A survey is one of the most common ways to collect data for a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral thesis, and building one should not eat into your writing time. With DarmoweSondy.pl you can split a questionnaire into pages with a progress bar, add a demographics section and open questions, and then download the responses for analysis. Creating the survey and collecting responses are free.
Where should you start?
Write down your research question and decide who should answer. Every question in the survey should help you answer that research question. Before you publish, go through the scope with your supervisor, pilot the survey with a few people from your target group, and check whether your institution requires ethics approval for questionnaire research.
Sample introduction for a thesis survey
You are invited to take part in a study on how students use online learning materials. The results will be used in my master’s thesis. Participation is voluntary. Please do not enter your name or any other information that could identify you. The survey takes about 5 minutes to complete.
This is an example to adapt: use your own topic, the real purpose of the results and the completion time you measured when testing the survey. Do not promise anonymity if the questions you ask could make it possible to recognize a particular person.
How to structure a multi-page thesis survey
- Introduction and instructions: explain the purpose of the study and how to answer.
- Questions on your topic: for example how often people use the materials and how useful they find them.
- Demographics: ask only for the characteristics you need for the analysis, and use broad ranges instead of exact data.
- Open question: leave room for additional comments.
Sample question: “How often do you use online learning materials?” Answers: every day, a few times a week, once a week, less often, never. State the reference period if it matters for your study.
Likert scales and demographic questions
To measure opinions, you can use a table with a Likert scale. Avoid statements that combine two things, such as “The materials are easy and comprehensive”. Ask about each one separately. In the demographics section, do not ask for names, addresses or other personal data – the terms of service do not allow collecting respondents’ personal data – and delete any question you will not use in your analysis.
How do you create a thesis survey?
- Create an account and confirm your email address.
- Start a new multi-page survey and choose the thesis survey template.
- Replace the sample statements with your own questions. Adjust the demographics and the order of the pages.
- Check the preview on a computer and on a phone, then publish the survey.
- Share the link or the QR code with people who meet your participation criteria.
How do you export results to Excel, SPSS and R?
You can download the results as a CSV file with text labels, or with numeric codes plus a codebook. The file is UTF-8 and uses semicolons as separators, and you can import it into Excel, SPSS, R or other statistics software. Before you start the analysis, check the delimiter and encoding, the missing answers and the meaning of each code. The choice of statistical methods depends on your research questions and on how your sample was selected.
Frequently asked questions
Are the answers anonymous?
We store responses without an IP address, device identifier or account. That describes our database, though: whether your questionnaire as a whole is anonymous also depends on the questions you ask.
Will a public link give me a representative sample?
No. A link posted in an open group reaches whoever happens to see it. Describe in your thesis how you recruited respondents, how many answered and when you collected the data.
See also the other survey templates and the guide how to create an online survey step by step.
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