Sample report on political science- surveys and questionnaires

Introduction

The purpose of this project is to set out a proposal for conducting research to arrive at conclusions about the question that has been selected. The theme that has been selected for this research proposal is scope of social media marketing in the publishing industry.
The publishing industry has been seen as one of the most rapidly growing industries in the world as a result of globalization. Today readers have access not just to literature and books written by people in their own country, but also from every corner of the world. In the light of this, a huge scope has been seen for expansion as publishing houses have been setting up alliances in different parts of the world to capture a larger share of the reader market. With respect to the publishing industry, it is true that this is a reader’s business and so the books, authors and literature have to be as per the current trends and preferences of the readers. With this in mind, the publishing industry is constantly in need of new ways by which they can stay in touch with their readers and get to know their feedback about books that have been published and also about what they would like to read.
This is the premise of this research paper where it would seek to analyze what benefits the publishing industry can get by making use of social media platforms and marketing strategies. (Tourangeau, R., Rips, L. J. and Rasinski, K., 2000)

Research Question

The question that would be tested through the research paper would be whether social media can help publishing houses and the business get better insight into their trends and preferences and also help in popularizing new labels and books.

Methodology selected for the research paper

For this research paper the best and most suitable methodology would be to conduct interactions with a sample size of the readers to get to know how they would be comfortable to interact with the publishers and by conducting face to face interactions with the marketing teams of publishing houses though interviews. Thus, for this project, two sided approach will have to be used – one with the readers and one with the publishers. (Tourangeau, R. and Smith, T., 1996)
Readers will have to be brought into the purview of the study because it needs to be studied what methods they would be comfortable in using to get in touch with publishing houses. On their end, this act of providing feedback and responses to publishing houses would be voluntary and so their convenience and willingness needs to be brought into consideration. On the other hand, for the publishing houses this feedback and response from the readers would get translated into operational efficiency and higher profits. For this reason, interview with the marketing departments would provide insight into how they would invest and whether they would be willing to invest in social media strategies.
Conducting surveys helps in fulfilling many purposes. This is one of the reasons why this method of data collection is employed across various fields, including research work. The uses of surveys are also varied which includes analysis and interpretation of thoughts, feelings and opinions. Because of its widespread approach and usage the goals that can be fulfilled by making use of surveys and questionnaires can also be varied. Today, this method of data collection and research is used by many different groups of people. People from different fields of study have often made use of survey research for analysis of behavior. On the other hand, media for more pragmatic purposes such as evaluation of political candidates, professional organizations and public officials. Even the government needs to make use of survey research to be able to develop strategies. It becomes helpful in evaluating the growth and the economic state of the country. Through surveys, one can collect relevant data from which review of the financial growth and social position of the state and even a country becomes possible and on the basis of which the state can form policies in favor of the interest of the people. (Tulving, E., 1972)
Surveys can also be very useful in evaluating the views or opinions of people on a particular topic or matter. There are four main methods by which data can be collected through surveys. The first is by conducting face to face interaction with the selected sample of people. This is the most general way of collecting survey data. The second method is through telephonic conversation. The third and most common method of data collection is to make use of the internet and it is considered as the most important method of collecting survey data. Through the internet one can reach out to a larger number of people. The fourth method is mail surveys where the surveys are sent to a preselected sample of people, along with instructions on how to fill out the survey and return it enclosed.
Questionnaires have certain advantages over other types of surveys. The main advantage is that they are cheap and do not require many efforts from the questioner as compared to verbal or telephone surveys. They often produce standardized answers that make it simple to compile the collected data. On the flip side they also have certain disadvantages. Questionnaires are sharply limited by the fact that it requires the respondents to be able to read the questions and respond to them. Thus, for some demographic groups conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be practical. Question construction and wordings also need to be given special attention that makes it a little difficult to prepare. (U. S. Census Bureau, 1985)

Projected Summary of Data

Through this research paper, it estimated that two different sets of information would be collected – one would be from the end of the readers and one would be from the end of the publishing houses. As mentioned in the previous section, the readers would be asked to respond to questionnaires which would be prepared keeping in mind the following points:
– The questionnaire should be carefully worded so that it does not lead to ambiguity about the meaning or interpretation of the question and so that it does not offend the respondent in any manner.
– The questionnaire should not be too long or too short. It should cover the general premise for which the study is being conducted.
– The order of the questions should be kept in mind. Since this would be a self-administered questionnaire the most interesting questions would be placed in the beginning to capture the interest of the respondent. (Dwyer, D. C., 1995)

In addition to that the following steps would be followed for creating the questionnaire:

First, one must identify the data that has to be collected.
Second, one must identify the manner in which the questionnaire would be conducted.
Third, the first abstract of the questionnaire should be constructed.
Fourth, the respective questionnaire should be thoroughly checked and proofread.
Next, the questionnaire should be pretested.
At last, the questionnaire should be modified the methods for its use should be listed.
Once the questionnaire has been prepared they would be made available to the sample population for answering. There are certain ways by which the sample size can be selected. The age of the respondents would be above 22 years of age since only mature and adult readers would be considered. It is an assumption of this research paper that only people belonging to this age criteria would have the time, inclination and capability to provide feedback to publishing houses. Since it would be difficult to conduct a survey on a national or even international level because of the constraint of funds and infrastructure, the sample can be selected from within the university campus. 150 students can be selected and asked to fill up an online questionnaire for which links would be provided to them via email. (Johnson, H. and Sacco, V. F., 1995)
The aim of this practice would be to gather data that can be quantified to conclude the results on the basis of the data collected whether readers would be willing to participate and provide feedbacks to publishing houses about their reading preferences from time to time.
The interviews would be conducted by short listing five publishing industries which operate in the country. The interviews can be conducted face to face, over the telephone or via video chat, whichever way is found to be convenient although face to face interview would be preferred. Through this, the data collected would show what the publishing houses consider about social media platforms and whether they would be willing to invest in creating the needed infrastructure. (U. S. Census Bureau, 2003)

Conclusion

Once the research work has been complete the possible conclusion which would be drawn from the data would be that social media marketing and platforms have an immense scope for the publishing industry. By creating and making use of social profiles publishing houses can create awareness about their brands, introduce new authors and books which are to be released and keep their readers informed about what they should be looking forward to. Readers would finds it very easy to stay in touch with publishing houses through social media networks because now these websites are accessible through mobile phone and it is very convenient to provide the required feedback.

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