Open-Source and Free Software for In-Class Online Surveys and Data Analyses
Enrique Frio
Adjunct Instructor, University of Maryland University College, USA
& Adjunct Faculty, University of the Philippines Open University
Data analysis of surveys is a valuable tool for identifying trends in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour in respondents with regard to certain variables that researchers wish to study. Commercial software is very popular for this purpose, with IBM’s SPSS as the leading standard software for survey data analyses. A new open-source software program called PSPP from the GNU Foundation has been written to allow free and unlimited data analyses capabilities for everyone on most platforms (Unix, PC, Mac).
Survey questionnaire design (which includes question generation, variable coding, and online questionnaire implementation) and data gathering are areas where researchers spend a lot of time and effort. A free website for quick questionnaire generation, Kwiksurveys.com, presents a fast and efficient alternative to the time-consuming manual aspects of questionnaire design and implementation.
Together, Kwiksurveys.com and PSPP present an alternative and free platform for generating surveys, descriptive statistics, and performing deeper data analyses with no associated software costs. This presents everyone, and particularly third world academic institutions, a statistical analysis platform that can be useful and cost-free for activities dealing with data analyses. Students can also benefit from these in that they can download and install the PSPP program on their local machines without being constrained by cost and time- or machine-locked licenses.
Some sample analyses of survey results from the author’s UPOU (University of the Philippines Open University) Science, Technology, and Society (STS) class are presented, including selected examples of data analyses of knowledge, attitude, and behaviour related to Facebook and social network usage by students.