Blog 10

Christopher Caruso

Blog #10

 When considering the way that our class evaluated the Writing Option survey, it is apparent that surveys can be both a convenient and painless way to gather large amounts of data at once, and a slightly flawed method of data retrieval. 

When creating a survey, the language in which the questions are presented can be one of the most crucial aspects of the information that is retrieved.  It is important that the questions are presented in their most basic dialect possible.  This way, the volunteer will not feel confused or intimidated by the question and will be able to answer it as accurately as possible. With a survey, the vast majority of the information that you can collect is largely opinion-based.  This information could either be based on the volunteers personal preferences or skills.  For example, an individual can run a survey evaluating which subjects students excel in most at school.  Alternatively, an individual can host a survey to gather the public opinion of a certain area, such as asking a specific area its opinions o gun control policies.  There are a few problems that an individual can run into while creating surveys however.  First of all, the fact that the data being retrieved is mostly based on opinion instead of fact makes the data less solid due to the fact that the numbers can fluctuate depending on the area that you host the survey in.  On top of this, the accuracy of surveys is brought into question, due to the tendency people have to alter their answers in order to make themselves or their skills appear more appealing than they actually are.