questionnaires

Question 1

What are practical advantages of this method?

Answer 1

• they are quick and cheap and can cover a
  large scale geographically as it is easy to
  post them (validity)
• there is no need to train interviewers or
  observers to collect data
• the data is easy to quantify, particularly
  where pre-coded, close ended questions
  are used

Question 2

What are the practical disadvantages of this method?

Answer 2

• data from this method tends to be limited
  as respondents are unlikely to complete a
  long, time consuming questionnaire
• incentives (such as costly rewards) may
  need to be added to persuade participants
  to respond

Question 3

What are theoretical advantages of this method?

Answer 3

positivists favour this method because questionnaires are detached and objective and can gather data on a large scale as it doesn’t involve direct contact with participants

Question 4

What are the theoretical disadvantages of this method?

Answer 4

interpretivists reject the use of questionnaires because they impose the researcher’s framework of ideas on respondents - fail to achieve a good level of validity as it doesn’t tell us the meaning behind social behaviour

Question 5

What are the ethical issues of this method?

Answer 5

questionnaires tend to pose little to none ethical issues; respondents have the agency to maintain anonymity and choose whether or not they answer intrusive questions

Question 6

What did Cicourel argue?

Answer 6

questionnaires lack validity as we can only gain a valid picture by using methods that allow us to get close to the subjects of this study and share their meanings