questionnaires

Question 1

what is a questionnaire?

Answer 1

A written self-report technique where participants are given a pre-set number of questions to respond to (thoughts, feelings and experiences).

Can be done in person, by post, online, over the telephone etc

Question 2

what are strengths of using a questionnaire?

Answer 2

• allows both qualitative and quantitative data about how respondents feel and think to be collected.
• surveys can gather large amounts of data and involve large samples
• not time consuming to administer - can be conducted in person, online, over the phone etc.
• if standardised can be considered reliable (test - re -test).
• validity can be checked - Face, predictive, concurrent.

Question 3

what are weaknesses of using a questionnaire?

Answer 3

• social desirability bias may lower the validity (accuracy) of the responses.
• can be time consuming to analyse the data, especially qualitative.
• types of data collected has implications (weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative data)

Question 4

what type of questions can be used in a questionnaire?

Answer 4

• open
• closed - likert scale, rating scales, ranked scales

Question 5

what are closed questions?

Answer 5

Have preset fixed answers produce quantitative data eg. YES/NO

Question 6

types of closed questions

Answer 6

• Likert Scale (how strongly the pp. agrees with a statement)
• Rating Scales (how stressed do you feel? 1 = not very, 10 = very)
• Ranked Scales (Ranking choices in preference 1st, 2nd, 3rd).

Question 7

strengths of using closed questions

Answer 7

• standardised, preset responses mean the questions are reliable as they can be replicated.
• easy to analyse as they usually gather quantitative data, which can be summarised as a graph.

Question 8

weaknesses of using closed questions

Answer 8

• data lacks detail and depth as it is in the form of numbers, respondents can’t develop answers as they can with qualitative.
• low validity as respondents are restricted to numerical or preset responses which may not accurately represent their thoughts, feelings, experiences etc.
• scales can be subjectively interpreted ie. two pps may feel exactly the same level of stress but will record rating differently on the scale eg. 7 and 9.

Question 9

what are open questions?

Answer 9

allows pps. to answer freely and in detail, gathers qualitative data.

always use words such as: Explain, Describe

Question 10

weaknesses of using open questions

Answer 10

• harder and more time consuming to analyse compared to quantitative data because the mean can’t be calculated and it can’t be displayed on a graph, but Thematic Analysis can be used to quantify responses ( aka difficult to convert to statistical data)
• analysing qualitative data may suffer from bias as the interpretation is more subjective (open to interpretation) than compared to the analysis of quantitative data - less valid

Question 11

strengths of using open questions

Answer 11

• qualitative data is gathered - allows respondents to elaborate on their thoughts, feelings, experiences etc.
• responses are more likely to be valid as responses aren’t restricted and the respondent can elaborate