1) At one point in the “Integrating Multimodality” article, the authors defend their decision to avoid defining terms on their survey. They argue this lack of clear definition was an effort to gain insight as to how respondents themselves defined those terms. They go on to argue: “Although the authors recognize that a lack of definitions may have caused respondents to be confused about the question (or purpose of the survey), we believe that because our sample was targeted to respondents who were probably familiar with current multimodal/new media theory, we decided to abstain from defining the terms” (5-6). As researchers, what do we make of this decision to sacrifice some clarity for (possibly) some useful data?
2) Response rate seems to be a pretty big problem for researchers who rely on surveys and questionnaires – especially when a target population is pretty narrow to begin with. In light of the readings, would you take projected response rate into consideration as you select your target research population?
3) Surveys are “the only research tool available to obtain certain kinds of information, namely opinions, preferences, beliefs, feelings, and other personal information” (CRED 148). Unfortunately, a lot of people feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of surveys and questionnaires being delivered by various organizations, through a variety of media (telephone, e-mail, snail mail, etc). As people continue to get fed up, will we see a steady decline in response rates? And, how can we, as responsible researchers, continue to gather this valuable information without annoying potential participants?
