Phase One – Survey of Faculty of Education Students

Phase One of the data collection was the administration of a student survey. The student survey (see Appendix A) involved a sample (Neuman, 2011) of undergraduate students (N=218) from the Faculty of Education, although some may have completed cross-over units in other faculties at the regional University where the study was conducted. The students needed to have completed at least one session/semester of University study. The researcher was confident that the method of sampling of students for this project accurately reflected the population of students who had experienced at least their first semester of their first year of study within the Faculty of Education.

A Likert-type survey was used as it is an effective means of obtaining a large, broad sample of students over a relatively quick timeframe (Creswell, 2016). The survey comprised fifty-one Likert-type questions and two short-answer optional written responses (see Appendix A). The survey was organised according to headings that reflected the data being sought:

Section A – About You [This section asks you questions about yourself]; Section B – Orientation [This section asks you for your thoughts about your orientation experience at the University];

Section C – Academic Skills [This section asks you for your thoughts about academic skill];

Section D – Argumentative Essay Writing (AEW) [This section asks you for your thoughts, more specifically, about AEW]; and

Section E – Your thoughts

[What aspects of University have assisted you to succeed? (optional)] [What aspects of University have provided barriers/obstacles to you being successful? (optional)].

The survey instrument used to collect data in this project was converted to an online survey using a commercial survey product called SurveyMonkey, although the students were given the choice of completing an online or hard copy version of the survey. It was an instrument designed for this research, as it included a

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Likert Scale as well as a section for accommodating short answer responses from the students.

SurveyMonkey is an online survey that provides customised surveys, as well as data analysis, sample selection, bias elimination, and data representation tools. As of 2015, SurveyMonkey had twenty-five million users and received ninety million survey responses a month (Konrad, 2016). In addition, instruments are being increasingly designed through online survey products (Sue & Ritter, 2012). Using an online survey instrument from SurveyMonkey enabled the researcher to create the personalised survey efficiently using a customised template that was given to the students to complete. The software program generated results and these were reported back to the researcher as descriptive statistics and graphed information. The results were downloaded into a spreadsheet/database for analysis and data analysis used the Principal Component Analysis process to make sense of the raw data. The raw scores of the key components that included student perceptions about the support personnel were converted to percentage scores that were then presented as support personnel rankings (1–5). A ranking of 1 indicated the highest rating from the students of who helped them the most in their FYE. Support personnel were ranked in the two principal components relating to both academic skills and AEW skills. The results of these student- preferred support personnel are presented in Chapter 4 of this study.

The survey was used in this project as it was considered a very effective means of collecting much data in a short amount of time (Creswell, 2014) and it also supported the advantages of using triangulation, and a mixed-methods approach (Shank, 2006; Neuman, 2011; Creswell, 2014). Some specific advantages of using surveys include:

• Practicality

• Substantial amounts of information can be collected from a large number of people in a short period of time and in a relatively cost-effective way • Can be carried out by the researcher or by any number of people with

limited impact on its validity and reliability

• Results can usually be quickly and easily quantified by either a researcher or through the use of a software package

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• Can be analysed more 'scientifically' and objectively than other forms of research

• When data has been quantified, it can be used to compare other research and may be used to measure change.

Positivists believe that quantitative data can be used to create new theories and/or test existing hypotheses. The researcher took a critical view of using the survey instrument and, although it did offer these advantages, also considered potential problems that could arise using such an instrument, as outlined below (Shank, 2006; Neuman, 2011; Creswell, 2014).

• Is argued to be inadequate to understanding some forms of information e.g. changes of emotions, behaviour, feelings etc.

• Phenomenologists state that quantitative research is simply an artificial creation by the researcher, as it is asking only a limited amount of information without explanation

• Lacks validity

• There is no way to tell how truthful a respondent is being

• There is no way of telling how much thought a respondent has put in • The respondent may be forgetful or not thinking within the full context of

the situation

• People may read differently into each question and therefore reply based on their own interpretation of the question, e.g. what is 'good' to someone may be 'poor' to someone else – therefore there is a level of subjectivity that is not acknowledged

• There is a level of researcher imposition, meaning that, when developing the questionnaire, the researcher is making their own decisions and assumptions as to what is and is not important – therefore potentially missing something of importance.

The disadvantages and advantages were considered in the design and administration of the survey, and it was determined that a survey was an efficient means of collecting data. The process of coding in the case of open-ended questions creates the possibility of subjectivity by the researcher; this was

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carefully noted in the process of this research thesis, as the researcher presented strong, accurate and unbiased results.