MC7800: Web Surveys & Experiments
Fall 2011, Instructor: Dr. Gi Woong Yun
Classroom: 209 West Hall
Office: 321 West Hall
Voice Mail: 419-372-8638
E-mail: gyun@bgsu.edu
Class hours: TR 4:00-5:15
Office Hours: TR 11:00 - 1:00 & 2:30 - 3:00 or email appointment.
Syllabus on the Web: http://personal.bgsu.edu/~gyun/lec/webSurveyExperiment/syllabus.htm

Class objectives
Social science researchers adopted Web as a research tool and two most popular Web research methods are Web survey and/or experiment. Although built-in Web survey applications are available to put simple survey or experiment on the Web, those applications provide only a limited control of research design. This class will deal with practical and hands-on skills in building elaborate Web surveys and experiments. To accomplish this goal, students will first learn conceptual understandings of website development.

The primary focus of this class will be about how to build and conduct complex Web surveys and experiments. Students will learn how to use script languages and databases to build Web surveys and experiments. At the end of the class, students will be able to build their own Web surveys and Web experiments. The knowledge they acquire during the class will provide a tool that can be applied in various Web research environments with a full control of their research design.

Content outline
The understanding of Internet communication mechanism is required to develop a solid Web survey or experiment. The semester will be broadly divided into four sections. During the first section, the class will concentrate on basic concepts of communication on the Internet and Client-side script languages. Students will learn how the Internet communication packets are transmitted and received. Instructions on how to use applications such as WSFTP and Dreamweaver will be dealt with. Also, students will learn basic script languages such as HTML, CSS, and Javascript to understand the design of Web survey and experiment. The second section will focus on database development and Server-side script languages. Database such as SQL and Microsoft ACCESS will be discussed and Server-side scripts language which are necessary components of any Web survey or experiment will be discussed. By the end of this section, students will have good understandings and skills to build basic Web surveys. During the third section, students will be assigned to work on building Web research design. It will greatly enhance students' ability to build advanced Web survey and experiment. The lasst section will will focus on Web log analysis, debugging, and data analysis of the pilot data that students will collect during the class. It is a general norm that computer programming script writing require hours of debugging. The instructor will provide tips to best save researcher's time and resources for debugging scripts at the final stage of the Web research project.

Student activities
Students will have to follow the instructor's step by step guidance to gain hands-on experience. Upon finishing each hands-on skill session, the instructor will provide materials for students to practice their programming script writing skills. At the end of the practice, students will run the script from their Web server and the instructor will take a look at them and give feedback. Students will have to debug or improve their scripts based on the instructor's feedback. After students' implementations of the material and practice Web sites, the instructor will provide exercises which includes various Web survey and experimental designs. Students will be asked to finish the exercise during the class.

Outcome measures:
Two major outcome measures will be utilized in this class. First, weekly success will be measured by successful implementations of practices and exercises. Students will be able to write programming scripts if they understood the lecture content. Daily practices and exercise will be an indicator that can measure the success of students' understanding. Second, successful completion of the class will be measured by the implementations of the Web survey and/or experiment at the end of the class. Students will implement their own research on the Web and collect pilot data. The nature of Web survey and experiment requires multiple debugging and revisions. The instructor will review the initial submission of their work and provide feedback to the students. The feedback will include many aspects of the project such as specific research design changes, programming script syntax changes, programming script algorithm changes, and many more. Students should comply the instructor's feedback and successfully implement their research on the Web. If they successfully implement Web survey or experiment, they will be able to collect pilot data at the end of the class. The instructor will examine the completeness of their pilot data. In addition, the instructor will measure the success of their projects by looking at the creative applications of the Web survey and/or experiment in their research and the completeness of the scripts students write.

Grading (Total 500 points):
* Weekly practice(100 points): You will receive full points when you successfully implement daily practice.
* Weekly exercise(100 points): You will receive full points when you finish daily exercise.
* Project proposal (30 points): You will receive full points when you submit project proposal with substantial content on time.
* Project draft (70 points): You will receive full points when you submit project draft with substantial content on time.
* Final project (200 points): You will receive full points when you implement your project and collect pilot data.

Final Grading Scale:
A = 91 to 100 percent
B = 81 to 90 percent
C = 71 to 80 percent
D = 61 to 70 percent
F = below 60 percent

Based on the scale above, you will be assigned a letter grade at the end of the class. The final grade for this course will be assigned using the scale above on the combined total of your points earned over the class.

Textbook and materials:
* Reading material: There are numerous materials provided by the instructor. You may need to print them.
* Flash memory card for data storage or you can use your notebook computer.
* You will need to have Web server space from Web hosting companies.
* You need a dropbox account.

Resources
* http://www.mediaresearchlab.org/giwoongyun/interactiveMediaResources/index.php

Schedule

Week01: 08/23 & 08/25: Introduction, setting up your server
* Lecture content
Acquire Internet hosting space and domain name

* Reading
Sue & Ritter (2007) Chapter 2.

* Assignment
- Set up hosting company account and connect to the server

Week02: 08/30 & 09/01: ftp applications, directory, dreamweaver
* Lecture content
- Set up a ftp connection to the server and test it
- Basic HTML tags (font, image, hyperlink, etc)
- In class quiz on HTML basics

* Reading
HTML practice, html basics on this page.
http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

* Assignment
- Create structured table with radio button, check box button, input box, text box, etc.

Week03: 09/06 & 09/08: HTML basics
* Lecture content
- HTML scripts (tags and tables)
- CSS basics (position, size, alignment, etc.)
- HTML forms (input box, check box, radio button, text box, drop down box, submit button)

* Reading
Sue & Ritter (2007) Chapter 3.

* Assignment
- Upload survey form html file on the web

Week04: 09/13 & 09/15: HTML basics, Project proposal due (9/15)
* Lecture content
- HTML forms continues
- In class quiz on HTML advanced

* Reading
HTML advanced, html advanced on this page.
http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

* Assignment
- Upload survey form html file on the web

Week05: 09/20 & 09/22: HTML & CSS
* Lecture content
- Cross browser testing
- HTML forms and javascirpt

* Reading
Evans & Mathur (2005)
CSS basic, Styling, Box Model
http://www.w3schools.com/css/

* Assignment
- Upload survey form html file on the web

Week06: 09/27 & 09/29: HTML &Javascript
* Lecture content
- HTML and CSS

* Reading
Hiskey & Troop (2002)
Javascript basic
http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp

* Assignment
- Upload survey form html file on the web

Week07: 10/04 & 10/06: PHP basics
* Lecture content
- PHP request
- PHP mail
- PHP session
- In class quiz on PHP basics

* Reading
PHP basics, PHP basics on this page
http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp

* Assignment
- Upload PHP scripts and test mail and session

Week08: 10/11 & 10/13: Fall Break, SQL
* Lecture content
- SQL update
- SQL command
- SQL insert
- In class quiz on PHP basics

* Reading
PHP advanced, PHP advanced on this page
http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp

* Assignment
- Connect database with SQL

Week09: 10/18 & 10/20: PHP & database
* Lecture content
- PHP time stamp
- session redirect
- In class quiz on PHP database

* Reading
PHP & database, PHP & database on this page
http://www.w3schools.com/php/default.asp

* Assignment
- Upload survey database sql and php file on the web

Week10: 10/25 & 10/27: filter question, random assignment
* Lecture content
- filter question
- random assignment
- importing MS Excel file

* Reading
Maxwell & Delaney (2000) Chapter 1.

* Assignment
- Retrieve entered data

Week11: 11/01 & 11/03: PHP mail, Project draft due (11/3)
* Lecture content
- mail merge
- PHP mail merge
- confirming access code
- image map with html

* Reading
Reips (2002)

* Assignment
- Upload survey database sql and php file on the web

Week12: 11/08 & 11/10: FLASH & progress graph 
* Lecture content
- Abobe Flash for experimental stimulus
- last past visit redirect
- bar graph

* Reading
Yun et al. (2006)

* Assignment
- Upload visual information on the survey page

Week13: 11/15 & 11/17: Experiment, response time, Jquery
* Lecture content
- random assignment with existing list
- experimental flow
- response time measurement
- filtering question with Jquery

* Reading
Petychev & Hill (2010)

* Assignment
- randomly assign users into a different group based on existing list and time stamp
- make a site with with survey and experimental stimulus. Users should not be able to go back to the site and experience survey or experimental stimulus.

Week14: 11/22 & 11/24: NodeXL, Thanksgiving
* Lecture content
NodeXL introduction

* Reading
NodeXL chapter 1

* Assignment
- NodeXL installation & data retrieval

Week15: 11/29 &12/01: NodeXL, debugging
* Lecture content
- debugging for individual student project

* Reading
NodeXL chapter 2

* Assignment
- NodeXL data analysis

Week16: 12/06 & 12/08: pilot data analysis
* Lecture content
- pilot data analysis

* Reading
No reading

* Assignment
No assignment

Project due (12/12)