Questionnaires

Question 1

Practical advantages of questionnaires

Answer 1

• quick and cheap to gather large amounts of data
• no need to recruit and train interviewers or observers to collect the data, it’s made for the respondents to return it themselves
• the data is easy to quantify( close ended questions)

Question 2

Reliability of questionnaires

Answer 2

-it’s easy to repeat so the questionnaire is identical to the original one used with the same format( close ended)
-with online questionnaire there’s is no influence of the researcher
- allow comparisons over time between different societies by comparing the same questions with different answers

Question 3

Hypothesis testing

Answer 3

Because questionnaire enable us to identify possible causes it’s preferred by positivists because of the science approach

Question 4

Detachment and objectivity

Answer 4

Questionnaire are detached and objective- preferred by positivists:
For example postal questionnaires are completed at a distance and no influence bias

Question 5

Representativeness

Answer 5

Questionnaire aim for representativeness
And because you can collect information from a large amount of people it represents the wider population

Question 6

Ethical issues

Answer 6

• pose fewer ethical problems
• even if asked sensitive questions you are not obliged to answer

Question 7

Disadvantages- practical problems

Answer 7

• most people are unlikely to complete it which limits the amount of information that can be gathered
• cost may be high because prizes used to draw people in
  Postal and online questionnaires:
• whether the respondent has received the questionnaire
• whether the returned questionnaire was completed by who it was addressed

Question 8

Disadvantage- low response rate

Answer 8

-Less people return the questionnaires
In HITEs study in America she sent out 100,000 questionnaires but only 4.5 per cent returned
-those who return their questionnaires may be different than those who don’t
(For example part time and full time workers)- this will unrepresent the results then no generalisations can be made

Question 9

Disadvantage- inflexibility

Answer 9

-Once a questionnaire is set the researcher is limited to the questions set and can’t explore more areas of interest
-unlike unstructured interviews

Question 10

Disadvantage- Questionnaires as snapshots

Answer 10

Fail to produce a valid picture because they don’t capture people’s attitudes and behaviour change - this contrasts with participant observation

Question 11

Detachment

Answer 11

• postal questionnaires involve no direct contact between the researcher and respondent
• the lack of contract means there’s no way to clarify what the question means to the respondent and deal with the misunderstanding
• both the researcher and respondent might interpret something differently and detachment doesn’t help this

Question 12

Disadvantage- Lying, forgetting and ‘right answerism’

Answer 12

-Respondents may lie, forget, not know, not understand or try to please/ second guess the researcher
-reduces validity

Question 13

Disadvantage- imposing the researchers meanings

Answer 13

-by choosing the questions the researcher only has decided what’s important
- in close ended questions the respondents have to fit their view into the ones on offer - invalidity
-the wide range of answers in open ended questions is hard to quantify and put into a category

Question 14

shipman

Answer 14

when the researchers ideas are not the same as the respondents, ‘pruning and bending’ of data happens
-it distorts the respondents meaning and therefore decreases validity