Questionaires

Question 1

what are questionnaires

Answer 1

• list of questions that are written or self completion questionnaires
• used in large social social surveys

Question 2

closed ended questions

Answer 2

• respondents choose from a limited range of possible answers like ‘yes’ ‘no’ ‘don’t know’ rather than multiple choice questions

Question 3

open ended questions

Answer 3

• respondents are free to give whatever answer they wish in their own words without any pre- selected choices

Question 4

practical advantages

Answer 4

• quick and cheap which means gathering large amounts of data from large number of people (widely geographically spread) is easy
• don’t need to recruit or train researchers
• data is easy to quantify due to pre- coded, closed ended questions

Question 5

reliability adavantages

Answer 5

• they allow comparisons by asking same questions we can compare differences
• can be repeated and obtain similar data

Question 6

hypothesis testing advantages

Answer 6

• questionnaires useful for testing hypothesis about cause and effect relationships between variables
• E.G: educational achievement analysis of different achievement levels

Question 7

detachment and objectivity advantage

Answer 7

POSITIVISTS: favour questionnaires because they are detached and objective

• E.G: postal questionnaires are posted and completed without the presence of the researcher

Question 8

representativeness advantage

Answer 8

• can collect information from a large number of people which makes the data representative
• allows us to make accurate generalisations about the wider population from which the sample was drawn

Question 9

practical disadvantages

Answer 9

• limited and superficial since they are brief and most respondents are most likely to not complete and return the questionnaire which limits the data
• researchers don’t know if people have actually received it or whether a returned questionnaire was completed

Question 10

low response rate disadvantages

Answer 10

• depends if respondents are bothered to complete the questionnaires
• some questionnaires use complex language which only the well educated complete
• respondents may lie, forget or exaggerate their answers

Question 11

inflexibility disadvantages

Answer 11

• once the questionnaire has been finalised the researcher is stuck with the questions they have deiced to ask and cant explore new areas of interest

Question 12

detachment disadvantages

Answer 12

• INTERPRETIVISTS: lacks validity and does not give a true picture of what has been studied
• we can only gain validity by using methods that get close to the subjects and share their meanings
• lack of contact means there is no way to clarify any misunderstandings

Question 13

why do Positivists favour questionnaires

Answer 13

• standardised questions and answers produce reliable data due to being able to replicate
• pre- coded responses produce quantitative data to measure behaviour patterns
• large scale; representative

Question 14

why do Interpretivists reject questionnaires

Answer 14

• lacks validity which tells us little about the meanings held by social actors