help with costs of research? (postage/stationary etc) any ideas appreciated!

foreign_correspondent

Hi,
I know this is a long shot, but does anyone know of any financial help available to masters students for dissertation research costs?? - just worked out that postage/stationary etc of my research questionaire is going to cost me nearly £500! (most of the cost is for stamps for sending out and return s.a.e's)
At the moment, thats more than a months income for me!:eek:
Any ideas gratefully received!
thanks

melancholly

if this is a compulsary part of your course, you should approach your supervisor about it - after all you'll be carrying out research that would have them on any paper that gets published! or failing that you could see if an online questionnaire is an option?

CrispyUK

As mentioned above if you can do the research online that would provide a good cost saving

If it needs to be done via postal forms then it'd be worth looking into the business options on the Royal Mail site, might be a little more effort to set up but could save you a bit of money overall, even if it's just a penny or two per item it'd add up on that volume.

Also the perhaps more obvious ones are to send everything second class and design your materials so they fall into the smallest size band now pricing in proportion has been introduced

foreign_correspondent

Hi,
thanks for your ideas - melancholy and crispy -I have already looked into doing the questionaire online, unfortunately its not an option - however, I will discuss with my supervisor and have a look at the royal mail website and see if I am eligable to use the business service,
many thanks
Sonya

foreign_correspondent

Hi,
have looked into cheaper royal mail options - it looks like thr only cheaper alternative (I am already sending the smallest envelope second class) is franking - saving 2p per envelope, but you need a franking machine for this - if anyone k nows of any alternatives I would be very interested!
thanks :-)

Broke_Student

Just a random idea but could you go to your university's outward mailing department? They will be sending hundreds of letters out a day in the form of prospectuses, admissions forms, notices etc etc...

Maybe you can get your supervisor to contact them for you and negotiate a massive discount if you can stick a couple of hundred into their outbox? It may also look better on the recieving end as the envelope will be franked with official university details and will seem more proffesional maybe?

foreign_correspondent

aha that sounds like a really good idea broke student!

only problem is I live about 90 miles from the uni, (and am currently in the netherlands but will be coming back to do some of the work, so it would be feasible) so the discount would need to be more than my travelling costs.
hmmmm... have emailed supervisor to see if he has any ideas, otherwise I guess I will just have to stump up

It just seems like a lot of money for an essential part of the course - the other option would be to limit the size of the research sample - but I feel like the dissertation is such a big piece of work that I dont want to reduce the quality of it.

Also the group of people I am surveying have health problems, so are perhaps less likely to respond (due to illness) so I need to send out enough to allow for a low return rate.

Gem_

What uni / department are you at? Just wondering if I know anyone at your uni who could appropriate some stationary for you

Postal questionaires do generally have a very poor return rate, especially if they are sent to people who are not already an active part of your project. Is there any way you could interview some people in person, or at least hand deliver some stuff?

PS. I presume we are talking about a masters dissertation here? £500 is huge amount of money to be throwing at an undergrad!

melancholly

just a thought - what subject are you doing? there are some societies that have small grants that you can apply for, but obviously it depends on what department you're in (sociology/psychology/medicine perhaps if you're contacting people with health problems?)

someone

Was just thinking. If you include a business reply envelope you only pay for the ones sent back (i think)

si1503

Gem_ wrote: »

Postal questionaires do generally have a very poor return rate

Ditto.

Much better off either taking a few days to give them out in person, or email (although that arguably has a low response rate also, but is far more cost effective and less time consuming than via snail mail).