Questionnaires

Question 1

Open Questions

Answer 1

Gives participant freedom to say whatever they want without having a restricted answer
E.g. Do you enjoy school?

ADVANTAGES:
-Produce detail rich qualitative answers allowing researchers to gain new ideas

DISADVANTAGES:
-Open questions hard to analyse due to large number of possible answers, so harder to draw conclusions

Question 2

Closed Questions

Answer 2

Provide a fixed set of responses
E.g. On a scale of 1-5…

ADVANTAGES:
-Produce quantitative data which is easier to analyse

DISADVANTAGES:
-Ps forced to select answers that don’t represent true feelings, so validity is lowered

Question 3

General Evaluation

Answer 3

ADVANTAGES:
-Easy to repeat so data can be collected from large samples
-Ps more likely to reveal true/ personal info in a questionnaire compared to face-to-face

DISADVANTAGES:
-Questions subjective to interpretation from Ps
-Social desirability bias means people may respond in a way that puts them in a good light
-Leading questions cause Ps to respond differently, affecting validity of data