes for your graduates? ~ Yes ~ No If yes, do you provide potential applicants with this information? ~ Yes ~ No 20. Please list those interdisciplinary centers in which doctoral students from your program participate (conduct research or teach). ~3

114 Faculty Questionnaire This questionnaire is part of the National Research Council's Pilot Test of the Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. Your university has volunteered to participate in this pilot test to assist the National Research Council's study of the methodology used to assess doctoral programs. Further information about the methodology study may be found at www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html You have been selected to receive this questionnaire because you are a member of the faculty who participates in the education of doctoral students at your university. This means that you either teach courses to doctoral students or supervise their dissertations. If this is not the case, please indicate that in question 1. The assessment of research doctoral programs is conducted approximately every ten years and consists of a reputational survey of doctoral programs and the collection of data about doctoral faculty and students in f~fty-seven areas of study. This questionnaire provides information that will assist the study in a number of ways: licit will help us construct a pool from which to select raters for the reputational survey; 2)it will provide us enough information about you that we can collect data on grants, citations, and publications from other sources; and Hit will permit a statistical description of the faculty in the graduate program or programs with which you are affiliated. Your answers will be treated as completely confidential by the National Research Council and will only be released as part of a statistical analysis. I. Program Identification a. Do you supervise dissertations, serve on doctoral committees, or teach graduate courses in a doctoral program? ~ Yes ~ No If your answer was "No", you do not need to complete the rest of the questionnaire. b. From the pulldown list, please choose the program of your primary affiliation/appointment tPull Down List of Res-Doc Programs] If you have difficulty locating your program on the list, please refer to the "Taxonomy] list with fields and subfields Please list all programs in which you supervise dissertations, serve on dissertation committees, or teach graduate courses and the average percentage of your time during the past year that you spent in all activities for each program with which you are associated. (Do not list programs where you are an outside reader.) Program Supervise dissertations Teach courses Serve on Percent of time spent in all (YIN) (YIN) dissertation activities for this program committees (YIN) ~ (total= IJ0%) ~ d. For the articles and books that you have published in the past five years, please list what fields you have published in Table 1. If you have a single publication that spans multiple fields, please indicate them and their fields in Table 2. APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D Table 1: Books and articles in a single field published in the past 3 years Field(see Taxonomy) ~ Articles ~ Books 1 1 ~ ' 1 1 1 Table 2: Books and articles in multiple fields published in the past 3 years Field (Enter all that apply) Articles Books II. Current Employment a. Department affiliation: b. Rank: ~ Instructor ~ Assistant Professor ~ Associate Professor ~ FullProfessor ~ Other c. Tenure status: ~ Tenure-track, not tenured Tenured ~ Non-tenure-track d. Year first employed at current institution: tIf employment was not continuous, please list year of most recent appointment at this institution.] Have you received an extramural grant or contract support in the past year? Yes ~ No f. Subfields of current research interest (refer to "Taxonomy] with subfields): Subfield # 1: Subfield #2: Subfield #3: g. Do you consider part of your research to be interdisciplinary? ~ Yes ~ No If so, what is the area of that research? h. Under what names or variants of your name have you published books or articles? III. Prior Experience What was your status prior to your current position? ~ Student ~ Postdoc ~ Faculty. ~ Other: Previous employer: Address: 115

116 IV. Educational Background City Title: Employment Sector: Industry (for profit) National laboratory State or local government Federal government agency International agency 4-year college or university 2-year college K- 12 school Hospital or clinic Foundation or nonprofit Military Other (specify: State/Country Zip Code- a. Highest degree earned: ~ Bachelor's ~ Master's ~ Ph.D. ~ Professional (M.D., J.D., D.V.M., for example) b. Institution that conferred highest degree: c. Field of highest degree: Other: d. Year of highest degree: tPulldown List] To what extent does the field of your current research, teaching, or professional activities differ from the field of your highest degree? ~ Very similar ~ Somewhat similar ~ Very different V. Demographic Information a. Date of birth: b. Gender: c. Citizenship Male Female U.S. Permanent Resident Temporary Visa (mmlddlyy) d. Race/Ethnicity (if U.S. citizen or permanent resident) American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific Islander Black White APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D Hispanic (I Mexican American, ~ Puerto Rican, ~ Other) ~ Multiracial VI. Please provide your preferred e-mai! address (where you can be reached if there are questions.) Thank you for your time. ~7

118 Questionnaire for Admitted-to-Candidacy Doctoral Students This questionnaire is part of the National Research Council's Pilot Test of the Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. Your university has volunteered to participate in this pilot test to assist the National Research Council's study of the methodology used to assess doctoral programs. One innovation we are considering is adding student responses about the educational processes of the program. We believe that students' input is important to improving the quality of the educational experience. Further information about the methodology study may be found at www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.htm! You have been selected to receive this questionnaire because you are a student who has completed over half of your doctoral program. If this is not the case, please indicate that in question 1. The assessment of research doctoral programs is conducted approximately every ten years and consists of a reputational survey of doctoral programs and the collection of data about doctoral faculty and students in fifty-four areas of study. This questionnaire will provide information that will assist the study in a number of ways: 1) it will provide a statistical description of students in your program; 2) it will provide information about practices in your program; and 3) it will help future students in the selection of graduate programs. Your answers will be treated as completely confidential by the National Research Council and will only be released as part of a statistical analysis. Individual answers will not be shared with faculty or administrators of your doctoral program except in aggregated form. Institution: Doctoral Program: Educational Program A. Year of enrollment in this doctoral program: B. Year you expect to receive your doctorate: C. Did you (or will you) receive a master's degree before this doctorate? ~ Yes ~ No D. Did you (or will you) receive a master's degree in your doctoral field as part of your training? ~ Yes ~ No Ifyes,didyouwritea master's thesis? ~ Yes ~ No E. During the course of your study for the Ph.D. will you also receive any of the following as part of a joint, concurrent, or combined degree program: Professional doctorate (e.g., MD, DDS, OD, JD)? ~ Yes Professional master's (e.g., MBA, MPA, MPH)? ~ Yes No ~ No F. During the course of your study for the Ph.D. will you also receive a certificate in another field? ~ Yes ~ No APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D G. What were your career goals at the time you entered graduate school? Check all that apply] U.S. Employment: Industry ~ Government ~ Nonprofit ~ University ~ 2-yr. college ~ 4-yr. college Other: Non-U.S. Employment: Industry ~ Government ~ Nonprofit ~ University 2-yr. college ~ 4-yr. college Other: ~ Unknown H. What are your current career plans? tcheck all that apply] U.S. Employment: Industry ~ Government ~ Nonprofit ~ University ~ 2-yr. college ~ 4-yr. college Other: Non-U.S. Employment: Industry ~ Government ~ Nonprofit ~ University 2-yr. college ~ 4-yr. college Other: ~ Unknown I. Of the following sources of support, which have been your primary sources during your doctoral studies? (Check the three largest) I. ~ Personal/family funds 2. ~ Research Assistant (RA) 3. ~ Teaching Assistant (TA) 4. ~ Training grant 5. ~ Fellowship 6. ~ Loans 7. ~ Concurrent employment related to your degree 8. ~ Concurrent employment unrelated to your degree 2. Program Characteristics A. Professional Development I. During your doctoral program have you received (or will you receive) instruction, practice or professional development training in: a. Oral communication and presentation skills: ~ Yes ~ No b. Writing proposals for funding: ~ Yes ~ No c. Preparing articles for publication: ~ Yes ~ No d. Working in collaborative groups: ~ Yes ~ No Conducting independent research/scholarship:~ Yes ~ No f. Project management ~ Yes ~ No g. Research / professional ethics ~ Yes ~ No h. Speaking to nonacademic audiences ~ Yes n No 119 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

120 2. In your doctoral program did you have an opportunity to obtain teaching experience? Check the typets) of teaching experience you have had: a. mentoring a high school student b. mentoring an undergraduate student c. grading papers for undergraduate or graduate courses d. leading discussion sections of undergraduate or graduate courses e. leading laboratory sections of undergraduate or graduate courses f. lecturing in undergraduate or graduate courses g. tutoring undergraduates If you have had teaching experience, please answer the following, h. ~ received formal instruction in leaching. ~ Yes ~ No i. {received formal supervision end evaluation. ~ Yes ~ No j. ~ had opportunities to teach in a variety of academic environments. ~ Yes ~ No B. Program Environment 1. Does your program provide an annual or more frequent assessment of your progress? 2. Do you receive timely feedback on your research! 1 - - - - - _ Yes ~ No ~ Yes ~ No 3. Do you have access to career advice covering a variety of employment sectors? Yes ~ No ~ Yes ~ No a. If yes, are you encouraged to use it? 4. Do you have one or more faculty members at your institution that you consider mentors (i.e., individuals from whom you seek advice about your education, career development, and other matters of concern to you as a graduate student)? ~ Yes ~ No 5. How would you rate the quality of teaching by faculty in your program? ~ Excellent ~ Good ~ Fair ~ Poor 6. How would you rate the quality of your research experience? Excellent ~ Good ~ Fair ~ Poor 7. How would YOU rate the curriculum of your Ph.D. program? ~ Excellent ~ Good S. How would you rate the overall quality of your program _ ~ O ~ Fair ~ Poor ~ , , ~ ~ Excellent ~ Good ' ' ~ ~ ~ Lair ~ Poor 9. How would YOU rate the intellectual liveliness of your pro cram? ~ Excellent ~ Good 10. Considering the overall intellectual environment of your university, how much do you fee! you have benei ited from it? ~ A lot ~ Some APPENDIX D , — - - ~ o n Fair n Poor ~ A little ~ Not at all

APPENDIX D C. Infrastructure I. Does your program give you access to: a. Your own personal work space b. Computer facilities Yes ~ No ~ Yes ~ No c. Other research facilities; if so, describe: 2. Does your program provide adequate space for interaction among students? C] Yes O No 3. Are the library resources available to you adequate to support your research and education? ~ Yes C] No D. Research productivity I. How many research presentations (including poster presentations) have you made at research conferences a. on your campus? b. at national or regional meetings? 2. How many research publications have you authored or co-authored during your cloctoral studies (include pieces accepted for publication but not yet published)? a. Refereed articles b. Book chapters c. Reviews d. Books or edited volumes 3. Background information A. Date of birth: (mm/~/yy) B. Gender: ~ Male n Female C. Citizenship U.S. Permanent Resident Temporary Visa D. Race/Ethnicity (if U.S. citizen) American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian or Pacific Islander Black White Hispanic Mexican American, ~ Puerto Rican, ~ Other) ~ Multiracial E. Dependent care responsibilities: 1. Number of children living with you: Age 6 or under Over age 6 3. Parents or other dependents ~ Yes ~ No 121

122 APPENDIX D G. Marital Status: Do you have a spouse or partner who lives with you? ~ Yes ~ No F. Level of Parents' Education: Mother Father High school diploma or less Some college/Bachelor's degree Advanced degree

APPENDIX D Five-Seven Years Post-Ph.D Questionnaire This questionnaire is part of the National Research Council's Pilot Test of the Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. Your university has volunteered to participate in this pilot test to assist the National Research Council's study of the methodology used to assess doctoral programs. One innovation that we are considering is to add student responses to questions about the educational process of the program. Further information about the methodology study may be found at www7.nationalacademies. org/resdoc/index.html You have been selected to receive this questionnaire because you are a student who has received a Ph.D. from this program five to seven years ago. If this is not the case, please indicate that in question 1. ~ 4, , I, The assessment of research doctoral programs is conducted approximately every ten years and consists of a reputational survey of doctoral programs and the collection of data about doctoral faculty and students in fifty-four areas of study. This questionnaire provides information that will assist the study in a number of ways: 1) it will help us learn whether a high enough percentage of students respond so that we can add student observations to the larger study; 2) it will provide us enough information about practices in your program that we can compare the practices of graduate programs in your field at different universities; and 3) it will permit a statistical description of the f~rst-year students in the graduate program. Your answers will be treated as completely confidential by the National Research Council and will only be released as part of a statistical analysis. Individual answers will not be shared with faculty or administrators of your former doctoral program except in aggregated form. Educational Program a. Name of the program where you received your Ph.D. degree: b. Year of enrollment in the above Ph.D. program: c. Year you received your Ph.D.: d. Did you receive a master's degree at this institution before this Ph.D.? ~ Yes ~ No e. Were you enrolled as a full-time student throughout your Ph.D. program? ~ Yes ~ No f. Did you attend graduate school prior to enrollment in the above Ph.D. program? ~ Yes ~ No If so, what degrees or certificates, if any, do you hold? ~ Certificate ~ Master's ~ Doctoral ~ Professional g. What was your career goal when you completed your Ph.D.? U.S. Employment: Industry ~ Government ~ Nonprofit ~ University 2-yr. college ~ 4-yr. college Other: 123

124 Non-U.S. Employment: Industry ~ Government ~ Nonprofit ~ University 2-yr. college ~ 4-yr. college Other: ~ Unknown h. Have your career goals changed since you received your Ph.D.? ~ Yes ~ No i. During your Ph.D. program, were you supported by funds from outside the institution? ~ Yes ~ No (Check all that apply) Type: ~ Fellowship ~ Training Grant ~ Research Grant ~ Your employer ~ Other(Specify: ! J. Did you receive institutional support? ~ Yes ~ No (Check all that apply) Type: ~ Teaching Assistantship ~ Research Assistantship ~ Fellowship ~ Tuition scholarship or waiver only ~ Loan ~ None ~ Other(Specify: ! 2. Employment and Career Status a. First employer or place of postdoctoral study after Ph.D. completion: Name: Address: City State/Country Zip Code- Title: b. Employment Sector: Industry (for profit) National laboratory State or local government Federal government agency International agency University 4-year college 2-year college K-12 school Hospital or clinic Foundation or nonprofit Military Other (specify) APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D c. If you hold or have held a postdoctoral position or positions, how many , and at what institutions, companies or government agencies were they located? List chronologically starting with the most recent. Position # 1: Position#2: Position # 3: Position#4: Dates: Dates: Dates: Dates: d. Current employer: Name: Address: City State/Country Zip Code- Title: e. Current Employment Sector: Industry (for profit) National laboratory State or local government Federal government agency International agency University 4-year college 2-year college K-12 school Hospital or clinic Foundation or nonprofit Military ~ Other (specify) 3. Ph.D. Program Characteristics a. During your Ph.D. education, in which of the following areas was training PROVIDED, which skills or experiences have you USED since graduation, and which area do you wish you had learned MORE about? (check all that apply) 1) Teaching experiemce 2) Oral communication; presentation skills 3) Writing proposals for funding 4) Manuscript preparation Provided Provided Provided Provided Experience working in collaborative groups ~ Provided 6) Critical analysis 7) Locating and applying information 125 Used ~ More Used ~ More Used ~ More Used ~ More Provided Provided Used ~ More Used ~ More Used ~ More

26 8) Experience working with people of varied educational levels ~ Provided ~ Used ~ More 9) Experience working with people from diverse backgrounds ~ Provided ~ Used ~ More 10) Experience working in teams b. Research Productivity Provided ~ Used ~ More How many books or edited books have you published or are currently accepted for publication? 2) How many articles or book chapters have you published or are currently accepted for publication? 3) How many books or articles have you reviewed for publication? 4) How many reviews, enumerated in 3), have been or will be published? 5) How many refereed papers have you or a coauthor presented at professional conferences? How many awards have you received? (Respond to all categories.) a) For teaching: b) For research: From professional societies: From your institution or employer: 7) How many patents or licenses have you received? 8) How many grants have you received from your employer or institution? 9) How many grants have you received from extramural funding agencies? 4. Background Information a. Date of birth: b. Gender: c. Citizenship APPENDIX D Male Female U.S. Permanent Resident Temporary Visa (mmlddlyy)

APPENDIX D 127 d. Race/Ethnicity (ifU.S. citizen) American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian Pacific Islander Black White Hispanic (~ Mexican American, ~ Multiracial e. Martial Status ~ Married ~ Single f. Number of Children: Age 6 and under Over age 6 g. Level of Parents' Education: Less than high school High school diploma Some college Bachelor's degree Master's degree Professional degree Doctoral degree h. Is English your first language? Mother Yes ~ No Puerto Rican, ~ Other) Father

How should we assess and present information about the quality of research-doctorate programs? In recommending that the 1995 NRC rankings in Assessing the Quality of Research-Doctorate Programs: Continuity and Change be updated as soon as possible, this study presents an improved approach to doctoral program assessment which will be useful to administrators, faculty, and others with an interest in improving the education of Ph.D.s in the United States. It reviews the methodology of the 1995 NRC rankings and recommends changes, including the collection of new data about Ph.D. students, additional data about faculty, and new techniques to present data on the qualitative assessment of doctoral program reputation. It also recommends revision of the taxonomy of fields from that used in the 1995 rankings.

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Dissertation surveys: Questions, examples, and best practices

Collect data for your dissertation with little effort and great results.

Dissertation surveys are one of the most powerful tools to get valuable insights and data for the culmination of your research. However, it’s one of the most stressful and time-consuming tasks you need to do. You want useful data from a representative sample that you can analyze and present as part of your dissertation. At SurveyPlanet, we’re committed to making it as easy and stress-free as possible to get the most out of your study.

With an intuitive and user-friendly design, our templates and premade questions can be your allies while creating a survey for your dissertation. Explore all the options we offer by simply signing up for an account—and leave the stress behind.

How to write dissertation survey questions

The first thing to do is to figure out which group of people is relevant for your study. When you know that, you’ll also be able to adjust the survey and write questions that will get the best results.

The next step is to write down the goal of your research and define it properly. Online surveys are one of the best and most inexpensive ways to reach respondents and achieve your goal.

Before writing any questions, think about how you’ll analyze the results. You don’t want to write and distribute a survey without keeping how to report your findings in mind. When your thesis questionnaire is out in the real world, it’s too late to conclude that the data you’re collecting might not be any good for assessment. Because of that, you need to create questions with analysis in mind.

You may find our five survey analysis tips for better insights helpful. We recommend reading it before analyzing your results.

Once you understand the parameters of your representative sample, goals, and analysis methodology, then it’s time to think about distribution. Survey distribution may feel like a headache, but you’ll find that many people will gladly participate.

Find communities where your targeted group hangs out and share the link to your survey with them. If you’re not sure how large your research sample should be, gauge it easily with the survey sample size calculator.

Need help with writing survey questions? Read our guide on well-written examples of good survey questions .

Dissertation survey examples

Whatever field you’re studying, we’re sure the following questions will prove useful when crafting your own.

At the beginning of every questionnaire, inform respondents of your topic and provide a consent form. After that, start with questions like:

• Please select your gender:
• What is the highest educational level you’ve completed?
• High school
• Bachelor degree
• Master’s degree
• On a scale of 1-7, how satisfied are you with your current job?
• Please rate the following statements:
• I always wait for people to text me first.
• Strongly Disagree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Strongly agree
• My friends always complain that I never invite them anywhere.
• I prefer spending time alone.
• Rank which personality traits are most important when choosing a partner. Rank 1 - 7, where 1 is the most and 7 is the least important.
• Flexibility
• Independence
• How openly do you share feelings with your partner?
• Almost never
• Almost always
• In the last two weeks, how often did you experience headaches?

Dissertation survey best practices

There are a lot of DOs and DON’Ts you should keep in mind when conducting any survey, especially for your dissertation. To get valuable data from your targeted sample, follow these best practices:

Use the consent form.

The consent form is a must when distributing a research questionnaire. A respondent has to know how you’ll use their answers and that the survey is anonymous.

Avoid leading and double-barreled questions

Leading and double-barreled questions will produce inconclusive results—and you don’t want that. A question such as: “Do you like to watch TV and play video games?” is double-barreled because it has two variables.

On the other hand, leading questions such as “On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate the amazing experience with our customer support?” influence respondents to answer in a certain way, which produces biased results.

Use easy and straightforward language and questions

Don’t use terms and professional jargon that respondents won’t understand. Take into consideration their educational level and demographic traits and use easy-to-understand language when writing questions.

Mix close-ended and open-ended questions

Too many open-ended questions will annoy respondents. Also, analyzing the responses is harder. Use more close-ended questions for the best results and only a few open-ended ones.

Strategically use different types of responses

Likert scale, multiple-choice, and ranking are all types of responses you can use to collect data. But some response types suit some questions better. Make sure to strategically fit questions with response types.

Ensure that data privacy is a priority

Make sure to use an online survey tool that has SSL encryption and secure data processing. You don’t want to risk all your hard work going to waste because of poorly managed data security. Ensure that you only collect data that’s relevant to your dissertation survey and leave out any questions (such as name) that can identify the respondents.

Create dissertation questionnaires with SurveyPlanet

Overall, survey methodology is a great way to find research participants for your research study. You have all the tools required for creating a survey for a dissertation with SurveyPlanet—you only need to sign up . With powerful features like question branching, custom formatting, multiple languages, image choice questions, and easy export you will find everything needed to create, distribute, and analyze a dissertation survey.

Happy data gathering!

Sign up now

Free unlimited surveys, questions and responses.

What’s Included: The Dissertation Template

If you’re preparing to write your dissertation, thesis or research project, our free dissertation template is the perfect starting point. In the template, we cover every section step by step, with clear, straightforward explanations and examples .

The template’s structure is based on the tried and trusted best-practice format for formal academic research projects such as dissertations and theses. The template structure reflects the overall research process, ensuring your dissertation or thesis will have a smooth, logical flow from chapter to chapter.

The dissertation template covers the following core sections:

• The title page/cover page
• Abstract (sometimes also called the executive summary)
• Table of contents
• List of figures /list of tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction  (also available: in-depth introduction template )
• Chapter 2: Literature review  (also available: in-depth LR template )
• Chapter 3: Methodology (also available: in-depth methodology template )
• Chapter 4: Research findings /results (also available: results template )
• Chapter 5: Discussion /analysis of findings (also available: discussion template )
• Chapter 6: Conclusion (also available: in-depth conclusion template )
• Reference list

Each section is explained in plain, straightforward language , followed by an overview of the key elements that you need to cover within each section. We’ve also included practical examples to help you understand exactly what’s required in each section.

The cleanly-formatted Google Doc can be downloaded as a fully editable MS Word Document (DOCX format), so you can use it as-is or convert it to LaTeX.

FAQs: Dissertation Template

What format is the template (doc, pdf, ppt, etc.).

The dissertation template is provided as a Google Doc. You can download it in MS Word format or make a copy to your Google Drive. You’re also welcome to convert it to whatever format works best for you, such as LaTeX or PDF.

What types of dissertations/theses can this template be used for?

The template follows the standard best-practice structure for formal academic research projects such as dissertations or theses, so it is suitable for the vast majority of degrees, particularly those within the sciences.

Some universities may have some additional requirements, but these are typically minor, with the core structure remaining the same. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to double-check your university’s requirements before you finalise your structure.

Will this work for a research paper?

A research paper follows a similar format, but there are a few differences. You can find our research paper template here .

Is this template for an undergrad, Masters or PhD-level thesis?

This template can be used for a dissertation, thesis or research project at any level of study. It may be slight overkill for an undergraduate-level study, but it certainly won’t be missing anything.

How long should my dissertation/thesis be?

This depends entirely on your university’s specific requirements, so it’s best to check with them. As a general ballpark, Masters-level projects are usually 15,000 – 20,000 words in length, while Doctoral-level projects are often in excess of 60,000 words.

What about the research proposal?

If you’re still working on your research proposal, we’ve got a template for that here .

We’ve also got loads of proposal-related guides and videos over on the Grad Coach blog .

How do I write a literature review?

We have a wealth of free resources on the Grad Coach Blog that unpack how to write a literature review from scratch. You can check out the literature review section of the blog here.

How do I create a research methodology?

We have a wealth of free resources on the Grad Coach Blog that unpack research methodology, both qualitative and quantitative. You can check out the methodology section of the blog here.

Can I share this dissertation template with my friends/colleagues?

Yes, you’re welcome to share this template. If you want to post about it on your blog or social media, all we ask is that you reference this page as your source.

Can Grad Coach help me with my dissertation/thesis?

Within the template, you’ll find plain-language explanations of each section, which should give you a fair amount of guidance. However, you’re also welcome to consider our dissertation and thesis coaching services .

• Graduate School

40 Thesis Defense Questions

Practicing answering thesis defense questions in a mock thesis defense is the best way to get ready for this challenging step in your academic career. Aside from knowing your research project inside and out, you must have solid strategies for tackling different question types and talking about why you chose your research topic. You might have already answered questions related to your research interests in your research interest statement and grad school interview questions , but now after years for in-depth study, it's time to really test what you have accomplished! Check out some of the hardest thesis defense questions below and read our expert responses!

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free strategy call here . <<

Article Contents 11 min read

What to expect in a thesis defense.

A thesis defense is your chance to demonstrate your in-depth knowledge and expertise in the topic of your research thesis. While you will be able to take charge of the narrative and present your research to those on your thesis committee, the professors will prod you to test how well you know and understand your topic. The questions are mostly open-ended and give you the chance to showcase your knowledge and understanding, as well as any future plans you may have regarding your research topic.

A thesis defense usually lasts between one and two hours, depending on the area of your research. It starts with you giving a presentation of your interest, findings, and conclusions. After you have finished, the committee members will ask you questions based not only on your presentation, but also on your written thesis as they will have read it before your presentation. Lastly, the committee might approve your thesis or suggest changes to your paper.

Preparing thesis defense questions requires you to start well in advance. While the duration of your thesis defense might vary as per your institution's requirements, the major idea is to defend your research. Thus, you should go about preparing for your thesis defense questions by taking the following steps.

Interested in a quick overview of the section below? Check out this infographic:

Re-read your thesis for clarity

Your thesis defense questions will be based on what you have written in your research paper. Hence, it is a good idea to re-read your paper. You should be clear on the concepts and understand your research well. It might have been some time since you would have submitted your paper, so a revision should be the starting point of your preparation.  

Have an answer strategy and structure

Plan a strategy to answer the panel’s questions. Keep your answers direct, but elaborate on the research details wherever necessary. If you do not know the answer to a question, that is alright. The key is to be able to formulate an answer even if you do not possess enough knowledge to answer at that point in time. For instance, if a question is about the content of your research, you can say something like “I am not certain my research touches on the question you are asking, but my research has led me to Dr. X. Based his evidence, I would have to conclude that…” Having a strategy for answering even the most unexpected questions can be a life saver in these situations!

Most of the thesis defense questions can be easily predicted based on your research. You can prepare a list of possible questions when you are going through your paper. Getting to know the committee can help you in preparing better. Their areas of expertise can help you in determining what they might ask. Once you have a list of questions, you can start brainstorming how you might answer them. 

Prepare your slides in advance

If you require visual aids such as slides, it is a good idea to prepare them beforehand. You can double-check the slides and make sure that your presentation will run smoothly on the day of your thesis defense. Make sure your slides are arranged in the correct order. 

Attend a thesis defense of other candidates if it is an open event

If your institution allows it, you can visit a thesis defense of other candidates. This will give you an excellent idea of what you can expect in your meeting. If it is not possible to attend the event, you can speak to your peers to find out how their meeting went and what questions were asked.

Dress appropriately for your meeting

The thesis defense meeting is a formal event, and hence you should be dressed in formal clothes. While there are no strict dressing rules, you should consider it something equivalent to a job interview. Don’t just wear your T-shirt and appear in front of the committee. Your formal suit is a better option for the occasion.

Practice speaking for your meeting

Take your preparation to the next level by practicing your presentation. This activity will give you the confidence for the actual meeting and presentation. You can request your academic peers to help you out in the practice task. Based on their feedback in the mock session, you can improve for the actual session. Make sure to prepare well for the mock session as if you are preparing for the actual session. You can also practice your speech and body language in the mock session. If you used thesis writing services , these professionals would also be the ideal people to test you in a mock thesis defense – don’t hesitate to reach out to them again!

Sample Thesis Defense Questions and Answers

1.    what is your research study all about.

In your answer, you should summarize your research in a few sentences. The question is simple but requires technical expertise for a better explanation of concepts. For instance, if you completed a thesis in an attempt to explain the constituents of dark matter in the universe and particle accelerators, you could frame your answer like this:

In this research, the different aspects of dark matter and its detection models have been investigated. The cosmic ray positron excess observed by the PAMELA detector has been discussed and explained through the construction of models of decaying dark matter. The cosmic-ray electron and positron spectra were studied assuming a general Dirac structure for the four fermion contact interactions of interest. A supersymmetric leptophilic Higgs model was constructed to explain the possible excess of gamma rays in the galactic center. Finally, by the use of Razor analysis, an improvement on the dark matter collider searches is considered.  

2.    Why did you choose this study?

This question requires you to answer what motivated you to pursue the study in the first place. Your answers could touch on your interests in the area of the study. For example, if you conducted a study called “Media Combat: The Great War and the Transformation of American Culture” then you can shape your answer like this:

The First World War (1914-1918) has always been a topic of fascination for me, and my prime interest lies in exploring the state of society at that time. I wanted to analyze the formation of a nationalized, wartime cultural apparatus during the United States' involvement in the war and how theatre and music transformed the relationship between the government and American citizens. 

3.    Why did you choose this particular title for your research?

The title of your thesis captures the main point of your research, which is why it is so important to use an appropriate title. Your committee will want to know how you came to the final decision of naming your work. For example,

I chose the title “Dark matter in the heavens and at colliders: Models and constraints” for my research thesis because my research attempts to explain the constituency of dark matter as it occurs in the universe. “The heavens” is another word for the universe. Dark matter can also be created in particle accelerators such as the CERN collider. I have attempted to provide an explanation for both of the cases through the use of models, along with describing the constraints which exist in the current times due to certain scientific limitations.

4.    What is the scope of your study?

In your answer, you have to define the boundaries of your project and define exactly what you are studying. There can be several elements involved but you have to define the parameters that you have chosen to study. For example,

My study is on the efficacy of equity stocks in the US market. For my study, I have chosen 50 companies listed on the NASDAQ. You can review the names of these companies on page 5 of my thesis.

5.    What phenomenon were you trying to understand with this research?

Describe the focus concept of your thesis in the answer. For example,

In our study “Motivation to volunteer”, we were looking to study the Theory of Planned Behavior by analyzing the behavioral and normative beliefs that influence attitudes and subjective norms.

Want increase your productivity and mainain a healthy work life balance to help get you through your thesis project? Here are some tips straight from our CEO:

6.    Who will be most interested in your research?

You can talk about who may be affected by your research and the parties who can potentially benefit from the research. Take a look at this example:

My sociology thesis on “Impact of social media on youngsters” can be of interest to sociology academics, social media companies, education experts, and parents of youngsters in general.

7.    Did your research questions evolve during the process? If so, how?

Often, qualitative research questions change over time with respect to the responses that you might get from your focus group. Or you might just change your question as you do lab research or general text research. You can describe the change to the evaluating committee. For example,

We started our study to understand the impact of the new public policy change on recycling of vinyl waste through installation of garbage bins specifically for vinyl products. However, after interviewing some of the respondents in the target community, we found that the rule is actually irrelevant to their behavior and thoughts because the percentage of vinyl waste in that specific locality was very low and it didn’t need the installation of dedicated bins for the purpose. Going by their frustrations with the current economic insecurity, our study evolved into the impact of costs incurred by public policy changes.           

8.    What gaps did you intend to bridge with your research?

Your research thesis must eliminate the present gaps in the concepts related to your subject topic.

The relationship between hard water and its effect on the size of the kidney stone is not clear yet, so we analyzed the mineral composition of hard water to determine its impact on the size of the kidney stone.

9.    Why is your research significant?

The answer to this research question should outline the impact of your research on your field of study. You may talk about the new insights contributed by your research and its impact on society.

Through my study on “The effect of chamomile in reducing stress and promoting better sleep,” patients with insomnia and anxiety will be able to find alternative treatments without the use of medicinal drugs. The medical abilities of chamomile will promote the usage of ingredients in nature and will encourage the community to plant more herbs and trees.

10. What did you find in your research?

You may describe your research in a few sentences in this answer. For instance,

In our study on “Impact of artificial fluoride in water on the human body,” we found that excessive exposure to high quantities of Fluoride can result in tooth discoloration and bone issues in humans since it has neurotoxic qualities. 

11. What research findings surprised you?

When you conduct research, you come across findings that you were not expecting earlier. If you had such an experience, you might describe the same to the evaluation committee when you answer this question. For example,

I was expecting that business promotion through social media would not be a good idea for rural enterprises in developing countries in my comparative analysis of the usage of traditional and contemporary marketing methods. But I was surprised to learn that 68% of rural textile businesses in Nigeria promote their products on Instagram.

12. What is the validity of your findings?

You have to talk about the conditions in which your research findings would be valid.

In my research, I have considered test anxiety to be involving both nervous system activation and negative thoughts. Thus, my measure of test anxiety has included the elements of both nervous feelings and negative thoughts, the conditions in which my findings are valid.

For example,

For studying the differential protein expression, its localization, and distribution at different levels, we used the method of immunostaining in our research.

14. What sources did you use for data collection?

You would have used several sources to search for data for your topic. You may elaborate on those sources. You might have referred to databases, content on the web, or even conducted primary research by interviewing prospects. Thus, you can talk about these sources. Refer to the following answer:

To understand the impact of the current tax regime on skilled workers, we interviewed 150 subjects in 5 months. Additionally, we referred to databases and scholarly works available by authors who had previously conducted such studies for previous tax laws and rates. 

15. How can your research be put into practice?

This question talks about the practical implications of your research. You should talk about how your research is beneficial for society and how it can help in eliminating current issues.

In our research titled “Effectiveness of Meditation on Reducing the Anxiety Levels of College Students in the US,” we discovered that students who practiced meditation at least thrice a week were two times more likely to score better in their exams, owing to the positive impact of meditation. So, this research finding can help in the reduction of mental health issues among students. A suitable course of action would be to hold meditating sessions a couple of times a week. 

16. How will your findings contribute to the related area of knowledge?

Our study on medicinal analysis of herbs conveys information about various medicinal benefits of chamomile in treating depression and contributes to the area of medicinal botany.

17. Did you experience any limitations in your research?

Our research on “Impact of smoking on β-cell function and risk for type 2 diabetes in US citizens” finds that smoking increases the risk of diabetes among smokers. However, smokers might be affected by some genetic conditions which can protect them from diabetes. 

18. What sampling techniques did you use?

When conducting research, it is practically not possible to study the entire number of elements. So, you would be using a method to select a sample population.

In our study “Impact of consumption of soda on the health of teenagers in Corpus Christi”, we used area sampling to divide the city into several areas and then selected some clusters for our sample group.

19. What are the dependent and independent variables in your research?

In research, several variable factors impact your study. You can describe these variables. Independent variables have values which are not affected by other variables in your study. On the other hand, the dependent variables have values that change with changes in the independent variable. For example,

In our study on “Impact of online tutoring on test scores”, the independent variable is the nature of the classes i.e., online and the participants' test score is the dependent variable.

20. What areas do you suggest for further research?

As a researcher, you should be able to describe what further areas are open for research with the addition of your research to the field. This can act as a starting point for future researchers. For example,

In my research on “Effectiveness of Acetaminophen in treating sports induced injuries”, I discovered that administering Acetaminophen is not very effective for treating joint pains such as the knee. This further suggests measures for the regulation of Acetaminophen in the production of painkillers for body pain and the search for alternative compounds.

Practice Questions

After taking a look at the sample answers, now try answering these questions by yourself:

Do you have any closing comments? "}]">

After submitting your research thesis for evaluation, you have to appear before a panel of professors and present your work; afterwards, they will ask you questions about your research.

You have to plan and prepare for your thesis defense. Review your paper and anticipate the questions that the committee can ask. Practice with mock defense sessions using professional servicesand make improvements based on their feedback. Be prepared with a strategy for answering any question asked by the panel.

Your research thesis should be on a topic of your interest. Scan your course syllabus to find something that makes you curious. Or, you can even refer to your grad school career goals statement to review what got you interested in grad school in the first place. Shortlist a few topics and zero down to the one that excites you the most.

The first step in preparing for a master’s thesis defense is to revise your research paper and write down a list of questions that the committee might ask. Find answers to those questions and get ready for your presentation. Practice your presentation beforehand. Try to attend a thesis defense of other candidates to know what you can expect in your session. 

You will get questions related to what you have mentioned in your research paper. The most common starting questions are “what is your research about?" and “what was your motivation behind choosing this topic?” Later on, the committee asks you more detailed questions on research methodology, literature review, study variables, research findings, recommendations, and areas of further research.

You can get help from a grad school essay tutor for your research thesis writing. They can help you in developing writing skills and reviewing your work. They can proofread your work and provide recommendations on areas of improvement.

You can include your research thesis on your grad school CV to show your practical knowledge and skills. You can add the details of the study in a separate section for research experience.

Immediately after the thesis defense, the evaluation panel will decide whether to approve your paper as submitted or request some changes, or reject it.

To pass a thesis defense, a majority of the panel members must approve the defense. In case of more than one vote against you, you can fail the thesis.

A thesis defense can last for two hours or longer, depending on your area of research.

Your thesis defense presentation should include the focus concept, findings, recommendation, and conclusion.

The contribution of your thesis towards your degree differs as per institution. You can refer to your course handbook for exact details. In most cases, the committee needs to approve your thesis for you to graduate from your degree.

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why did you choose this place for a research locale

BeMo Academic Consulting

Hi Jeff! Yes, this can also be one of the questions you are asked in a thesis defense!

That is good

Hello Eshetu! Thanks for your comment. Glad you found this helpful!

Very helpful

Thanks, Abel. Glad you found this helpful. 

Helpful thank you.

Hi Lagat! Thanks!

As an 11th-grade student, I don't have any experience in thesis or research defense in general. Me and my groupmates will be conducting our research title defense next week, this is invaluable information for us. Thank you!

You are very welcome, Kate!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS, I REALLY APPRECIATE.

Hello Stephanie! Thanks for your comment.

EMELDA NAFULA NYONGESA

This is a good guideline to post graduate students (Masters and PhD) CPA:Emelda Nyongesa

Hi Emelda! Thanks!

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• Survey & Questionnaire Introduction: Examples + [5 Types]

Whether online or offline, you need to politely approach survey respondents and get them excited to fill your questionnaire when carrying out a research survey. Therefore, before going into the questions you want to ask, you need to kickstart your data collection process with a compelling survey or questionnaire introduction.  

Generally, only a few people would even listen to you if you shoved your survey in their faces without a simple introduction first. Survey introductions in online questionnaires help you prepare the minds of your respondents ahead of time and gather the best responses. 

What is a Survey Introduction?

A survey introduction is a concise description with relevant information about a survey. It is the first part of the survey that prospective respondents interact with and it helps them decide whether to fill your questionnaire or not. 

Think of survey introductions as abstracts that communicate the entire essence of the data collection process. Without a good abstract, your thesis gets delayed or unapproved. 

Following through with this thought means that the more exciting your survey introduction is, the higher your chances of collecting the right number of quality survey responses.

Features of a Survey Introduction

A good survey introduction must answer these 5 questions: 

• Who is conducting the survey?

Here, you should include the name of the person or organization that is carrying out the research. 

• What is the research about?

Survey respondents need to understand the aims and objectives of your research. This shows them why your survey is important and why they need to be part of it.  

• How long will the survey take?

Prepare their minds ahead of time by adding an estimated survey-completion time. While shorter surveys are likely to have more respondents, don’t give a false estimation to bait people to fill your survey. 

• Is my data safe?

Data privacy and protection is a huge concern for everyone. Since you plan to collect data from respondents, you need to tell them how you will use this information. You can include a link to your company’s privacy policy.

• How will I fill the survey?

Include instructions on how to fill the survey. Include information about relevant documents for the survey too.  

Your survey should be written in simple language your audience understands. It should be friendly, human and show the respondents how much impact they’ll make by taking part in the survey. Always include a nice “thank you” note in your survey introduction. 

Types of Survey Introduction  

Market survey introduction.

If you’re conducting market research using a survey , then you need a market survey introduction. To get more information about your customers/ target market, you need to conduct a market research survey. A market survey introduction gives your target audience a clear picture of what you want to achieve and how their participation is an important part of it.

Market research serves multiple purposes—sometimes, it is all about getting real-time data to inform product launches. Other times, it is for business expansion or product improvement. With a market survey introduction, you can get your audience on the same page and let them know the exact information you need from them. 

A market survey introduction should answer all the questions we looked at when we discussed the features of a survey introduction. After naming your organization, you should also introduce your product or product idea for brand awareness. 

Because of the type of information, market surveys are longer than other types of surveys ; sometimes, they have multiple sections. So, in your market survey introduction, give respondents a heads-up and let them know completing your survey will take more time than the average. You can add a nice reward they can claim after filling the survey. 

Example of Market Survey Introduction  

At Formplus, we are working to improve online data collection for you. We’d really like to know what you feel about online data gathering tools . Take this 20-minute survey and win a free 1-month Formplus premium subscription. Your data will be collected anonymously and only used for this research. Thank You! 

Student Survey Introduction

A student survey is a method of sampling students’ opinions about the school, teachers, and overall learning experiences. From measuring student satisfaction to evaluating courses, student surveys help you to make the right changes to your school. 

A student survey introduction is the first step in getting the best responses from your students. Encourage students to provide objective feedback and let them know how the information will be used.

In the survey introduction, indicate that all responses will be recorded anonymously. Students need to be sure that they can provide honest feedback in the survey without getting harassed or victimized. 

Example of Student Survey Introduction  

Thank you for being one of our students at Salthill College. Please complete this short 3-minutes survey to let us know how satisfied you are with your overall student experience at our college. All responses are recorded anonymously so feel free to provide honest feedback. Your responses will help us improve our teaching and learning environment. 

Research Questionnaire Introduction  

You need a good research questionnaire introduction during the data-collection phase of your research. People are more likely to fill your questionnaire when they clearly understand what you want to achieve and why your research is important. 

In the research questionnaire introduction, you can include facts, data, or statistics about the research problem. Then, show how the data collected via the questionnaire will contribute to solving the problem. The introduction should also address data privacy, data protection, and participant’s consent. 

Even if you plan to share the questionnaire physically, a good research questionnaire introduction will help collect responses faster and save time. 

Example of Research Questionnaire Introduction  

Hello, I am a postgraduate researcher at the London School of Tropical Medicine. I am conducting a study on effective treatment options for communicable diseases in West Africa and I would like to know your experiences with the signs, symptoms, and treatment of communicable diseases. Please complete this 30-minute survey. Your responses are anonymous and you can skip any questions you are not comfortable with. Thank you for your participation. 

Customer Satisfaction Survey Introduction  

Your customer satisfaction survey introduction should communicate 2 things—appreciation and brevity. First, you should let your customers know how much you love their patronage. Next, tell them that the survey will take just a few minutes. 

Throw in an honorary mention of your brand and then, go through some of the information you’ll need from them in the survey. To increase response rates, you can reward respondents with a gift, discount, or special offer. 

Example of Customer Satisfaction Survey Introduction  

Thank you for shopping at Wreaths and Flowers! We’ll like to ask you a few questions about your shopping experience. Your responses will help us make shopping more enjoyable for you. This will only take 1 minute and you get 30% off your next order when you complete the survey! 

Importance of Survey Introduction

• It outlines the most important information about your survey

People need to know what they are getting into before filling your survey or questionnaire, and that’s exactly why you need a great survey introduction. 

• It’s a great way to welcome respondents

You wouldn’t just walk up to someone to ask for something without a proper introduction so why would you want to do this with your survey or questionnaire ? A questionnaire welcome page sets the mood for requesting responses from your respondents. 

• Quality survey introductions help you gain respondents’ trust

Many people are not excited about filling surveys and questionnaires, which is why they need a push. A survey or questionnaire introduction helps respondents to trust you and heightens their interest in filling your survey. 

A survey introduction answers all the questions participants may have about the questionnaire. Think of it as some sort of FAQs that allows respondents to have a full grasp of your data collection process. 

A questionnaire welcome page boosts survey participation and reduces survey dropout rates. 

It helps survey participants to feel like an important part of the overall data gathering process. Survey introductions show participants that you value their opinions. 

Survey introductions build the participants’ interest in your survey or questionnaire. 

Why Use Formplus to Create Surveys?

• Pre and Post Submission Page

Formplus allows you to add exciting survey introductions to your questionnaire. On the form’s intro page, you can provide a brief description of your survey, information on data privacy, and any other thing they need to know before filling the form. 

You can also customize the form’s post-submission page and include a nice “thank you” note for respondents after they complete the survey or questionnaire. Learn more about our intro and post-submission pages here:

• Intuitive Easy to Use Survey Maker  

The Formplus builder is easy to use and you can build surveys and questionnaires from scratch in no time without writing a single line of code. It has a drag-and-drop feature that allows you to add more than 30 different fields to your form seamlessly. 

• Conditional Logic

Survey participants do not have to see or fill out all the fields in your form. With conditional logic, you can show or hide form fields and pages based on answers provided by respondents. This means survey respondents only have to fill the fields that are relevant to them. 

Conditional logic helps you collect the right type of information from different survey participants. This way, you can avoid extra clutter and collect as much data as you want. 

• Offline Surveys

Formplus supports offline data collection and this means you can collect data in areas with poor or no internet access. Survey participants can fill and submit your questionnaire when they are offline. The data they provide will be automatically synced with our servers or your preferred cloud storage when internet access is restored. 

• Customized Surveys and Questionnaires

Formplus allows you to create beautiful and unique surveys with zero design experience. With the flexible design options, you can change the questionnaire’s background, colors, fonts, and create visually appealing designs. You can also add images and your organization’s logo. 

• Share Forms Easily

With multiple form-sharing options, you can send out your survey and collect responses in many ways. Apart from adding your questionnaire to your website, you can also share it using the social media direct sharing buttons and via email invitations. 

• Google Sheets Integration

With Google sheets integration, you can automatically update form responses in your spreadsheet and keep all form collaborators up to date. This makes it easy for you to import and export data, and collaborate with multiple people at the same time. 

• Custom Subdomain

Sharing your questionnaire via a custom subdomain adds an air of professionalism to your overall data collection process. When creating your custom URL, you can include the name of your organization as a means of promoting your brand. 

Custom subdomains are simple and easy to remember too. Hosting your survey on a custom subdomain also serves as an extra layer of security; especially when you share the link via email. 

• Autoresponder Emails  

After receiving a new response to your questionnaire, you can send out an automated automatic confirmation email to the survey participant in the form of autoresponder messages. In your autoresponder email, you should include a thank you message and any links to special offers and rewards. 

• Mobile-Friendly Forms

Many people fill out surveys and questionnaires on their mobile devices and this is why all Formplus forms are mobile-friendly. Participants can complete the survey right on their mobile devices without having to bother about pinching out or zooming in on your form. Formplus forms can be viewed and filled out on any smartphone, tablet, or internet-enabled mobile device. 

In this article, we’ve looked at different survey introductions for different types of questionnaires and surveys including customer satisfaction surveys and research questionnaires. Whether you are collecting data online or offline, the right survey introduction will boost participants’ interest in completing your survey. 

With Formplus, you can add unique survey introductions to your form before sharing it with respondents. On the post-submission page, you can include a beautiful “thank you” note for respondents who complete your survey. Try out the pre and post-submission page option as well as other exciting features when you sign up for a free Formplus account. 

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• accuracy surveys
• age survey questions
• brand survey examples
• compatibility questionnaires
• survey methods
• survey question types
• survey questionnaire
• survey research
• survey types
• busayo.longe

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The Effect of Time Perception on Affect

Timing and time perception is essential to humans, whose lives and biology are organized around clocks. From the simple give-and-take of conversation to understanding cause and effect, individuals rely on accurate time perception to successfully complete tasks and organize their lives. However, accurate time perception is vulnerable to all manner of influence, from both internal and external sources, including affect. A robust body of literature suggests that negative affect is positively associated with time dilation, or subjective lengthening of time, whereas positive affect is positively associated with time constriction, or subjective shortening of time. Collectively, these are known as time distortion, which has been preliminarily linked to increased impairment in anxiety, depression, and BPD. However, this literature features two key limitations. First, researchers have mostly examined time perception as an objective measure, through the use of measures such as the temporal bisection tasks, which limits our understanding of the subjective experience of time distortion and how it may contribute to psychopathology. Second, across studies, time perception is most often studied as an outcome, rather than examining the role of time perception in predicting affective change, i.e., contextualizing the role of time distortion in clinically-relevant research questions. The current project aimed to address these gaps in the literature through two studies which examined (1) the roles of brief affect and time perception manipulations on affective change and subjective time perception in an online study (Study 1) and (2) the effect of a longer time perception manipulation on affective change during an in-person experimental protocol (Study 2).

Across studies, participants included a community-based sample of U.S. adults over age 18 and two separate undergraduate samples recruited from introductory psychology courses at Purdue University. In Study 1, the final sample size exceeded 750 and was comprised of community-based and undergraduate participants. Online participants reported on dispositional levels of clinical measures [e.g., rumination, borderline personality disorder (BPD) features] and then completed an experimental protocol with brief mood and time perception manipulations while repeatedly reporting on their negative affect. Results suggested that the time perception manipulation was not effective, but that across the protocol, negative affect rose and positive affect decreased. Further, participants reported overall that time seemed to be passing by slower than usual during the protocol. These findings informed the design of Study 2, which lengthened the time perception manipulation and eliminated the mood induction component in order to address the more basic question of whether time perception manipulation influences mood, particularly during neutral cognitive tasks.

One hundred and twenty-seven undergraduate participants completed Study 2. As in Study 1, participants filled out self-report surveys about dispositional symptoms of psychopathology (e.g., rumination, emotion dysregulation, and symptoms associated with BPD, depression, and anxiety) before completing an experimental protocol which included a manipulated clock (accelerated or control clock), three runs of a modified Erkisen flanker task, and repeated measures of negative and positive affect. Primary results suggested that the time perception manipulation was successful but that the influence of time distortion was more nuanced than hypothesized. Specifically, individuals with elevated clinical symptoms exhibited lower rating of negative and positive affect levels in the accelerated clock condition, compared to individuals endorsing low symptoms, who reported higher positive affect and higher negative affect in the accelerated clock condition.

Altogether, the results across studies highlight the complexity of time perception in influencing affect and help provide foundational information regarding the empirical convergence between cognitive and clinical phenomena.

Degree Type

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Psychological Sciences

Campus location

• West Lafayette

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Additional committee member 2, additional committee member 3, additional committee member 4, usage metrics.

• Clinical psychology

Student reactions to college: A comparative study of samples of Black and White students at a multicampus community college

Two general research questions were postulated for this study: (1) what are the differences, if any, between the reactions of a sample of 150 Black and a sample of 234 White students enrolled in a multicampus community college with regard to the individual items comprising the local option section and each of the nineteen content areas in the Student Reactions to College (SRC) questionnaire, and (2) as stated in item one, a similar comparative analysis of the data was made between samples of 67 Black male and 83 Black female students and for samples of 96 White male and 138 White female students. The total study population was 384 students, part-time and full-time. The instrument used to elicit study data, the SRC, was administered to students during the fall 1990 semester during a regular English class period. Study results indicated that, overall, there was little to no race by gender effect. When the samples of Black and White students were compared, the chi-square analysis showed significant differences on 153 of 165 items. Black students moreso than White students did not perceive their instructors as being effective in explaining material in a way that was comprehensible to them. Black students were not as academically prepared as White students and believed they entered college without the appropriate study skills. Black students spent less time studying than did White students, and a higher percentage of Black than White students believed that the college was not conducive to their scholarly growth. Black students had less interaction with faculty than did White students and believed the college was not supportive of minority students' needs. Black students expressed a greater financial concern than did White students and were more apt to receive a loan. Study findings seem to warrant the conclusion that Black students' needs were not being adequately met through the experiences they had at the college. A series of strategies are recommended to address the low graduation and transfer rates of Black students.

Access statement

Usage metrics.