Students seem to choose surveys as their preferred method of data collection for their thesis. I have no idea why. I am on a mission to discourage this. Share the HECK out of this presentation so that we can stop students from unwittingly exposing themselves to this (self-inflicted) torture ! ! !

1. 7 (good) reasons why I am discouraging students
from using surveys as data collection for their thesis
By B. Hattingh, who has
herself been through the
process (twice)

2. 1. Most people that you ask just want you to
buzz off
Self explanatory. People are busy
and don’t have time to help you.
To them you are a mere nuisance !

3. 2. You are putting an enormous amount of
stress on yourself to find respondents
Finding respondents for your survey
is a mammoth task!
I myself have been actively working
in the industry for many years and I
personally would find it completely
daunting to find enough respondents
to validate my data.
As a student with no network of
people to contact, you are putting a
lot of pressure on yourself to get this
right.

4. 3. There are inevitably going to be biased
answers from some of your respondents
Bias is the mortal enemy of all
research projects and it’s an
unfortunate reality that exists for
all researchers, but more so for
those doing surveys.
If your respondents misinterpret
your questions or have hidden
agendas when answering, it will
ultimately skew your research
results.

5. 4. Some of you ask questions and your respondents
have absolutely no idea what you are on about!
Some of you are doing research in
very niche / specialist topics and
when we answer your surveys, we
can’t give accurate answers
because we sometimes don’t have
basic knowledge of the topic and
we don’t know what on earth you
are asking.
Maybe we are dumb-dumbs, but
that’s just how we are!

6. 5. You may need to go through the dreaded
ethics committee
This will not be applicable in all
situations, but some universities will
expect you to go through their ethics
committee before distributing your
questionnaire to the public.
This is to protect both you and
themselves from the prospect of you
asking any inappropriate questions
that may put you both in disrepute.
It can sometimes be a long process
to get ethics approval – not worth it
in my opinion.

7. 6. You are only one person so there is a limit to
the number of respondents you can get
Surveys work effectively if you are a
team of researchers given a mandate
by a body over a five-year period (for
example) to collect data from a
million respondent.
In the grand context of your chosen
industry, your 50 odd respondents
are a mere drop in the ocean. For me
personally, numbers validate
research to an extent.

8. 7. Data errors may occur due to non-responses
on some of your questions
People answer in a hurry, they
don’t answer some of the
questions, or they give neutral
responses. It can invalidate some
of your data.
Not an ideal situation.

9. If you still want to use surveys, it’s 100% okay
I am by no means saying that by doing surveys that your research is of no value. There
are thousands of excellent students who successfully manage to utilise surveys and
produce brilliant, valuable research which makes a worthy contribution to their chosen
fields.
I would merely like to bring to your attention as students, some of the challenges you
may face. Many other academics would probably disagree with me and that’s okay.
There are plenty of other options for data collection aside from just surveys and I
strongly suggest speaking to your lecturers or supervisors about what your options are
before unwittingly embarking on any specific method, just because everyone else you
know is doing the same thing.
It’s fair to say that the thesis process, at any level of qualification, is quite a stressful
one, and so you fundamentally should try to make it as easy for yourself as possible.

10. The End.
Thanks for sticking around to the end