Week 5: Updates, Surveys, and Memory Jars!
Amita B -
Hi everyone! I’m back—after traveling for the past month, I’ve finally returned to my senior research project. Although I haven’t been able to volunteer as much as I’d like during this time, I still have some exciting updates to share about my data collection and overall progress.
My Data Collection
First, I want to share a change I’ve made to my data collection process: I’ve decided to include surveys alongside my interviews!
Originally, I was only collecting data through interviews (using the questions I mentioned in my last post), but I noticed I wasn’t getting as many responses as I had hoped. I realized that surveys would give me another way to gather data—especially from people who may not have the time for a full interview or who feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts anonymously.
Even though many of the people I’ve interviewed so far have been very open about their grief, I wanted to offer a more flexible and private option for others. I’m currently creating the surveys and am hopeful for a good number of responses!
Surveys are quite different from interviews, especially because grief is such a personal topic. I’m designing my survey questions to give participants enough space to express themselves without overwhelming them.
I’m planning to keep the survey short—just 3 to 4 questions—so it’s manageable to complete in about 10 minutes. I hope this will encourage more people to respond. I’ve also been thinking about including a few multiple-choice questions to keep it engaging and accessible since too many free-response questions might discourage some people from completing it. I’m still working on finding the right balance!
Memory Jars!
Lastly, I wanted to share a photo of the memory jar I made during our last grief group night, which I mentioned in one of my past blog posts.
Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in the next post!