questionaires Flashcards
advantages of questionnaires (cost)
more cost-effective than interviews
advantages of questionnaires (sample size)
easy to get data from a large group of people
advantages of questionnaires (ease of access)
participants can participate where and when they like
advantages of questionnaires (anonymity)
participant anonymity
advantages of questionnaires (extraneous variables)
no interviewer effects
advantages of questionnaires (standardisation)
standardisation of questions
disadvantages of questionnaires (quality)
problems with quality of data due to completeness and accuracy of responses
disadvantages of questionnaires (detail)
unable to further explore responses
disadvantages of questionnaires (misunderstandings)
misunderstandings cant be corrected
disadvantages od questionnaires (reliability)
impossible to check wether responses are honest
open ended questions
free response questions where participants are free to give any answers they want
closed questions
fixed response questions with pre determined list of options
advantages of open ended questions (freedom)
response freedom
advantages of open ended questions (probing)
researcher can probe for more detail (if questionnaire is given face-to-face)
advantages of open ended questions (usefulness)
useful in initial stages of project
disadvantages of open ended questions (time)
time consuming and greater effort required from respondent
disadvantages of open ended questions (researcher)
time consuming for researcher (eg coding )
advantages of closed questions (time)
quicker for respondent
advantages of closed questions (researcher)
fast and cheap for researcher
advantages of closed questions (results)
results are easy to communicate
advantages of closed questions (useful)
useful for hypothesis testing
disadvantages of closed questions (limited)
options limit responses
disadvantages of closed questions (fixed response)
fixed response may irritate participants
bipolar scales
reflect two opposing alternatives often with a midpoint
unipolar scales
varying levels of the same construct, no conceptual midpoint and often a 0 at one end
what should the length of questions be like
short and avoid excessively long answers
what should you avoid when writing questions
- double-barrelled questions
- negatives
- leading questions
what should you include in questions
‘dont know’ or N/A response
what type of words should be used in questions
simple words
how can questions concerned with the frequency of behaviour be problematic
participants may not see response options in the same way
how to resolve problems with frequency of behaviour questions
ask for actual frequency, give specific number ranges
probability sampling
all participants have an equal chance of being included in the sample
simple random sampling (probability sampling)
all participants in sampling frame have equal chance of being included in sample (picking out of a hat)
systematic random sampling (probability sampling)
participants selected from sampling frame according to random starting point and a fixed, periodic interval
stratified random sampling (probability sampling)
all participants have equal chance of being included (split sample into lots of hats and pick one from each hat)
cluster sampling (probability sampling)
participants randomly selected from sub-groups of a sample (naturally occurring groups eg post code)
advantages of probability sampling (representative)
more representative of target population
advantages of probability sampling (bias)
no experimenter bias
disadvantages of probability sampling (time)
time consuming
disadvantages of probability sampling (cost)
costly to implement
disadvantages of probability sampling (eligibility)
difficult to find list of eligible participants
disadvantages of probability sampling (refusal)
participants free to refuse
non-probability sampling
not equal chance of all participants being included in sample
convenience sampling (non-probability)
most common - based on availability of participants
purposive sampling (non-probability)
sample chosen based on subjective judgement -fulfil certain criteria
quota sampling (non-probability)
non-probabilistic version of stratified random sampling - divided into mutually exclusive groups
snowball sampling (non-probability)
existing study participants recruit future subjects from among their acquaintances
advantages of non-probability sampling (speed)
quicker and easy to select
advantages of non-probability sampling (cost)
more convenient and cheaper
disadvantages of non-probability sampling (bias)
researcher likely to display selection bias
disadvantages of non-probability sampling (representation)
less likely to be representative of target population
random sampling error
results from studying a sample rather than the whole population
systematic error
results from imperfections in research design or mistakes in research execution
what are the 2 main types of systematic error
1) respondent error
2) administrative error
what are the two types of respondent error
1) non-response error
2) response bias
deliberate falsification
deliberately giving the wrong answer
unconscious misunderstandings
unconsciously giving the wrong answer
aquiescence bias (response bias)
when in doubt participants tend to agree (say yes)
extremity bias (response bias)
some have tendencies to always use extremes when giving answers
interviewer bias (response bias)
presence of interviewer influences answers
auspices bias (response bias)
participants are influenced by the company that gives the questionnaire
social desirability bias (response bias)
participants give answers that they think will be viewed favourably
data processing error (administrative error)
procedural errors made during data processing stage
sampling selection error (administrative error)
errors caused by improper sampling design or execution
interviewer error (administrative error)
researcher misrecords results
interviewer cheating (administrative error)
researcher deliberately falsifies responses
