Survey Design: Physical Activity's Impact on Well-being and Health

This assignment presents a comprehensive survey design aimed at analyzing the impact of physical activities on people's perceived health and well-being. The document includes a cover letter outlining the project's purpose, participant eligibility, voluntary nature, and ethical considerations, including consent and data security. It provides detailed instructions for completing the survey, emphasizing the importance of clear objectives, target population definition, personal questions, ethical considerations, and time management. The assignment also features revised open-ended questions addressing the impact of physical activity on well-being, potential barriers to fitness goals, and any harmful effects or challenges. Furthermore, it justifies the changes made to the survey following feedback and piloting, referencing relevant literature to support the enhancements in question appropriateness, respondent choices, and overall survey efficiency. Finally, the document concludes with a list of references used in the survey design process.

Survey design

Table of Content
COVER LETTER ...........................................................................................................................1
INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING SURVEY .......................................................................2
CHANGED OPEN ENDED QUESITONS ....................................................................................2
Justification of changes made to survey following feedback and piloting process.........................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

COVER LETTER
Date
Dear participant:
My name is _____ and I am graduate student at _____. The purpose of this project is to
analyse the impact of physical activities on people's perceived health and well being. You have
been invited to participate in this project because meet the eligibility criteria of _________.
If you agree to participate in this project you will be asked to complete a survey that will take
approximately 15-20 minutes of your time. The survey will ask questions such as your
demographic information and your opinion about physical activities and their impact on overall
well being. Your participation in the project is voluntary. If you do not wish to take part you are
not required to. If you decide to take part and later change your mind, you are free to withdraw
at any point. Your decision to participate (or not) will in no way impact your current or future
relationship with the university. You will be asked to provide a written consent before
participating in the research via email. The research team will be able to identify if you choose
to participate. Consent is for t he use of identifiable data in this research project only. There are
no anticipated risks beyond normal day to day living associated with your participation in this
project. It is anticipated that this project will indirectly benefit you by enhancing valuable
knowledge and benefits of physical activities and their impact on health. Any data collected as a
part of this project will be stored securely as per USC’s Research Data Management policy. All
comments and responses will be treated confidentially unless required by law.
If you have any concerns or complaints about the way this research project is being conducted
you can raise them with the Chief Investigator (listed above). If you prefer an independent
person, contact the Chairperson of the USC Human Research Ethics Committee: (c/- Office of
Research, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore DC 4558; telephone (07) 5430
2823; email [e-mail]).
Thank you for consideration of this study. Please keep this sheet for your information.
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INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPLETING SURVEY
For the successful completion of survey a variety of instructions must be followed so that
survey result can be productive and conclusive. For this purpose there must be high level clarity
about the purpose of survey and the target population which will participate in the process. The
clear definition of survey participants make it easy for the surveyor to formulate appropriate
questions for the study. Another instruction for conducting survey which must be taken into
account is that questionnaire must contain a good number of personal questions which allow
participant to engage in communication and to link their experience with the research question.
However ethical considerations and privacy aspects must not be neglected during the survey and
participants must have the authority to deny for providing a specific response.
Time limitations must also be considered as an integral part of the survey process. Since
time aspects of participants is valuable appropriate care must be taken to ensure that survey
process is not time consuming in excess. When surveys are completed in feasible and practical
time period then it enhances the completion rates of survey and also keeps the attention and
interest of participants so that they can provide more thoughtful response to the surveyor.
Survey results must be based upon response from participants thus during survey
researchers must not ask leading questions. Through such types of questions surveyor express
their own opinion into question and thus it can affect the response of participant. Hence for fair
and true response participants must be allowed to respond free from any kind of interference or
influence from the researcher. Prior sending survey to participants it must be validated and
checked to avoid any kind of errors related to survey design. Survey quality can also be
increased greatly by incorporating the feedback comments obtained in piloting of survey. Thus
constructive feedback must be employed within process.
CHANGED OPEN ENDED QUESITONS
1. Do you believe that regular physical activities will improve your well being and health?
2. What are the possible barriers which affects your goals of physical fitness or activities?
3. Do you find any harmful effects or challenges in performing physical activities on regular
basis?
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Justification of changes made to survey following feedback and piloting
process
According to Vert and et.al., (2019) feedback comments are means to enhance the
effectiveness of the research and to accomplish the project in most efficient way. For improving
the research quality and relevance of findings it is necessary that survey questions are suitable
for the target population. They must be exploratory enough to receive optimum and quality
response from the participants. This appropriateness of the questions and assurance that all
instructions are followed during survey makes the survey and research outcomes highly
validated. However if survey questions are not designed properly then they may fail to obtain
required response. In order to enhance the reliability and efficiency of research feedback
provides a great opportunity to explore the research areas which needs considerable
improvements.
As per the view of Vert and et.al., (2019) changes accomplished by feedback comments
provides an effective chance to researcher to assure that survey questions and designs are
appropriate and effective in piloting before they are sent to participants. The necessary changes
are also made to survey questions so that they can allow survey participants to have sufficient
choices and response categories. Another important reason for justifying the changes made after
piloting and feedback process is that it helps to assure that respondents have not missed any
questions. Since in the piloting same process is followed as in actual survey it provides a
complete description of potential problems like poor response, time delay and inappropriateness
of questions which may arise during survey process.
The survey process may contain various problematic issues which must be eliminated by
appropriate solutions. Thus modifications in the survey questions and design after feedback and
pilot test results can be proven to be highly effective in terms of analysing solutions which can
enhance the quality of survey. Lindsay-Smith and et.al., (2019) stated that when drawbacks or
findings of pilot test are not improved or executed then the inefficiency of questionnaire is also
carried to actual research and relevant findings may not be received. The modifications in survey
process and questions is also justifiable in terms of cost and time saving. When improvements
are made in piloting phase via feedbacks then it eliminates the need of re-conducting survey in
case when inappropriate surveys questions are forwarded to participants.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
1. Vert C, Nieuwenhuijsen M, Gascon M, Grellier J, Fleming LE, White MP, Rojas-Rueda D.
Health Benefits of Physical Activity Related to an Urban Riverside Regeneration.
International journal of environmental research and public health [internet]. 2019
Jan;16(3):462. Available from: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/3/462
2. Lindsay-Smith, Gabrielle, Eime, Rochelle, Harvey, Jack. A mixed-methods case study
exploring the impact of participation in community activity groups for older adults on
physical activity, health and wellbeing. BMC Geriatrics [Internet]. 2019 Sep 2;19(1):1–
15. Available from: http://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-019-1245-5/
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