Without a doubt, it’s the worst part of writing a dissertation. Some might try and argue that writing out all your references is worse, but at least you can lock yourself away for that and avoid the outside world until it’s over. When it comes to getting responses for your dissertation survey, hiding from everybody else isn’t an option. You actually have to *shudder* ask people for help.
Persuading strangers to lend you a helping hand and spend loads of time filling in your survey is, unsurprisingly, not straightforward. Sure, you can start by asking friends and family instead, but even they won’t all agree to help you. Worse still, some of them will lie and say they’ve done it even though you both know they really couldn’t be bothered.
So, you’re stuck, relying completely on the kindness of strangers. Fortunately, there are ways to sweeten the deal and make taking your dissertation survey a more attractive proposition to people you’ve never met before. If your response rate is embarrassingly low and your sample size needs a boost, try some of these tricks.
Grab a tablet and stop people around campus
The problem with sending people a link to your survey over Facebook is you’ve really got no way of knowing if that person ever bothers to click on it. Skip the uncertainty by taking your survey out around campus, pre-loaded on a tablet which you can pass to people.
Approaching strangers around campus might be a bit daunting, so team up with a friend. Pick somewhere busy like the library or a popular lunch spot and try to get people’s attention as they walk past. If you’re still struggling to get people to take the time to complete your survey, consider buying a big bag of cheap sweets or other rewards you can hand out to people as a thank you.
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