Designing Questionnaire Surveys Flashcards
(23 cards)
Why use a questionnaire?
Allows you to collect data from large numbers
Time efficient and cost effective
Allows you to collect information directly from people in a systematic and standardised way - easy to apply statistical analyses to describe and interpret your data
Why use a questionnaire continued:
Surveys are useful when your research questions are best answered by the people themselves
Enables you to generalise beyond your sample to describe the behaviour of your population of interest
What the different kinds of surveys?
Postal, face to face, telephone, online, or a combination of these
May be at a single or multiple points
May collect quantitative or qualitative data or both
What are,different response options?
Open vs closed
Likerts scale
Visual analogue scale
Graphic rating scale
What are examples of measurement of wellbeing surveys from positive psychology?
Eurobarometer
European social survey
World values social survey
World database of happiness
What surveys measure personality?
Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory
Personality assessment inventory
What are personality assessments used for?
Refine clinical diagnosis
Structure and inform psychological interventions
Increase the accuracy of behavioural prediction in a variety of contexts and settings e.g. Clinical, forensic, organisational, educational
What representations of illness do the health psychology questionnaires measure?
Timeline acute/chronic Timeline cyclical Consequences Personal control Treatment control Emotional representation Coherence
What is coping in relation to illness representations?
Coping is ‘cognitive, behavioural and emotional ways that people manage stressful situations’
Approach orientated coping, problem solving
Avoidance strategies
Why now for precision behaviour-change interventions?
Health behaviours explain the most in individual health variations
Digital health technologies are persuasive, personal, and potentially powerful
What are the 6 stages of doing a survey?
Planning and survey design Data collection Data preparation and management Data analysis Reporting Dissemination
What questions do you ask when designing a questionnaire survey?
What kind of questions do you want to ask?
Is there an existing (valid and reliable measure)?
Who do you want to respond to your survey? And how will you acces these people?
How will you maximise your response rate?
It is best to use an existing measure but where would you find these measures for your survey?
The UK Data Service Variable and question bank contains over 450,000 variables, with over 250,000 containing text/responses (1971-2011)
Covers most of the recent major UK surveys and longitudinal studies
Where else can I find a measure?
Scientific papers published in academic journals
Databases of questionnaires
What options can you choose for your response options for your survey? And what is the most used?
Visual analogue
Graphic scales
Likert scales - most popular
How do you ask good questions?
Good questions; Make sense to the participants Use conventional, easy to understand, language Are appropriate in length Use loaded words cautiously
What should you avoid when writing questionnaire questions?
Being vague Asking complex questions Asking double negative questions Using appreciations acronyms or jargon Asking objectionable or value laden questions Ask leading questions Asking open ended questions unless necessary Asking double barrelled questions
What are the three main things to remember when writing a questionnaire?
Keep it focused
Brief
Clear
How do you choose your sample?
Who or what is the focus of your study?
How might you identify them?
What are their characteristics?
What are some problems to watch out for? And how would you solve the problem?
Response bias - also called response/acquiescence set (vary items content or response options, include some negatively worded items)
Social desirability bias - avoid leading questions, use neutral language, don’t give participants information sheet with the research question clearly stated
What are some further problems that could occur?
Non-response error (bias)
Answers of respondents differ from the potential answers of those who did not answer
What are strengths of questionnaire surveys?
Allows you to collect data from large number of people
Time efficient and cost effective
Allows you to collect information directly from people I’m a systematic and standardised way
Enables you to generalise beyond your sample to describe the behaviour of your population of interest
What are some limitations?
Something’s cannot be so easily measured
