How to Conduct a Survey: Part 1 3/9/20

One of the goals that I set with Dr. Louderback was to conduct patron survey and perhaps publish the results by the end of my internship. Conducting surveys at academic institutions are not simply a matter of drafting and distributing a questionnaire, however. You have to fill out an application with an Institutional Review Board (IRB) to get permission to conduct any survey of people. The IRB is concerned with protecting the rights and privacy of human subjects in any research done under the auspices of the university.

I struggled to find a survey topic. As a graduate assistant at Schusterman Library, I helped gather data on research regarding space usage, and felt comfortable in that area. But I soon found out that NSU Broken Arrow had recently conducted their own physical space usage survey, so I didn't think doing another one would be very helpful to them. I consider myself very fortunate for turning away from on-site surveys now that Covid-19 has most libraries operating in a virtual world.

The night before my proposal was due (around March 9th), I remembered my frustration with the NSU libraries website. I also knew from a prior conversation with one of the librarians that the website was under review and would soon be redesigned. With this in mind, I proposed a simple website user survey. Dr. Louderback though it was a great idea and suggested that I meet with two librarians who were on the committee for reviewing the website. After receiving a positive response from them, they suggested that I add a question about what main features patrons wanted to see on the homepage.