Methods and Ethics: Survey
In order to conduct my study, I collected both quantitative and qualitative data. To collect the quantitative data, I conducted a survey of 6 multiple choice questions on SurveyMonkey.com. I published this survey on Facebook using an event on May 25th, 2012 and invited my friends that attend Santa Clara University as well as working adults in the Bay Area that I am connected by my parents to participate in it. The survey was taken down and closed to responses on May 30th.The number of SCU friends invited totaled to 354 students and the number of working adults in the area totaled to 16 people. I chose this sample to get a good estimation of my own university and the surrounding area. I also chose to collect data from college students because it is a convenient sample of those looking to be hired. I also chose working adults in the Bay Area to collect a sample of people that have experience hiring. Both are convenient samples and cannot be generalized to larger populations. I ensured that all people invited to participate were from the Bay Area to eliminate the variable of location discrepancies between potential employees and hirers in the study. A total of 34 people responded to this survey.
To ensure that participants in this study were provided with full informed consent, the following message was posted on the Facebook event page for the survey:
“Please help out with my research project for my sociology class by filling out this brief questionnaire. This project aims to understand communication media used in the business world. Your participation is voluntary and all responses to the survey will remain anonymous. If you choose to leave any question blank or wish to stop taking the survey at any time, please feel free to do so. Submitting a survey response will be considered your consent to participate in this study. Thank you for taking the time to help me out, if possible!”
The data I collect from this survey is effective in answering my research question because it will provide quantitative data on employer and employee media of communication preferences, thereby answering part of my research question. The main ethical questions I had to consider were ensuring that my survey did not in any way offend anyone, that it did not require providing personal information, and that informed consent was given prior to taking the survey. The survey received a total of 34 responses over a 8 day period. Since I found participants using my list of Facebook friends, this was a convenient sample.
The survey can be found here:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HDGHSC6
Data: Survey
Question 1: What is your gender?
Responses- 16: Male, Female: 18
Question 2: Are your currently a hiring employer or potential employee looking for a job?
Responses- 17: Hiring Employer, 17: Potential Employee, 0: Neither
**Using Responses from Question 2 as a filter (since this study is studying the differences between hiring employer and potential employee preferences, the remaining data has been separated into employer and employee responses.**
Question 3: During the hiring and interview process in your current role (of either employer or employee), which of the following media of communication would you prefer to use while communicating with your interviewer/interviewee?
Hiring Employer Responses- 12: Face to Face, 5: Phone, 0: Email
Potential Employee Responses- 10: Face to Face, 5: Phone, 2: Email
Question 4: What is your primary reason for using this medium over the others?
Hiring Employer Responses- 7: Most Efficient, 3: Easiest to Use, 0: Least Pressurizing, 0: Most Popularly Used Today, 7: Most Personable, 0: Other
Potential Employee Responses- 0: Most Efficient, 6: Easiest to Use, 8: Least Pressurizing, 0: Most Popularly Used Today, 3: Most Personable, 0: Other
Question 5: Respond to the following statement: More and more businesses today are relying on digital media (eg. virtual teams, video conferencing, group messaging) to communicate within their business as opposed to face to face communication. 
Hiring Employer Responses- 2: Agree, 5: Somewhat Agree, 7: Somewhat Disagree, 3: Disagree
Potential Employee Responses- 4: Agree, 10: Somewhat Agree, 3: Somewhat Disagree, 0: Disagree
Question 6: Which type of major are you pursuing/ did you complete in college?
Hiring Employer Responses- 5: Business, 3: Hard Science, 4: Soft Science, 5: Engineering, 0: Other
Potential Employee Responses- 4: Business, 3: Hard Science, 5: Soft Science, 4: Engineering, 1: Other
Methods and Ethics: Interview
To collect qualitative data, I interviewed 6 different individuals. 3 of these interviewees were Santa Clara seniors, who were looking for jobs and interviewing within the past year: one of them was an engineering major, another business, and another arts and sciences. The other 3 were adult employers: one who works in an engineering firm, one who owns a business, and one who has a non-profit. I chose this sample to get a good estimation of my own university and the surrounding area, and tried to ensure that I selected a range of careers to get the best sample. I ensured that all people invited to participate were from the Bay Area, or looking for job in the Bay Area, to eliminate the variable of location discrepancies between potential employees and hirers in the study.
To ensure that participants in this study were provided with full informed consent, the following message was printed and given to the interviewees to read over prior to their interview:
“Thank you for your interest in participating in my sociology study. This research project aims to understand communication media used in the business world. Your participation is voluntary and all responses to the interview will remain anonymous. If you do not wish to answer a question or wish to stop the interview at any time, please feel free to say “I would like to stop interviewing” or “I do not want to answer this question” at any point. Your answers will be recorded for the sole purpose of transcription after the interview, and the recordings will be promptly deleted. Engaging in this interview will be considered your consent to participate in this study. If, for whatever reason, you wish to delete or erase the recording after your interview, feel free to ask me to do so, and the recording will be erased. Thank you for taking the time to help me out, if possible!”
The data I collect from this survey is effective in answering my research question because it will provide qualitative information on employer and employee media of communication preferences and, more importantly, the reasons for these preferences, thereby answering part of my research question. The main ethical questions I had to consider were ensuring that my interview questions did not in any way offend anyone, that it did not require providing personal information, that informed consent was given prior to taking the survey, and that recordings were promptly deleted. All 6 participants successfully completed the interview. Since I found participants using my friends at the university and family friends in the Bay Area, this was a convenient sample.
Data: Interviews
Interview 1- Employer:
1) What field do you work in? For example, social work, engineering, finance?
I’m a manager working in a business firm.
2) What mode or media of communication is most often used in your work place to collaborate with other team members? For example, phone, email, etc?
We usually use video conferencing and phone calls with out global team members, and email within our own group. There’s also a lot of face to face, but some people choose to work remotely and are accessible by email.
3) When hiring and interviewing, which form of communication do you most like to conduct these interviews by? For example, emailing resumes, phone calls, or in person face to face?
With our interns and full time employees, we conduct face to face interviews. Email is only really used to set up the interview time and location but we require in person interviews.
4) Why do you prefer this media of communication during interviews over the others?
It’s generally more accurate in learning about the candidates, how personable they are, and how quickly they can think on their feet. Email doesn’t enable us to see what the candidate really knows and how he or she interacts with others in a professional setting.
Interview 2- Employer:
1) What field do you work in? For example, social work, engineering, finance?
I work in a computer engineering company as a software developer.
2) What mode or media of communication is most often used in your work place to collaborate with other team members? For example, phone, email, etc?
There is a heavy reliance on email these days, and a lot of our team works from home. We also have weekly meetings that happen in the office however.
3) When hiring and interviewing, which form of communication do you most like to conduct these interviews by? For example, emailing resumes, phone calls, or in person face to face?
I like to do in person interviews, and have flown in candidates to be able to interview them in person in the past.
4) Why do you prefer this media of communication during interviews over the others?
Behavioral interviews are difficult to conduct when they are not in person. They do not offer a thorough understanding of one’s personality. Phone interviews, in my experience, are not as easy to conduct because of reception and call quality issues.
Interview 3- Employer:
1) What field do you work in? For example, social work, engineering, finance?
I work in a non-profit organization, doing social work.
2) What mode or media of communication is most often used in your work place to collaborate with other team members? For example, phone, email, etc?
We normally use face to face communication, whenever possible. Sometimes, phone calls if people are out of office or do not live in the area.
3) When hiring and interviewing, which form of communication would you most prefer to conduct these interviews by? For example, emailing resumes, phone calls, or in person face to face?
I prefer to conduct face to face interviews because it is important for me to be able to gauge a person’s people skills.
4) Why do you prefer this media of communication during interviews over the others?
I can’t see how people will interact or cooperate with others in a team doing email or phone interviews, and the most efficient way to gauge these skills in through face to face interviews.
Interview 4- Employee:
1) What is your current major at Santa Clara University?
I’m a psychology and communications double major.
2) What mode or media of communication is most often used between you and a hiring manager during the interview process? For example, email, phone, or face to face?
I use mostly face to face communication.
3) When interviewing, which form of communication would you most prefer to use? For example, emailing resumes, phone calls, or in person face to face?
I prefer face to face communication too.
4) Why do you prefer this media of communication during interviews over the others?
Face to face communication is more personable than the others. It’s harder for me to express myself and get my personality across if I am not physically seeing the other person.
Interview 5- Employee:
1) What is your current major at Santa Clara University?
I’m a computer science and engineering major.
2) What mode or media of communication is most often used between you and a hiring manager during the interview process? For example, email, phone, or face to face?
I am most often interviewed in person, but I’ve had phone interviews before as well.
3) When interviewing, which form of communication would you most prefer to use? For example, emailing resumes, phone calls, or in person face to face?
I personally like phone interviews the most.
4) Why do you prefer this media of communication during interviews over the others?
There’s usually more time to think and less pressure to make a first impression for phone interviews than in person. For the technical interviews, phone interviews allow you to have resources in front of you to answer some of the questions as well.
Interview 6- Employee:
1) What is your current major at Santa Clara University?
I’m an accounting major in the business school.
2) What mode or media of communication is most often used between you and a hiring manager during the interview process? For example, email, phone, or face to face?
Most often, I have both in person and phone interviews. The final interview is always in person though.
3) When interviewing, which form of communication would you most prefer to use? For example, emailing resumes, phone calls, or in person face to face?
I most prefer to do in person interviews.
4) Why do you prefer this media of communication during interviews over the others?
I feel like for my major, the most efficient way to figure out how I perform in business, and test my technical and speaking skills, is to do a face to face interview.