2.1 RM - Questionnaires Flashcards
What are open questions?
No fixed answer, the respondent has the freedom to answer in their own words
What are closed questions?
Fixed answers
The resonant chooses their answers from a few preselected ones - usually by ticking boxes
What are practical strengths if questionnaires?
- Quick and cheap
- no interviewers to pay
- cover a large area
- data is easy to record and analyse
- data can be easily quantified
- no personal risk to researcher
What are some practical weaknesses of questionnaires?
- inflexible - fixed questions
- limited superficial data that lacks depth
- hard to operationalise concepts
- can’t be sure if the respondent got the questionnaire or if they were the one who filled it in
What are some ethical strengths of questionnaires?
- informed consent
- confidentiality
- right to withdraw
What is an ethical weakness of questionnaires?
Can cause harm if asking sensitive or obtrusive questions
What are some reliability strengths of questionnaires?
- repeatable - send out same questionnaire
- easy to make comparisons
- no chance of interviewer influencing responses
What are some representative strengths of questionnaires?
- able to reach a large sample - likely to be representative
* if posted/ emailed able to select a random sample
What are some representative weaknesses of questionnaires?
- skewed samples
* poor response rates
What is a skewed sample?
A sample where too many of one group respond
Why do questionnaires have poor response rates?
People can’t be bothered to complete them
What are some valid strengths of questionnaires?
- Good for factual data
- objective and detached - less researcher bias
- good for testing hypothesis - cause and effect relationships
What are some validity weaknesses of questionnaires?
- snapshot in time - can’t capture change
- can’t develop verstehen
- can’t clarify questions and answers
- social desirability
What are some types of questionnaires?
Phone Online Posted Self completed Open questions Closed questions
What are questionnaires?
A series of pre chosen questions that are posted, emailed or handed to respondents for self completion. They mainly use closed questions.