Questionnaires Flashcards
What are questionnaires a form of?
social survey
How can questionnaires be distributed?
distributed to homes, emailed, done on the spot
What are the two types of questions?
closed
open ended
What is a closed question?
plus example
choose from a range of answers which researcher has already chosen
e.g multiple choice
What is an open ended question?
respondents free to give any answer and no pre-selected answers
What is a likert scale?
respondents answer by rating
e.g how confident are you with exams between 1-5, 1 being not at all, 5 being very confident
Who likes questionnaires?
positivists
practical advantages of questionnaires:
quick, cheap and efficient
no training needed
ethical advantages of questionnaires:
anonymity and confidentiality
pose fewer ethical issues than other methods
theoretical advantages of questionnaires:
reliability
representativeness
detachment and objectivity
What did Connor and Dewson find?
what type of advantage/disadvantage is it?
posted 4000 questionnaires to uni students
means findings could be generalised
PRACTICAL ADVANTAGE
Practical disadvantages of questionnaires:
-data collected can be limited and superficial
-money
-inflexibility
-language
-postal/online questionnaires (don’t know if it has been received/completed by right person)
ethical disadvantages of questionnaires:
sensitive data - can’t build rapport
theoretical disadvantages of questionnaires:
right answerism
low response rate
What did Schofield find?
what type of advantage/disadvantage is it?
asked young girl if she was a virgin and she replied ‘not yet’
THEORETICAL DISADVANTAGE
What did Taki find?
what type of advantage/disadvantage is it?
research in Hungary about Piresa immigration
68% said they shouldn’t be allowed in but Piresa isn’t a real place so don’t always get truthful answers
THEORETICAL DISADVANTAGE
What did Shere Hite’s find?
what type of advantage/disadvantage is it?
study on ‘love, passion and emotional violence’
sent 100,000 questionnaires and only a 4.5% response rate
THEORETICAL DISADVANTAGE
What does Cicourel say about detachment?
lacks validity as it doesn’t give true full picture
can’t clarify questionnaires or overcome misunderstandings
interpretivists views on imposing researchers meanings:
more likely to impose researchers views than respondents due to predetermined answers that don’t allow respondents to express what they think is important
close ended-have to fit views to answer
open ended - have to make open ended quantitative so not full truth
