C'mon guys!!!? I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need your help!!!?

Have you or someone you know had the flu vaccine (either the shot or nasal spray)? If so, PLEASE stick around for a second and read this!





I only have a week to complete a science fair project and am pretty sure I want to do it on the effectivness of [common] flu vaccines. I need at least 100 people to complete this short survey so PLEASE oblige!! Thanx!





1) What is your (or the person/people you know) age?


2) What is your (or their) gender?


3) Where do you (or they) live (what country)?


4) Have you (or the person/people you know)received the flu nasal spray or shot vaccine (please specify which) this season or in any past seasons?


5) Did you (or the person/people you know) get the flu or any flu-like symptoms during THAT season after receiving the vaccine? If so, approximately how long after you (or they) received the vaccine did you begin having symptoms?


6) Do you believe the flu vaccine (either both or one or the other- plaese specify) is effective?





Thanks SO much!!!!!

C'mon guys!!!? I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY need your help!!!?
REVISED ANSWER :


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J: looked at the survey, as well as "formerly's" answer (above), and I agree that if you're doing research, you need a good survey, with enough responses to make it scientifically valid, and separate treatment and control groups. But there are other issues to consider:





(1) part of your educational experience is not only to learn and develop your intellectual and analytical abilities. It is also to learn HOW to learn ...... how to be efficient, spend time and effort where it is needed, and to CUT OUT the time-wasting and irrelevant stuff. The #1 resource you have is YOU, and I see no reason whatsoever to waste YOU in developing survey questions, sitting at a table at the mall, and then tabulating the data (which, after all, is not even objective data ----- it would all be "self-reporting" data, which is not all that useful).





(2) And the point of your science fair project: if it's to determine (a) which vaccine works best, and on which people, (b) do they work well or poorly, or (c) are there many side effects from these vaccines -------- well, all of these research questions have already been done, under very controlled conditions, with huge numbers of patients (who are NOT self-reporting, but being directly observed by the research team) -------- so it would be a pointless waste of your time, effort, and sharp mind.





(3) I think your science fair project would be very successful if the topic was one of the following (or create your own title):





- "The flu vaccine: things everyone should know."


- "The flu vaccine: it's not a simple "yes or no" decision!"


- "The flu vaccine: who, when, how, and why."





That way, all the information-gathering work has already been done for you [by the NIH, and other sources listed on a previous response]. All you need to do is:


(a) organize the information onto a few poster-sized exhibits, and


(b) create a one-page summary so that you can have a stack of photocopies of this, along with a "please take one" sign.
Reply:The other posters are correct about your methods.





I just want to add one thing - re: 5 - there is the flu and then there are viral infections -- most people don't have a very good understanding of what the flu actually is -- so unless they were positively diagnosed with the flu by a MD, PA or NP, then you will get a lot of false positives because people will sef-diagnose.
Reply:A couple comments on this project:





* you need to have a control group (people without vaccines) and a treatment group (people with vaccines) to see if there is a difference between the two groups.





* Its very unlikely you will find 100 people to fill out your survey online within one week. You might consider printing out your questions with check boxes next to the questions, including a box that asks whether or not the person received a shot, and find a grocery store, mall, or pharmacy that will let you use your survey at the door. A table in the mall would be great. . Set up a folding table with several clipboards with your survey and a bunch of pencils to fill it out. Make a BIG sign (if they allow) that says something like: Science Fair project - flu survey, and maybe also have some free candy or something to hand out.





* its difficult to analyze data that is not numeric. To get numeric data, first ask if people have had the flu in the past year (yes/no). For people that answer yes, ask them to fill out one line for each time they had the flu since their last flu shot. In each line, ask them to rate the severity of the symptoms, and the duration. Ratings for the severity of the flu symptoms could be 0 to 5, with 5 being the worst. The other question would be to have them write in the number of days they were sick.





* when you tally the results, you can compare the average of the severity ratings and average number of flu days for people with and without vaccines, and by age and sex.





* it might also be interesting to add two more questions: how frequently do you get the flu ( less than once a year; 1-2 times per year, etc.) and how many times have you had a flu shot in the last 5 years?