This is a sociological research. My professor wants the research to not be too broad but specific. She wants the researcher to consider specific details and not assume anything. A well thought research. But this isn’t a huge research project at all. It’s just collecting data from 5 people: You can make that up by naming them (person 1, 2, etc). It’s just research questions and getting data from the 5 people from their responses and analyzing. The project is about Plant Based Diet Consumption; a very easy topic. I’ve already designed the research survey in a previous assignment and will post it here.

Project 1: Plant Based Diet Consumption

Now that you have designed your research survey, you are ready to collect data from 5 people. You will use a convenience sample since you are limited to people that you know. While a convenience sample is biased, it makes sense to pre-test your questionnaire with people you know (or a small subset of your target group) as an initial step in quantitative research. This way, you will pre-determine problems with your questionnaire prior to attempting to gather data from a large sample. Project 1 will be submitted through canvas. Please prepare your report for FlavorKing’s Board of Directors. Include in your report answers to the following questions.

1. Determine your convenience sample. Who will you use to respond to your questionnaire? How come? (It will be helpful to have some people who share similar demographic characteristics. Too much variation makes it difficult to see any patterns. Normally, quantitative work does not use a convenience sample because you want your work to be generalizable to the entire population. You will only use a convenience sample because this is a class project.)
2. What method (in person, email, phone, etc.) will you use to deliver your survey? How come? You will sell FlavorKing on why your method of delivery is important.
3. Gather your data. Ask 5 people to complete your survey and tally their responses. (Remember to have some people who share similar demographic characteristics. If you have too much variation, you may not see any themes/patterns.)
4. Explain to FlavorKing’s Board which questions need to be fixed and/or changed because they are too difficult for respondents to answer or they do not provide any information to help the company? Provide to the Board of Directors either questions that have been re phrased so that they are clear or a different question that might work better. It is important that you show the Board that you have critical thinking skills.
5. Provide a frequency of your data (raw numbers, no percentages) to the Board of Directors for your pre-test results. If you can do so easily create a table. You will likely impress them with a table because it looks scientific! If you cannot create a table, find a “scientific” way to present your frequencies. Use chapter 8 for guidance.
6. Analyze your frequencies and write down a theme or pattern that you see in your data. You may want to group people by certain demographic characteristics like age (12-13 year old in comparison to 8-9 year old or by gender, race, or social-class.). This type of comparison is a cross-tabulation. You will need to let FlavorKing’s Executive Board know your initial findings based on your pre-test. Provide an explanation for them why you think this theme and/or pattern is important for them to consider. More importantly, explain to them why this pattern needs to be studied on a larger sample!
7. Please turn in your questionnaire as well as your responses to the questions above. The Board of Directors at FlavorKing are very excited to see your results.

Grading: What I am looking for is your ability to think critically about your work. It is important that you can use your thinking skills to design questions for a questionnaire. It is also important that you can see how respondents’ answers to your questions are related to your larger research question. Remember, FlavorKing’s Foods wants your expertise and has hired you to respond to their market needs! It is also important for you to anticipate problems with your questions and learn how to re write them.