Student research projects and surveys on Gransnet

Hi StarDreamer if I remember correctly, businesses that wish to carry out a survey need to directly approach GNHQ to ask for permission and I think there's a fee for that. I've seen other student research questionnaires and, again, I fairly sure that they also need to have received permission to conduct it although I don't think there's any fee.

And it's not taboo at all! Perfectly reasonable question to ask!

I notice that following the link one gets the following.

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Thread deleted

This thread has been deleted by GNHQ for breaking our forum guidelines.

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I am somewhat concerned that the word "for" seems to imply a ruling of wilful breaking.

It might have been a genuine case of not knowing.

It sounds as though they just didn't seek, or obtain, permission from GNHQ StarDreamer and so they zapped it. If they were legit, they can always reapply and follow the correct procedures though.

I enjoy doing surveys (some at least - others are annoying so I give up) so I wouldn't mind doing a survey on Gransnet if it was for a genuine student project or other type of research - eg health based. I wonder is there a way potential surveys could be screened by Gransnet to see if they are for a commercial operation (in which case they would be charged), or for a non-commercial purpose?

I am on the YouGov panel and do surveys most weeks. You do get paid a small amount and it goes into my bank.

Recruiting people for student research surveys and projects in unis is quite common but you have to abide by ethical guidelines and data protection laws. So there is a lot of red tape nowadays.

When I was doing my Ph.D. (early 90s) I needed to recruit a lot of students for experiments. I didnt have the funds to pay them all but their names went into a prize raffle drawn by one of the profs.

Chewbacca

It sounds as though they just didn't seek, or obtain, permission from GNHQ StarDreamer and so they zapped it. If they were legit, they can always reapply and follow the correct procedures though.

If they are politely informed rather than blamed "for".

Yet are they told?

It did appear to come from Manchester University, but there was no sign-off from staff, which is usual if a student is speaking to the public.

It wasn't a well-designed questionnaire, particularly if part of a postgraduate degree. For example one of the first questions as asking people to rank order 9 categories in relation to how often they bought them online (food, furniture, sports equipment etc), and another asking for an average online spend. Someone like me who shops almost exclusively online couldn't possibly answer those questions with any degree of accuracy (which would invalidate the results) and there was no option to say that you never buy something like sports equipment.

It seemed to me to have come from an international student (or source) as the term 'seniors' is not commonly used in the UK, and the study seemed to be based on a view of older people's consumption patterns and IT abilities that don't really fit.

Yet are they told? I honestly don't know StarDreamer but GNHQ would be able to clarify for you I expect. As previous posters have said, we've had several student surveys in the past and they've been conducted without issue so I don't think there's an embargo per se.

Stardreamer If they look in the list of forums for a suitable one to put their survey onto, they would find one called "Product Tests and Surveys" Then when they selected "New thread" to start their post, they would read the following :-

"Please note: This topic is for your comments and feedback on Product Tests and Surveys being run by Gransnet. It is not the place to post (or ask for) comments on other products or to post your own surveys. If you do this, your comments may be deleted. If you'd like to run your own product test or survey, please email [email protected]. If you are an entrepreneur or start-up and would like to ask for some feedback, please visit our media requests topic here"

So it is possible for them to post a link to their survey, if they had gone about it sensibly in the first place and asked permission. It may then cost them something, of course, if they are doing it for commercial reasons. I know there used to be a £30 fee for some things.

I have just noticed a topic called "https://www.gransnet.com/forums/media_research_requests . It mentions a £30 fee, and has zero threads.

Yes, you make some very valid comments about the questions, Doodledog.

With surveys generally they never seem to ask the questions that would give a good idea of my views.

Sort of like using Google street view and wantibg to go down some side road and they haven't gone down there with the camera.

I wonder if Gransnet could have surveys that start with a few core questions on a topic then Gransnet readers add questions to the survey as it goes along.

I did post to say that OP needed consent from GNHQ for her questionnaire.

I find any questionnaire emenating from a university is both badly designed, and if aimed at older people, misguided and based on unsupportable assumptions.

When I worked in market research, I specialised in questionnaire design and these student questionnaires are generally so bad, I want to weep.

I don't think these student questionnaires are done to actually find anything out and come to a conclusion, Monica. They are practice runs by people learning how to it, and if they are their first attempt then there is some excuse for how badly designed they are. If our first attempts at knitting or water-colours were published on an art or caft social media site they might be torn to shreds (not literally!) by more experienced people. Actually, they wouldn't, crafters and artists are usually very kind to beginners.

We can only hope that their tutors tell them all the things that GNers do, and that they use their failures to improve the next time.

I believe the questions asked are skewed towards the answers the commissioning body want to see.

Elegran

I don't think these student questionnaires are done to actually find anything out and come to a conclusion, Monica. They are practice runs by people learning how to it, and if they are their first attempt then there is some excuse for how badly designed they are. If our first attempts at knitting or water-colours were published on an art or caft social media site they might be torn to shreds (not literally!) by more experienced people. Actually, they wouldn't, crafters and artists are usually very kind to beginners.

We can only hope that their tutors tell them all the things that GNers do, and that they use their failures to improve the next time.

That is true of undergraduate ones, Elegran, but (as someone who has spent more time than I care to remember supervising and marking dissertations) I would expect a higher standard from a Masters dissertation, which is what this one was.

Student dissertations aren't commissioned - they are on topics that the students come up with themselves, and are sometimes not very feasible. They are taught how to do research, and are guided through the process, but in the end they do their own thing, and I suspect that on the whole it will be the weaker ones we see on here. For one thing, they can't take for granted anything about us as respondents, so the results are unlikely to be conclusive, and for another they are often badly designed. I don't mind trying to help though - even the weaker ones deserve a chance.

Possibly straying off-topic, but I remember seeing part of a movie years ago where a man was a management consultant and he said it was an easy job, company directors were happy to pay him, dressed in a suit, to tell them what anybody working on the shop floor of their factory could tell them, but they weren't willing to hear it from them.

I wonder how many completed questionnaires they got from people on Gransnet.

StarDreamer

I wonder how many completed questionnaires they got from people on Gransnet.

I got as far as the question about average spend and gave up. I was posting to say why when the thread was pulled.

My Tesco orders are always over £40 as I have a Delivery Saver Plan. Sometimes just a bit over, once ^exactly £40 and sometimes up to nearly £60, though that tends to only be if i am buying something long-lasting, for example, a large Sistema storage box.

Yet if I order a custom greetings card, it is under £5.

So the cost can vary enormously depending what it is.

Also, of the categories of purchases, there were three to five that I never buy.

Also, some categories that I consider distinct were conflated together. For example food (including dining out).

I buy food online every week. I haven't eaten in a restaurant for over twenty-five years.

MerylStreep

I believe the questions asked are skewed towards the answers the commissioning body want to see.

That is common in a lot of surveys.

No undergraduate should publish a questionnaire that has not been reviewed and approved by their tutor or supervisor.

No one should have the arrogance to think that their first steps into anything, whether knitting or questionnaires are usable. I would certainly never offer, even my well practiced crafts to the outside world, My inner critic recognises that I a not good at them.

More than anything, their questionnaires should be checked. If people want us to give time and serious attention to a subject that a student wants to investigate, then the student should have the simple courtesy of offering us a product that is suitable for purpose and does not insult our intelligence.

When I worked in the field, no member of staff doing any work based study, could send out a questionnaire until 2 competent people had checked it.

Did they say they had been commissioned?

I thought it was just a fairly bog standard dissertation questionnaire, which would have been better suited to undergrad than Masters.

I am in the situation of having a transcript of the post and thus have the link and can access the survey, yet I also know the Gransnet rule of not quoting a deleted post.

> Did they say they had been commissioned?

Reading it again I am not sure. It could be an outside commission to them, or it could be an outside commission to the university and they are assigned to it, or it could be two students trying to start their own business together, - it could be something else of which I have no idea.

The survey includes a statement as follows..

This research has been reviewed according to the University of Manchester URECs procedures for research involving human subjects.

Earlier it states as follows.

This research is a part of the MSc Business Analysis and Strategic Management program at the University of Manchester

Now, unless things have changed, an MSc typically involves a number of taught coursework modules and a research project, (As distinct from an MPhil, which is a research degree). So the survey could be a part of one of the coursework modules, or the research project.