2.3 Research Methods - Questionnaires Flashcards
What are QUESTIONNAIRES?
Questionnaires are a form of social survey. Questionnaires can be distributed to people at
home, emailed or completed on the spot.
Participants are asked to provide answers to pre-set questions. There are 2 types of questions: CLOSED and OPEN ended
Some questionnaires combine both closed and open-ended questions. There may also be a likert scale, where respondents answer by rating eg. How confident do you feel with your exams between 1-5, 5 being confident, 1 being not confident.
What are CLOSED QUESTIONS?
Respondents choose from a range of possible answers which the researcher has decided in advance, similar to multiple-choice.
WHAT ARE OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS?
Respondents are free to give whatever answer they wish, there are no pre-selected answers.
QUESTIONNAIRES: who likes it?
Questionnaires are useful for testing hypotheses about cause and effect relationships. For this reason, questionnaires are favoured by positivists.
PRACTICAL advantages of QUESTIONNAIRES
Quick, cheap and efficient: can gather large amounts of data from large numbers of people and over a geographical area.
Easy to quantify: (especially if pre-coded and close ended questions used), and can be processed quickly by a computer to reveal relationships.
Training: No need to recruit and train interviewers as participants complete and return questionnaires themselves.
ETHICAL advantages of QUESTIONNAIRES
Questionnaires tend to pose fewer ethical issues than other research methods. Whilst they may ask intrusive/sensitive questions, respondents can choose not to answer these. The questions are also pre-determined, so you can word them carefully.
Anonymity and confidentiality: Researchers can guarantee that their detail are kept secret and make it clear they have a right not to answer certain questions.
THEORETICAL advantages of QUESTIONNAIRES
Reliability -Questionnaires are seen to be very reliable – they are likely to produce similar results if they were to be repeated therefore they allow comparisons. If research is repeated with an identical questionnaire is used – they’re asked the same questions in the same order, with the same choice of answers. With postal/online questionnaires, there is no researcher present to influence respondent’s answers. If differences are found we can assume this is because of real differences – not differences in questions asked.
Representativeness: Questionnaires can collect data from a large number of people and so are more likely to be representative of the wider population. Researchers using questionnaires tend to pay more attention to collecting data from a representative sample, therefore are able to make accurate generalisations. CONNOR AND DEWSON
Detached Method: no bias
PRACTICAL disadvantages of QUESTIONNAIRES
Data collected can be limited and superficial - questionnaires tend to be fairly brief as respondents would be unlikely to complete a lengthy, time-consuming questionnaires.
Money: Sometimes need to offer incentives, Eg. prize draws which can add to the cost.
Postal/online questionnaires: We cannot be sure the potential respondent has received the questionnaire or whether the questionnaire was completed by the person to whom it was
addressed.
Inflexibility: Questionnaires are inflexible – the questions are fixed and cannot be changed, therefore no new areas of interest can be explored.
Language: Sometimes questionnaires use complex language so some people may not fully understand the questionnaires and you can’t clarify questions when self- completed.
ETHICAL disadvantages of QUESTIONNAIRES
Sensitive data: People are answering these questions on their own as it is a detached method, so you cannot build a rapport (a relationship) to help the participant to feel comfortable.
THEORETICAL disadvantages of QUESTIONNAIRES
“Right answerism”: Respondents may lie, not know, forget, not understand or try to please or second guess the researcher. Some feel they should give “respectable” answers, as opposed to the truth. This can affect the validity.
Low Response Rate: Questionnaires often have low response rates, few people who are sent questionnaires actually complete them. Low response rate means those who complete could be different from those who don’t. Eg. people who work full time may be unlikely to complete, those unemployed or socially isolated would be more likely to complete and those who have strong views on a subject would be more likely to respond. This can create distorted/unrepresentative results that can’t be generalised.
Questionnaires as snapshots: impact validity, only that moment
Detachment: Cicourel, no true picture
Imposing researchers meanings:
Interpretivists argue questionnaires are more likely to impose the researcher’s own meanings rather than reveal those of the respondent, they fit their views into the answers
QUESTIONNAIRES: Schofield
Schofield (1965) conducted research on the sexual behaviour of teenagers. A young girl was asked “Are you a virgin?” to which she answered “not yet”. This is one example of how respondents may not understand the question being asked.
QUESTIONNAIRES: Tarki
Tarki (2007) – a research centre in Hungary carried out some research around immigrants from Piresa.68% of respondents said people from Piresa should not be allowed in the country and they were seen as scroungers. However there was no such country as Piresa, researchers had made this up to test tolerance of Hungarians. This shows how questionnaires do not always get truthful results.
QUESTIONNAIRES: Shere Hite
Shere Hite’s (1991) study on “love, passion and emotional violence” sent 100,000 questionnaires with only a 4.5% response rate.
How to improve RESPONSE RATE of QUESTIONNAIRES
• Financial incentives
• Short questionnaires
• Coloured ink
• Accompanied with personalised letter
• Sent 1st class with return envelope
• Contacting participants before sending the questionnaire
• Follow up contact
• Designed to appeal to interests of participants
