Questionnaires

Question 1

What is an open question

Answer 1

Questions which require detailed answers more than a simple yes or no response

Question 2

What are closed questions

Answer 2

Questions which require short responses such as yes or no

Question 3

What is right answerism

Answer 3

Providing answers which respondent feels is the right answer rather than what they actually feel

Question 4

What is a leading question

Answer 4

Question that prompts or encourages the answer wanted

Question 5

Triangulation

Answer 5

Checking data using another research method

Question 6

What is a pilot study

Answer 6

A small scale trial run of a study done before the full study

Question 7

What is response rate

Answer 7

The proportion of those who are sent the questionnaire who actually complete it and send it back

Question 8

What is the census

Answer 8

A structure postal/ online questionnaire that collects data on every single household and everyone is legally required to take part in

Question 9

What is Hites research

Answer 9

He sent out 100k questionnaires on love passion and emotional violence in America 4.5% where returned

Question 10

What is Schofield research

Answer 10

They researched the sexual behaviours of teenagers in 1965. A girl was asked are you a virgin and she said no not yet

Question 11

What is a practical strength of questions and link to studies

Answer 11

+ QUICK AND CHEAP ones created it is relatively quick and cheap to post the questions and is sent by email is free. For THE CENSUS it means that its cheap to get info on all households allowing for a large sample

Question 12

What are the practical limitations of questionnaires

Answer 12

• LOW RESPONSE RATE typically few are completed and returned and there could be a particular type of person who is likely to return e.g. retired. This could lead to a skewed unrepresentative sample HITE had a response rate of 4.5% due to his sensitive topic
• inflexible as questions are fixed and no extra questions can be asked to explore new areas of interest

Question 13

What are the ethical strengths of questionnaires

Answer 13

+ANONYMITY ppts can complete the questionnaire without the researcher even knowing who they are. They are under no obligation to complete it

Question 14

what are the ethical weaknesses of questionnaires

Answer 14

-INSENSITIVE they don’t allow researcher to put ppts at ease when answering questions on sensitive topic ( mental health, abuse, family life ) . They cannot provide any support which could result in psychological harm

Question 15

What are the theoretical strengths of questionnaires

Answer 15

+ REPRESENTATIVENESS large samples are possible due to it being quick and cheap . Increasing the generalisability of the results to wider target population. THE CENSUS collects data on every household in the uk so is highly represenatative .

+ RELIABLE if repeated by a different researcher,results would be the same because same Qs are asked . No researcher is present to influence ppts response. Also very easy to retest and procedure very standardised . THE CENSUS is the questions for everyone every 10 years

Question 16

What are the theoretical weaknesses of questionnaires

Answer 16

VALIDITY

-RIGHT ANSWERISM - they might second guess what the researcher is looking for . The might lie and give the socially desirable answer.

• structured questionnaires often have fixed responses so ppts may not be able to give their honest answer
• ppts may MISUNDERSTAND the question and the researcher isn’t present to clarity answer leads to invalid answer. In SCHOFIELDS study a girl was asked if she was a virgin and she said no not yet. Clearly she misunderstood the question leading to an invalid answer

Question 17

What type of sociologists tend to use them

Answer 17

Positivist