Using Web and Paper Questionnaires for Data-Based Decision Making

Susan J. Thomas is Managing Consultant with IBM Business Consulting Services, Human Capital Solutions. She works with a variety of clients and companies to provide consulting services in the areas of skills competency analysis (which includes different types of questionnaires), certification test development and skills assessment, questionnaire development (both paper-based and Web-based), and training evaluation. She also assists clients with data-based decision making by helping them design question-naires and by performing statistical analysis and data mining to help them make recommendations and create action plans. Prior to joining the IBM Corporation, she was a measurement statistician and test development specialist with the Educational Testing Service. She was also an adjunct professor at Rider University, where she taught graduate courses in research methods (including questionnaire design), testing and measurement for teachers, basic statistics, and authentic assessment. Previously, she was a faculty member at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and Florida State University, where she taught courses in measurement, research design, and various areas of educational and developmental psychology. She has directed numerous funded research projects, has presented extensively at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association and the National Council for Measurement in Education, and has served as a Divisional Vice President of the American Educational Research Association. She has published several journal articles, as well as Evaluation Without Fear with coauthor Roger Kaufman, and Designing Surveys That Work!, a predecessor to the current book. She conducts workshops for teachers on topics related to assessment and has developed many training guides for these workshops. She did her undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and received her Ph.D. from Purdue University.

Preface About the Author 1. Launching Your Survey Project 2. Asking the Right Questions 3. Creating Response Choices for Rating Scales 4. Putting the Questionnaire Together 5. Identifying and Contacting Respondents 6. Pilot Testing the Questionnaire 7. Maximizing Your Response Rate: Collecting the Data 8. Analyzing the Data and Making Data-Based Decisions 9. Communicating the Results Resource A: Questionnaire for the Case Study References Bibliography Index

"Clearly written, easy to understand, and has plenty of examples and guides for those implementing these ideas. Designed as a cookbook, it superbly enables educators to write, administer, and analyze a survey." -- Sandra L. Stein, Professor of Education "This book provides a thorough, step-by-step, easy-to-follow resource that takes educators through all phases of the survey process. It will become a welcome addition to educators as they collect and use questionnaire data to make data-based decisions." -- Patricia Barker, Director of Planning and Assessment "This book offers everything necessary to create an excellent survey from start to finish-a must-have book for educators." -- Elizabeth Celentano, Education Test Program Specialist