CHAPTER 3 : QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

3.1 General

This section describes the methodology used for this research and the kind of analysis
that is carried out in order to aid achieving the projt:>ct objectives. The data was gathered
through an online questionnaire survey. A total of hundred and six tilled questionnaires
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were gathered from Software Engineers in Sri Lanka which was the main input for this :-.,
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3.2 Population and Sampling of Data

This study is based on the Software engineers in Sri Lanka. A sample of hundred and six \.
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Software Engineers was used for this research. \~:

3.3 Gathering of Data

Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a questionnaire, past
research findings and journal articles. An online questionnaire survey was carried out
targeting Software engineers in Sri Lanka. The survey sought information on their time
management and work related behavior, and the efforts they have put, in order to
maintain a healthy WLB.

The questionnaire was designed and hosted on a site "Surveygizmo''

(\\ W\v.survcvgizmo.com) which is specialized for online surveys. Using an online

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questionnaire was found to be convenient for respondents since it is easy to fill and can
be submitted online. The researcher was provided with a back office functionality
whereby they can monitor the response rate and the trends. Design of the questionnaire
was made easier via better graphical representation to provide a user friendly interface.
Furthermore the analysis of data was made convenient via features provided by the
survey websites for data export and facilities to create basic charts and reports. The
duration of the survey conducted forth is research was one month.

3.4 Formulation of the Questionnaire

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When designing the questionnaire, attention was given to make the questions easy to
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comprehend and to keep it less complicated and precise via proper selection of wording ,,
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to formulate each question. Another important fact was to keep it short so that the I'
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respondents did not have to spend too much time with the questionnaire thereby ensuring ' t
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a high response rate within a limited period of time was achieved. The online
questionnaire containing twenty four questions took five minutes of an average Software
worker's time to complete. Similar researches done in the past and their findings, and I·..
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various other literatures such as (Hansen, R. S) helped determine factors which were \-.'
considered when preparing the questionnaire. The questions were targeting the following

two main areas:

1. The level of WLB the respondent maintain -

Questions were formulated in order to gather information on what level of WLB

that the respondent maintains in life. The respondent's commitments to work and
as well as to personal life, were addressed. How well the respondent strikes a
balance between the two especially if an individual with married responsibilities

was considered.

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 11. Effectiveness of a respondent in managing time-

In order to determine how effective each respondent in managing time, questions

were formulated in the areas that will help determining how the employees have
managed their time during their tenure as a Software Engineer. Factors such as
planning and prioritizing activities, productive use of time for prioritized
activities, and meeting of project deadlines were considered.

Out of twenty four questions, twenty three were modeled with single answer choice
selection through radio buttons which were mandatory. The answers were modeled using
Likert scale for twenty one questions as follows:
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i.e. I feel stressed out most ofthe time at work. ~

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a. Strongly Agree I.
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b. Agree
c. Slightly Agree
c. Slightly Disagree I.
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d. Disagree \~·~.

e. Strongly Disagree

Out of the twenty four questions, one question was kept as open ended and optional so to
fill in the name of the organization they work for. This was in order to get a feel for the
data collected in terms of their organizational coverage. The full questionnaire is

attached in the Appendix A - Questionnaire of this report for further reference. The
remainder of this report examines the survey responses of I 06 Software Engineers, which

\\ere collected during the survey.

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3.5 Summary

This study was based on the Software engineers in Sri Lanka with a sample of hundred
and six practicing Software Engineers. An online questionnaire survey was carried out
which was designed and hosted on a site called Surveygizmo (www.surveygizmo.com) a
for online surveys.
tool specialized

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