A useful model for web questionnaires is provided below by Anna Annanen, whose questionnaire and introductory note were used to solicit data for her Master's thesis.

The web form was put online in Anna's personal web space, and data was solicited via two translation student e-mail lists — first an initial posting to the Transla e-mail list, and then an initial posting to the ETRAN-L list, with 'reminders' twice thereafter to both lists. The note below is the initial posting sent to ETRAN-L on 27 February 2006.

Note that the target audience was considerably smaller, with a shorter response period, than for Salla Hakulinen's questionnaire on Finnish-American weddings. Also of interest is the 'carrot' of free movie tickets to attract responses to a relatively detailed form from a much narrower target audience (which may naturally also have had less motivation to respond on this topic than would brides reporting on their wedding plans). This was also a means to confirm the identity of the respondant, and thus establish the validity of the data.

NB: The original e-mail addresses and web links in the following note and form have been deactivated. Thanks to Anna for her permission to reproduce her note, form and response details.

Target Audience, Testing, Posting and Response Details

Anna's target audience was English Translation major students who had done their language residency in the U.K. between 2000-2005. There were no statistics that showed how many such students there were, although it had been determined via the university computer center that 114 English Translation major students had done their language residency in different countries from 2000 through 2005. However, many of these had stayed in the US, Ireland and other English-speaking countries; it was impossible to say how many of the 114 had gone to the U.K.

Thus Anna decided to compose an online questionnaire, and appeal via the Transla e-mail list to all English Translation major students who had done their residency in the U.K. to visit her web page and complete the questionnaire. It was assumed that all current students would be on the Transla list, although also realized that some students from the target period would already have graduated and thus no longer be on the list.

After composing her questionnaire, Anna first tested it with three qualified students whom she contacted directly. Based on the test responses, several minor changes were found to be necessary for the questionnaire (although the responses themselves were usable for the study).

Next, she posted her appeal to the Transla e-mail list for qualified students to complete her questionnaire. This posting was sent on 22 February 2006 and elicited three responses.

It then occurred to her that the ETRAN-L list, which is specific to English Translation students, might be more efficient in reaching her targets. In late February Listserv's 'review' command showed that 140 English Translation major students were subscribed to ETRAN-L (in addition to 16 minor students, 14 staff members, and 8 students whose status was unclear). Anna's first posting to ETRAN-L was sent on 27 February; two more responses were received followed this posting.

As the five responses received from these two postings (in addition to the three 'test' responses) were not enough for her study, her research deadline was extended to 19 March and two additional 'reminder' postings were sent to both ETRAN-L and the Transla lists on 08 and 15 March, respectively. Two additional responses were received immediately on 08 March, and nine more responses were received in the four days remaining between her 15 March 'second reminder' posting and her 19 March final deadline.

All the respondents answered all the questions in the questionnaire (apart from the ones that in some cases didn't apply). Considering the relatively small number of potential respondants out of the roughly 140 total major students (e.g. the limited number out of the total 140 who would have done their language residency in the U.K. between 2000-2005), Anna was pleased with the 16 responses which were received following her postings to ETRAN-L and the Transla list. In addition to the three 'test' responses she thus had a total of 19 responses, which was adequate for her study to proceed.

It was not clear if either list proved to be more effective in eliciting results. It is clear that the initial three responses had come from the original posting to the Transla list. It is probable that the next two responses came from the first posting to ETRAN-L. But inasmuch as the second and third 'reminders' were sent to both lists, it could not be determined whether subsequent responses were the result of postings to one list or the other, or the result of multiple messages received by students who were subscribed to both lists.

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Hei!

Lähetin tämän viestin jo translalistalle, joten pahoittelen mahdollista toistoa ja päällekkäisyyttä. Ehkäpä tältä listalta kuitenkin löytyy vielä joitakin, joita aiempi viestini ei tavoittanut. Siis:

Oletko käännöstieteen englannin pääaineopiskelija ja suorittanut kieliharjoittelusi Isossa-Britanniassa vuonna 2000 tai sen jälkeen? Muistatko kieliharjoittelusi ajalta itsesi ja brittien välisiä tilanteita, joissa heijastuivat maiden väliset kulttuurierot? Nämä tilanteet ovat saattaneet jäädä mieleen kummallisina, hämmentävinä tai jopa huvittavina. Ne ovat saattaneet herättää erilaisia kysymyksiä, kuten "Mitähän sanoin tai tein väärin?" tai "Oliko tässä nyt jotain kummallista?" Jos muistat tällaisia tilanteita, toivoisin, että kertoisit niistä pro gradu -tutkimustani varten.

Tutkimukseni tarkoitus on selvittää, millaisia vuorovaikutustilanteita käännöstieteen englannin opiskelijat ovat kokeneet kieliharjoittelussaan Isossa-Britanniassa. Tutkin myös, miten käännöstieteen englannin koulutus on valmistanut opiskelijoita näihin tilanteisiin. Pyytäisinkin sinua osallistumaan tutkimukseeni vastaamalla nettisivuillani olevaan kyselylomakkeeseen. Lomakkeen osiossa B kerrotaan tarkempia esimerkkejä tutkittavista vuorovaikutustilanteista. Lomakkeen täyttämiseen kuluu noin 15-20 minuuttia, ja sen täyttäneiden kesken arvotaan 2 Finnkinon elokuvalippua. Osallistuaksesi arvontaan sinun täytyy täyttää lomakkeeseen sähköpostiosoitteesi. Muussa tapauksessa voit täyttää lomakkeen anonyyminä.

Kertynyttä aineistoa käytetään vain tutkimustarkoituksiin ja sitä säilytetään luottamuksellisesti. Tutkimuksen raporteista eivät käy ilmi vastaajien henkilöllisyys tai muut yksityiskohdat, jotka voitaisiin yhdistää heihin. Tutkimuksen on tarkoitus valmistua viimeistään syksyllä 2006, jonka jälkeen sen tulokset ovat nähtävissä Internetissä Tampereen yliopiston tutkielmatietokannassa.

Osallistumisesi on tutkimuksen teon kannalta ensiarvoisen tärkeää. Osallistumalla paitsi autat tutkimustani, olet myös mukana tuottamassa mielenkiintoista, kulttuurienvälistä viestintää ja kääntäjien koulutusta koskevaa tietoa. Tutkimuksen tuloksista on myös hyötyä Isoon-Britanniaan lähteville opiskelijoille, ja niiden avulla voidaan kehittää käännöstieteen englannin koulutusta.

Toivon, että kävisit vastaamassa kyselylomakkeeseen viimeistään 5.3.2006 osoitteessa http://www.uta.fi/~xxxxx/.

Etukäteen lämpimästi kiittäen,

Anna Annanen
käännöstieteen englannin opiskelija
Tampereen yliopisto
(contact data removed, and name 'anonymized')