questionnaires Flashcards
practical advantages
quick and cheap
gather large amounts of data from large numbers of people
wide geographical spread
no need to recruit and train interviewers or observers
easy to quantify
pre-coded, closed ended questions are used so can be processed quickly by computers to reveal the relationships between the variables
useful for testing hypotheses about cause and effect relationships between different variables
ethical advantages
pose fewer ethical problems
may ask intrusive sensitive questions
respondents are generally under no obligations to answer them
researchers should gain respondents informed consent
guarantee their anonymity
should be clear that the respondents have the right not to answer any of the questions that they don’t want to
theoretical advantages
reliable method of collecting data
research repeated with an identical questionnaire, respondents are asked exactly the same questions, in the same order with the same choices.
postal or online questionnaires there is no researcher present to influence the respondent’s answers
can easily be repeated by another researcher
any differences in answers can be assumed that they are a result of real differences and not different questions
allow comparisons over time and between different societies
theoretical advantages for positivists
questionnaires allow them to take a scientific approach
they can discover laws of cause and effect
they are detached and objective - unbiased method
sociologist’s personal involvement with the respondent is kept to a minimum
truly representative due to the large number of people surveyed
give more attention to gaining a representative sample
more able to make accurate generalisations about the wider population from which the sample was drawn
practical disadvantages
data tends to be limited and superficial
respondents unlikely to complete and return a lengthy survey -limiting the content of information
it may be necessary to offer incentives for completing a survey -adding to the cost
for postal and online questionnaires:
- has the respondent received the questionnaire?
-was the returned questionnaire actually completed by the person it
was sent to?
low response rates can be a major problem
hite (1991) 100,000 questionnaires sent out, only 4.5% returned
follow up questionnaire and collecting by hand can increase the response rate but increases the cost
non-response caused by poor questionnaire design
complex language - only completed by the well-educated
inflexible method
stuck with the questions, cannot explore other areas of interest
ethical disadvantages
may not be able to ensure the participant has given / ability to give informed consent
data protection guidelines require sensitive information to be stored appropriately - people trust the researcher with their sensitive details - lost memory stick / stolen laptop puts this at risk
theoretical disadvantages
questionnaires are snapshots of social reality
not a valid picture
don’t capture way people’s attitudes and values change
cicourel (1968) doesn’t give a true picture of what has been studied
most detached of all primary methods
postal questionnaires mean no direct contact between researcher and respondent
depend on respondent’s willingness to provide full and accurate answers
may lie, forget, don’t know, not understand
try to please, second guess the researcher, give ‘respectable’ answers
impose the researcher’s meanings onto the respondent
closed ended questions - the respondent has to fit their answer into the option that best fits
cannot provide an alternative answer - invalid picture
open ended questions means they are harder to code, researcher may put them all into the same category
theoretical:
positivists vs interpretivists
positivists:
· reliable data - standardised questions
. generalisable
· representative - large scale
· produce quantitative data
. replicable by other researchers
· establish cause and effect relationships
interpretivists:
. questionnaires impose the researcher’s meaning onto the respondents
. don’t know about the meanings held by the social actors
· fail to achieve validity
. observational methods can see what the subjects actually do rather than what they say they do
connor and dewson (2001)
posted nearly 14,000 questionnaires to students at 14 he institutions around the country
studying factors influencing the decisions of working-class to go to university
hite (1991)`
sent out 10,000 questionnaires in the usa
study on love, passion and emotional violence
4.5% response rate
cicourel (1968)
interpretivist
argues that data from questionnaires lack validity
shipman (1997)
the imposition problem limits the validity of social surveys
when the researcher’s categories are not the respondent’s categories, ‘pruning and bending’ of the data is inevitable
practical issues in schools:
advantages
questionnaires are quick and cheap to produce large amounts of data
rutter (1979) data from 12 inner london secondary schools
rutter correlated achievement, behaviour & class attendance with
variables eg school size, class size, no’ of staff; this would have been difficult via other methods eg interviews, observation
practical issues in schools:
disadvantages
data generated by questionnaires is limited and superficial
rutter’s data provided correlations between variables eg class size and achievement, but no explanations for the correlations
children need to be able to read and understand the questions, so unsuitable for young children, those with certain learning difficulties
children have shorter attention span so questionnaire has to
be shorter, limiting data gathered
children less life experience & may not ‘know the answer’ ‘grapevine’ talking about questionnaire may affect later responses & reduce validity
teacher knowledge of questionnaires may help them to see through it and affect their answers
