PS300 Unit 8 Phone and Walking Survey Design Example

Twelve Questions About Walking and Phones: A PS300 Unit 8 Survey Design

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

PS300: Research Methods I

Unit 8 Survey Design

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The survey, its items and the sampling plan are composite; the methods sources cited are real.

Purpose

The observation showed how often pedestrians used phones while crossing and that phone users looked toward traffic less often. It could not show how often individuals walk while using phones overall, whether they recall near misses or how they think about the risk. The survey targets those questions, and its results will be compared with the observation.

Constructs and Items

The survey measures four constructs with twelve items (the full text is in the appendix).

Frequency of phone use while walking: three items asking how often, in the past seven days, the respondent read or sent messages, talked on the phone or used apps while walking on a sidewalk, with a five-point scale from never to almost every time.

Phone use while crossing streets: two items asking the same about crossing a street specifically.

Near misses: two items asking how many times in the past 30 days the respondent had to stop suddenly, or a vehicle had to brake or swerve, while the respondent was walking and using a phone, with numeric responses.

Risk perception: three agreement items on a five-point scale, such as "Using my phone while crossing a street makes me less safe."

Demographics: age range and how many days per week the respondent walks in a downtown area.

Asking how often in the past seven days, rather than how often in general, trades a vague impression for a recent memory.

Writing the Items

Several rules shaped the wording (Dillman et al., 2014). Each item asks about one behavior; an early draft asked how often respondents "text or talk while walking or crossing," which combined four behaviors and was split. Items name a specific recent time period, because people recall recent concrete behavior more accurately than general habits. Wording avoids judgment; a draft item asking whether respondents "carelessly" used phones was rewritten. Response options are labeled at every point, not just the ends.

Pilot Test

Five adults completed the draft and described aloud what each question meant to them. Two problems emerged: respondents disagreed about whether listening to music counted as using the phone, so an instruction was added, and the near-miss items were read as including times the respondent was driving, so the wording now specifies walking.

Sampling

The survey will be distributed online through a community social media group and flyers at two downtown coffee shops near the observed intersection, aiming for about 150 adult respondents. This is a convenience sample; respondents will choose themselves and will not represent all pedestrians, and people who worry about phone safety may be more likely to respond. The analysis will describe the sample and avoid generalizing beyond it (Cozby & Bates, 2020).

Ethics

The survey is anonymous, collects no names or contact details and opens with a consent statement explaining the purpose, that taking part is optional, and that any item may be left blank or the survey abandoned at any point. Asking respondents to report near misses could remind someone of a frightening event, so the statement also lists a local pedestrian safety resource. Fowler (2014) recommends keeping sensitive questions near the end of a survey, after trust is established, and the near-miss items follow the frequency items for that reason.

References

Cozby, P. C., & Bates, S. C. (2020). Methods in behavioral research (14th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method (4th ed.). Wiley.

Fowler, F. J., Jr. (2014). Survey research methods (5th ed.). SAGE.