Running Head: HEGE LIBRARY SURVEY

Hege Library Survey Essay

Guilford College
November 2015

HEGE LIBRARY SURVEY

Introduction
What is research and why is it important? Throughout history, research has been
considered a critical tool utilized for the collection of data in order to evaluate and make
necessary changes within our society and the world in general. For these reasons, research plays
a key role within the decision-making process. There are numerous ways to describe research
and the definitions will always vary from one source to the next. The following definition comes
from a mixed body of disciplines that can be applied to any field utilizing research: Research is
the systematic study, experimentation or investigation of materials and sources, which aim to
discover, interpret and form facts that may lead to the creation of new conclusions regarding a
situation or event. In addition to this, research is conducted for the revision of established laws
and theories based on new information in an attempt to eliminate disparities. There are various
types of research methods available to use, depending on the needs of the researcher.
Research described in more simple terms could be characterized as searching for or
gathering information in an attempt to answer a specific question, solve a problem or make
necessary changes. Research studies vary across the board in complexity and are considered an
fundamental part of the academic community because it gives researchers the ability to predict,
determine or explain the causes of various phenomena. Some of these approaches include
quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods to name a few. Each method has a specific purpose,
which guides scholars in their search to find answers to questions or solutions. Regardless of the
approach used, each research project should be designed to be objective and unbiased and the
results should be tested for validity and reliability (Kumar, 2014, p. 213). This paper will
describe the process of a survey project conducted at a small private four year Liberal Arts
College comprised of a diverse population of students of varying ethnicities.

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Process
Our survey employed a participatory action approach to qualitative research in order to
collect data to examine if and how students needs were being met at the Hege Library at
Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. This information was necessary in order to gain
insight about student experiences utilizing the Library space and its resources. Our group wanted
to know the respondents key thoughts on Library policies, Library-related communication and
the outreach efforts of the Library staff. The primary purpose of our survey project was to be
able to provide information to Guilford Hege Library staff and faculty so that they could best
meet the library-related needs of diverse students on campus. We wanted to know if students
were satisfied with the services provided by the Hege Library, and if not, what problems did they
have and what they thought would improve their overall experience.
Our survey questions focused on addressing the complaints or concerns of students in
order to make the necessary changes to boost Library user rates. We chose participants who were
either directly involved or affected by the issues of our study. We wanted the respondents to be
able to take part and have a role in producing knowledge and/or solutions in the key areas of
concern. In our efforts to come up with the most suitable questions to ask, our group of
researchers collaborated with the Hege Librarians in order to design and implement our research
survey. Our questions were generated by exploring and drawing upon existing literature and
other research projects that were similar in nature. We also looked at the key findings from our
focus interviews conducted with Guilford College students and used those findings to inform our
question topics. After examining other research projects that were comparable to ours and our
own findings from the interviews, we compiled a list of a common problems and complaints
noted from students of various colleges across the United States and at Guilford College. We

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created a unique set of questions for our survey based on factors that were considered common
themes within numerous studies regarding the utilization of Library services. We gathered
enough information and facts to guide us in the creation of our own ideas so that we could form
inquiries necessary to answer particular research questions regarding the functionality of the
Hege Library. We worded our questions in a very specific way to find out about student
experiences so that we would be made aware of the areas in need of improvements. The
structured nature of our survey will be perfect for analyzing the personal experiences of the
respondents in quick and simple ways.
We created a survey that was easy to comprehend. We aimed to not ask any double
barreled questions, a question within a question, or ambiguous questions, a question that could
be interpreted differently and easy/accessible language (See Appendix A for full set of questions)
(Kumar, 2014, p. 186, 187). Additionally, less articulate respondents were not at a disadvantage
because our survey was designed to be uncomplicated and less time-consuming. The primary
goal of this survey was to find out what works and what doesn't work in order to improve the
overall user experience at the Hege Library. This data was obtained as part of an effort to get
more students to take advantage of Library services. This survey was a pre-structured
questionnaire that included closed-ended questions. This type of questioning gave the
respondents a limited list of answer options to choose from. Closed-ended questions can be
answered in one word or with a short and simple phrase (Kumar, 2014, p. 185, 186). This type of
questioning was beneficial because its time efficient, the answers are easier to compare, and the
respondents are more likely to answer questions pertaining to more sensitive topics. Most of our
questions used ordinal measurements, which rank subgroups in a certain order (Kumar, 2014, p.
94). Some examples of the closed-ended questions we implemented included: multiple choice

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questions, (e.g. A, B, C, or D), which can be analyzed on the typical format of a Likert Scale
item such as:
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree

This measurement tool was created to measure an individual's attitude or opinion towards
a specific subject, situation or theme (Kumar, 2014, p. 204). It does this by asking people to
respond to a list of statements about a topic in terms of the level or degree to which they agree or
disagree with an item. Our group used the Likert scale for several reasons. To start, Likert scales
are beneficial because they offer more than a simple yes/no response from participants. We had
the advantage of being able to list only the topics that our groups of researchers were interested
in. This made measurements more quantitative in nature, thus giving the ability to analyze the
data more effectively. Another advantage of using the Likert scale is the fact that it offers
anonymity on self-administered surveys. The demographic section of the survey was all nominal
questions, which means they had different categories, but they cannot be ranked (Kumar, 2014,
p. 94). We made an effort to set up our survey questions in a way to avoid the common problem
of response sets, which is the tendency of respondents to just go down the list answering a large
number of questions in the same way. We did this by using questions that required the
respondents to actually think before they responded. We gathered feedback from the respondents
and other researchers to access the functionality of our survey. These responses were utilized as a
way to measure validity, more specifically face validity, which is defined as the degree to which
a test measures exactly what it is supposed to measure (Kumar, 2014, p. 214).
Pilot Testing and Feedback
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A pilot test as described in the article Pilot Test written by Jennifer M. Rothgeb is
considered a dress rehearsal of full survey operations that are implemented to determine
whether problems exist that need to be addressed prior to putting the production survey in the
field (Rothgeb, 2008, p. 583). Our group and class conducted a pilot test because we were
interested in exploring additional information from participants outside of the participants who
were interviewed. We gained great explanatory answers from the interviews and wanted to
expand on the common trends. We discussed as a class and within our individual groups the
feedback from the Librarians that we received once we shared the findings from the interviews.
The pilot test was drafted in a manner that allowed the participants to give background
information and respond how they utilized the space, as well as their experiences with the
Library staff and resources. We conducted a pilot test because we wanted to ensure that our
survey was understandable, comprehensive and addressed our key findings accurately.
We conducted our pilot test with individuals that are current Guilford College students.
Each of the group members chose one person to conduct the survey. Four of the respondents
were CCE and one was traditional. The majority of the participants have been attending Guilford
College for more than two years with different racial backgrounds. The participants who
conducted the survey were chosen by each group member.
While testing our survey we asked a total of eighteen questions and the questions were
divided under four separate headings: Demographics, Space, Communication and Resources. We
came to the consensus of these four headings from our interviews that were conducted previously
and our classroom discussions around common themes that were provided from the feedback of
the interview participants.
We asked five questions after the completion of the survey that read:

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1. Were the questions easy to understand? Please explain if not.
2. Do you think the length of the survey was too long or too short or fine?
3. Is there anything you would add or take away?
4. Was the survey redundant? If yes, which questions?
5. Do the instructions make sense?
Most people responded with positive feedback. They said that the survey made sense; it
was a good length that did'nt require an absorbent amount of time on their part. One constructive
piece of feedback we received that was there were no instructions. We quickly realized that we
had left instructions out, and had just assumed that it the survey was self-explanatory. At the
beginning of the survey we put the line Instructions: please circle the answer that applies best to
you, or fill in the blank space. For one question we added later, there were specific instructions
that read (Circle all that apply).
We also received feedback that the survey was not specific enough. There were people
who wanted it to go more in depth. For example, someone from the Biology and Geology
department here at Guilford expressed that her main grievance was with the fact that the Library
didnt have as many scholarly science journals available as they do for the social sciences, and
that there was no one question that allowed her to express that. As a group we discussed this, and
made some minor changes to the questions/answers, but in general agreed that we wanted to
keep the survey short and not go into too much detail for fear of making the survey to lengthy.
The Librarian we talked to, Susan Bartels, gave us a lot of feedback. First, she made the
point to express to us that there is an important distinction between the virtual Library and the
physical Library that we did not acknowledge in our survey. We added a question under the
category of Resources that said:
14. What resources do you use the most?
a. Virtual (online databases, ebooks)
b. Physical (books, print periodicals, print journals)
c. Both equally

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We know from our focus interviews that when students feel isolated from the Library,
they tend to use the virtual Library over the physical one. We thought this would be a good
question in order to see who uses which type of resources. Susan Bartels also wanted to know
where people get their information about the Library. We agreed that we had found a discrepancy
between where CCE and traditional students receive information about the Library, if at all.
Under the category of Communication we changed the question Is information about library
resources easy to find? to:
13. Where do you get your information about the library? (Circle all that apply)
a. The website
b. The library staff
c. Teachers/classes
d. Friends/peers
e. Signs/bulletin posts
f. Social media
g. Other ______________________
h. None
We hope this question will enlighten the Library staff to see what is working to get the
information out best, and what is not. This could also be helpful when comparing demographics.
It's possible that traditional students could be getting more information than CCE students. There
could also be discrepancies between disciplines and races.
Additionally, Susan Bartels told us that the Library is interested in using a national wide
universal survey to gain information. She argued that it had been worked on for 10 years, and
therefore had a lot of credibility. We responded that while this survey might have some
credibility, it cannot account for the uniqueness of Guilford College. Not all schools have early
and CCE programs, or only one library location, etc. We also stated that our surveys were based
off of legitimate concerns expressed by students who go to Guilford, and therefore have research
credibility too. We do not know if she is actually going to use our survey but we hope the Library

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considers it. Overall, we listened to the feedback from our pilot test and from the Librarians and
adapted our survey accordingly.
Reflections
The survey population is a crucial concept in research as it determines the set of entities
from which the sample can be drawn and affects both the internal and external validity of the
study results. Any research project is dependent upon the access to sufficient data to address in
the research questions. One of our challenges was collaborating to write the survey questions. We
all had input that we wanted to be included, and we needed to find a way to all contribute
equally. We ended up creating a successful survey, but only after much discussion and
deliberation. This included deciding on how to formulate survey questions that would give us the
accurate feedback. Based on the information we gathered prior to the sampling, we were able to
formulate questions that were structural, in that the wording was understandable, and flows in
sequence with the rest of the questions. The suggestion by the respondents and the Library staff
(stakeholders) were taken into consideration by making the changes on the questioner.
Some of the successes our group experienced were in piloting the survey and being able
to present our findings with the Library staff. We considered the pilot testing of the survey a
success because of the feedback that we received from the respondents, although we piloted a
small group of people compared to the population that utilizes the library. We also considered
this experience to be successful because of the feedback that we received from the respondents
regarding the format of the questions. Of the feedback we did receive, we successfully used it to
improve our survey in order to make it better. Few suggestions were given and changes were
made accordingly.

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Overall, the questions were clear and not too long or redundant. All members of our pilot
group participated in designing the questions. One member took the lead in creating Google
document and emailing the link members of the group. We agreed that the most interesting
aspect of the experience was collecting the data from the respondents and sharing our findings to
the Library staff. Another interesting aspect of the experience was learning from the Library
staff that they will be launching similar survey to the Guilford College community. We hope they
will take into consideration the survey we have worked to create this semester.
Throughout the process of designing and testing the survey, the group had several
enjoyable moments. We enjoyed collaborating together and bringing together the other aspects of
surveys and interviews, which were similar. We also enjoyed hearing other perceptions and
seeing how data collected from multiple techniques and groups could produce similar findings.
We learned that one of the most important aspects of participatory action research is the
importance and difficulty of collaboration. In order to make a PAR project work, many voices
need to go into the process. We also learned about the importance of identifying common themes
from the focus group interviews and using those to base the survey off of. We found that the
process of conducting research is just as important as the information collected from the
research. One of the hardest parts about PAR is once the information is collected, how to enable
action and change. We haven't reach that part of the process yet, but we recognize that it will
important by lengthy.

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Works Cited
Kumar, R. (2014). Research Methodology (4th ed.). London: SAGE.

Rothgeb, J. (2008). Pilot Test. In P. Lavrakas (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Survey Research

Methods (pp. 583585). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Appendix A: Final Interview

Library Survey Study

Instructions: please circle the answer that applies best to you, or fill in the blank space.

DEMOGRAPHICS
1. What type of student are you?
1. CCE
2. Traditional
3. Early College
2. What gender do you identify with? _______________

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3.

What race do you identify with?

1. African American
2. Caucasian
3. Hispanic
4. Other
4. How long have you been at Guilford College?
1. 0-2 years
2. 2-4 years
3. 4+ years
5. What is your disciple department? ______________
SPACE
6. What is your ideal working space?________________
7. How frequently do you utilize the spaces in the library?
1. Never
2. Hardly ever
3. Sometimes
4. Frequently
8. When you go to the library do you feel like the space you want is available?
1. Never
2. Hardly ever
3. Sometimes
4. Frequently
9. The library space is inclusive to all aspects of my identity.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Strongly Agree
5. N/A
COMMUNICATION
10. I feel welcomed when I walk into the library.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Strongly Agree
5. N/A
11. The library staff is available to me when I need them.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
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4. Strongly Agree
5. N/A
12. The library accurately communicates the services and resources to me.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Strongly Agree
5. N/A
13. Where do you get your information about the library? (Circle all that apply)
1. The website
2. The library staff
3. Teachers/classes
4. Friends/peers
5. Signs/bulletin posts
6. Social media
7. Other ______________________
8. None
RESOURCES
14. What resources do you use the most?
1. Virtual (online databases, ebooks)
2. Physical (books, print periodicals, print journals)
3. Both equally
15. I am aware of the library resources.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Strongly Agree
5. N/A
16. I utilize the library services.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Strongly Agree
5. N/A
17. The library staff is knowledgeable in the resources I need.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Strongly Agree
5. N/A
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18. The hours of the library fit my availability.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Strongly Agree
5. N/A
19. The technology the library offers fit my needs.
1. Strongly disagree
2. Disagree
3. Agree
4. Strongly Agree
5. N/A

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