With my dissertation defense date determined, hard deadlines and data collection completion are the research puzzle pieces currently falling into place.
I have to send my dissertation to my committee at least 10 days prior to my defense presentation, so I need to get moving on the analysis and writing phase of the process.
Because of that, March 14, 2023, marked the end of data collection for the dissertation.
I ended up with 272 survey respondents and 25 interviews.
As for the survey, I was aiming for 384 respondents. This is because, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, the rural population of Kansas is 914,980. Based upon sample size calculations, 384 responses would have given my data a confidence level of 95% with a 5% margin of error.
After data cleaning that removed incomplete survey submissions, I ended up with 255 respondents I could use for analysis. This resulted in my data having an approximate confidence level of 95% with a 6% margin of error.
Now the work begins. Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I will analyze the data and report my findings.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m done collecting data. I plan to continue to accept survey responses and interview individuals as part of my continued investigation into this topic.