Survey Method Section
Overview:
A lot of information regarding the key publics of the United Way of Norman was
difficult to come upon. In order to answer a lot of these questions we needed to actually
reach out the key public and ask them questions. A large portion of these questions fell
under seven different categories: issues, organization, perception, opinion research,
communication, demographics/psychographics and benefits.
The questions that fell under these categories predominantly had to do with the
key publics feelings and opinions. How do they feel about the issue? What do they know
about the organization? How does the key public affect the organization and vice versa?
What is their level of loyalty, perception, awareness preference and relationship in
regards to the organization?
Our research question is a condensed version of all the questions listed above and
all the questions left unanswered about our publics. What is the knowledge, attitude and
behavior associated with the United Way of Norman?
Design:
A survey is a great way to get the information necessary to find the information
needed to complete our research. The benefits of conducting a survey are vast, but some
include: cost, extensiveness, flexibility and dependability (4 Main Benefits of Survey
Research, 2014). Surveys are relatively inexpensive. It does not cost much, or any thing
at all to develop a survey. Surveys can ask a large amount of information and find out a
lot from participants. Surveys can be online, in person, over the phone or even through
the mail. Surveys also allow participants to be honest and straightforward, especially if
they are anonymous (4 Main Benefits of Survey Research, 2014).
The order of the survey was put together very intentionally. First, the survey will
show the level of knowledge that the participant has of the issues facing their community
and the organization, United Way of Norman. Then the sections move into the
perception, which will affect their attitudes and inevitably their behaviors.
The survey allows the participant to accurately express their opinion when being
asked questions about their perception, attitudes and behaviors. There are a wide variety
of responses available that will better show how they feel.
Participants:
Norman residents over the age of 18 fall into our target audience. The target
audience hopefully includes those who are willing and financially able to donate to
charitable organizations. 500-1500 people in the Norman are will be surveyed.
When I asked citizens to participate in the survey they were less likely to take it in
a public place. When I asked them to take it at home I had a much more positive
response. People around 40 years of age and older were much more inclined to respond.
Also, when I asked parents of friends they were much more inclined to respond as well.
Setting and Apparatus:
The survey opened October 11, 2016. I visited Starbucks and asked patrons of this
coffee shop to take the survey. I simply explained to each person I asked if they would
mind spending around 15 minutes of their day to help my Public Relations Research class
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learn about the Norman Community’s knowledge, attitude and behavior regarding United
Way of Norman. Completing the survey took a little longer than 15 minutes. I would say
that the majority of people who took it spent about 17-25 minutes answering the
questions.
Independent Variables:
The independent variables for this survey are the groups and demographics
surveyed and measured. These variables include:
What year were the participants born? This gives us their actual age rather than
them choosing from an age group.
What is their identified gender? Male? Female? Other?
What race do they consider themselves to be? White? Black or African
American? American Indian or Alaska Native? Asian? Native Hawaiian or Pacific
Islander? Hispanic, Latino, Spanish? Other? The questions regarding gender and race
allowed them to give their perception of their gender and race. This gives a more accurate
representation of the community we polled because the way they perceive themselves is a
lot more representative of their beliefs.
What is their marital status? Are they married, widowed, divorced, separated or
never married?
What is their highest level of school completed? Less than a high school degree,
high school graduate, some college but no degree, associate degree, bachelor’s degree,
master’s degree, doctoral degree and professional degree were all options.
What is their estimated household income? The answers were in increments of
$10,000 starting at $0 and ending at $150,000 or more.
Are they working or not working? If they are working are they self-employed,
paid employees or other? If they are not working are they temporarily laid off, looking
for work, retired, disabled or other? An option for those who chose not to answer was
also provided.
Where do they work? Are they working at a for profit company or non-profit? Do
they work for the local, federal or state government? Are they self-employed at an
incorporated or non-incorporated business? Do they work without pay? An option for
those not working/for those to whom this question was not applicable was available.
Twenty different industries were provided for them to chose from as well:
forestry, real-estate, mining, scientific/technical services, utilities, management,
construction, administration, manufacturing, education, wholesale trade, health care,
retail, arts, transportation, accommodation/food services, communication, other, finance
or unclassified.
Participants were also asked to identify between Republican, Democrat,
Independent or other for their political affiliation. They were also asked to rate the
extremism of their political views on a point scale of 0-7.
What is their religious association? Christian? Muslim? Catholic? Buddhist?
Atheist? Agnostic? Jewish? Mormon? Non-religious? Other?
Lastly, they were asked to give their zip code.
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Dependent Variables:
The dependent variables fall into four different constructs: knowledge, perception,
attitudes and behaviors.
The knowledge section consisted of 27 questions about the health, independence,
education and income status of Oklahoma and Norman citizens. These questions
included: What was Norman’s 2015 unemployment rate? What percentage of people ages
21-64 live with a disability below the poverty line in Oklahoma? What percent of
children under the age of 18 live in poverty in Cleveland county? What percent of
Oklahomans receive monthly disability checks? Out of the 215,300 individuals 75 and
older in Oklahoma in 2012 have more than one disability? What percent of the Oklahoma
population over 18 admits to being habitual smokers? What is the national ranking of
Oklahoma for deaths by cancer, cardiovascular deaths or death by drugs? What is the
percent of the Oklahoma population that admits to drinking excessively? What percent of
Oklahoma children are classified as obese? What is the college graduation rate in
Norman What is the student-teacher ratio in Norman public schools? What is the
approximate drop out rate for high school students? What is the median household
income in Norman?
The remainder of questions in the knowldege section tested the participant’s
knowledge on United Way of Norman. These questions included: How do agencies apply
for funding? What geographic areas does the United Way of Norman serve? Where does
United Way of Norman receive the majority of their funding? How many programs does
United Way of Norman fund or how many people do they want to serve in 2016? What
are the four issues United Way of Norman focuses on? How many programs and agencies
were funded in 2016? How much does it cost to serve a single person? What do they
donations go toward and how many capital campaigns do they host annually to receive
donations?
The perception portion of the survey measured the way the participant perceives
United Way of Norman. They were given two words with five dots in-between to rank
what they felt most accurately described United Way of Norman. They were given 14
different word pairs to rank: contemporary vs. traditional, fun vs. tedious, high-tech vs.
low-tech, ordinary vs. distinguished, expensive vs. inexpensive, idealistic vs. practical,
modest vs. pretentious, scarce vs. abundant, worthless vs. beneficial, efficient vs.
inefficient, ordinary vs. innovative, essential vs. luxury, risky vs. safe and high-quality
vs. low-quality.
The survey asked participants about their attitude toward United Way of Norman.
This section included 46 questions. All questions could be answered with one of the
following responses: strongly disagree, disagree, somewhat disagree, neither agree nor
disagree, somewhat agree, agree and strongly agree. The questions included, but are not
limited to: This organization really listens to what people like me have to say. This
organization won’t cooperate with people like me. I would rather work with this
organization than not. I have no desire to have a relationship with this organization. I feel
a snese of loyalty to this organization. I am happy with this organization. Most people
enjoy working with this organization. This organization fails to satisfy the needs of
people like me. I feel people like me are important to this organization.
For the behaviors sections the participants were asked how many times they
volunteered within the last month. Questions regarding the likelihood of certain actions
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had five potential answers: extremely likely, somewhat likely, neither likely or unlikely,
somewhat unlikely and extremely unlikely. The questions using this scale were: How
likely are you to donate to the United Way of Norman? How likely are you to volunteer
for a health, education, independence or income-related issue? Participants were also
asked to rank the following media forms in the order that they get the most information
from: newspaper, magazine, TV news, social media, radio, internet, direct mail or other.
They were also asked to choose ways they preferred receiving information from nonprofits: direct mail, email, phone call, text, social media messaging, community events
and face-to-face.
Procedure:
To collect data I went to Starbucks to ask the patrons to take the survey for me. I
simply explained to each person I asked if they would mind spending around 15 minutes
of their day to help my Public Relations Research class learn about the Norman
Community’s knowledge, attitude and behavior regarding United Way of Norman. Not
many patrons of Starbucks were very willing to participate in the survey. I then decided
to reach out to friends who grew up in Norman. I asked them to send the survey link to
family, friends and neighbors who were in our target audience who would be willing to
give any information. This group participated much more willingly.
At the beginning of the survey each participant was given a description of the
survey, risks and what will happen with the research after the survey closes. 500-1500
people are expected to take the survey and there will be no further contact with any of
these participants after the survey is taken unless they win the gift card. There are no
risks to participating in the survey. None of their personal information will be shared with
the United Way of Norman. Quatrics, the survey company used, is also private and
secure. A point of contact was provided if they had any further questions. By providing
information to the researchers they were giving their consent. After this page on the
survey the next sections proceeded into knowledge, perception, attitudes, behaviors,
demographics and a conclusion.
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