Questionnaires (20) Flashcards
Questionnaire
A questionnaire is a list of pre-set questions to which the participants are asked to answer. A written questionnaire will require the participant to answer the questions in writing. A spoken questionnaire is an interview.
Questionnaire Introduction
Large amounts of data from a large geographically dispersed area.
Can contain closed or open questions or even a mixture of both
Closed questionnaires: are very structured with the participant having a few set answers to choose from
Open Questionnaires aren’t as structured and participants have more freedom to write down their own answers
Postal or self-complete questionnaires are when the participant picks up or is sent a questionnaire which they fill out themselves and return by post or via the internet.
Reliability of Questionnaires
Produces data that is highly reliable if well-designed and subsequently objective because then another researcher conducting the same Questionaire should be able to repeat it and achieve similar results.
The reliability of questionnaires means that if we do find differences in answers, then we can be reasonably certain that this is because the opinions of the respondents have changed over time. For this reason, questionnaires are a good method for conducting longitudinal research where the change over time is measured.
Representativeness of Questionnaires
They can be used for reaching larger and consequently more representative samples of people since the questionnaire can simply be handed or posted out to hundreds or even thousands of people. Postal questionnaires can be used if the research population is geographically dispersed across the country or if information is required from different regions for comparative purposes.
Should be more representative of the wider population than with more qualitative methods.
(Representativeness) Response Rates
You don’t know who completes it. Questionnaires, especially if they guarantee anonymity, are useful for research that intends to ask embarrassing or sensitive questions such as sexual behaviour. Postal questionnaires suffer worse response rates. It can be difficult to motivate people to return postal questionnaires.
(Representativeness)
Low Response Rate Example (Hite)
Hite’s study of ‘love, passion, and emotional violence’ in America sent out 100, 000 questionnaires but only 4.5% of them were returned
(Representativeness) Self Completion Issues
All self-completion questionnaires also suffer from the problem of a self-selecting sample which makes the research unrepresentative.
Only certain types of people are more likely to complete questionnaires, literate people, people with plenty of time, or people who get a positive sense of self-esteem when completing questionnaires.
Somewhat counteracted when using postal areas as they can be sent out in a geographically diverse manner.
Representativeness Example (Love, Passion and Emotional Violence Survey)
Love, Passion and Emotional Violence survey was sent out in magazines distributed to three countries (USA, UK and France)
But also limited to the readers of the magazine
Validity of Questionnaires (Low)
Questionnaires may not generate data that is high in validity.
The researcher chooses the questions, they are deciding what is important rather than the respondent, and with closed-ended questions, the respondent has to fit their answers into what’s on offer.
The result is that the respondent may not be able to express themselves in the way that wants to. The structure of the questionnaire thus distorts the respondents’ meanings and undermines the validity of the data
The danger of questionnaires is that respondents may interpret the question in a different way.
The detached nature of questionnaires and the lack of close contact between researcher and respondent means that there is no way to guarantee that the respondents are interpreting the questions in the same way.
This is especially true where very complex topics are involved.
Low Validity Example (Schofield)
Schofield: in his questionnaire about the sexual lives of young people had one respondent reply to the question ‘are you a virgin?’ with ‘no, not yet”
Practical Considerations of Questionnaires
It is possible to research very large samples as it is both quick and relatively cheap in comparison to other methods.
When questions are pre-coded and standardised, analysing the results is a relatively quick process.
When researchers have to negotiate ‘gatekeepers’ (such as head teachers), it may be easier to access their sample through questionnaires than through interviews or observation.
Questionnaires are a quick and cheap means of gathering large amounts of data from large numbers of people, even if they are widely dispersed geographically if the questionnaire is sent by post or conducted online. It is difficult to see how any other research method could provide 10s of millions of responses as is the case with the UK national census.
Practical Considerations of Questionnaires (Self Completion and Incentives)
With self-completion questionnaires, there is no need to recruit and train interviewers, which reduces cost
Quick to analyse once it has been collected.
Online questionnaires, pre-coded questions can be updated live.
Questionnaires need to be brief means you can only ever get relatively superficial data from them, thus for many topics, they will need to be combined with more qualitative methods to achieve more insight.
Structured Interviews are also considerably more expensive than self-completion questionnaires.
Although questionnaires are a relatively cheap form of gathering data, it might be necessary to offer incentives for people to return them. This can help improve internet low response rates.
Practical Considerations of Questionnaires (Incentives) Example
Haste-Joined up Texting: A survey investigating the texting habits of young people gave £1000 to participating schools
Ethical Considerations
Usually ethically sound.
Postal questionnaires can be conducted in private so full informed consent as a brief will come with the questionnaire.
Can choose whether to participate in a fully informed way.
socially sensitise topics should be avoided to avoid any potential harm or distress to participants.
Conducted confidentiality and anonymously as they can hide behind stats.
Fully informed consent and no deception may lead to ‘right answerism’-lie so they look good, normal and not misrepresent themselves
Positivists Interpretation Of Questionnaires
Positivists favour questionnaires because they are a detached and objective (unbiased) method, where the sociologist’s personal involvement with respondents is kept to a minimum.
A researcher’s hypothesis should be proven or proven wrong with the results of the questionnaire.
Positivist prefer because they deliver reliable data e.g. Replicable due to using same set of questions/Interpretative don’t like as no detail
Positivist sociologists are very keen on using questionnaires, which they argue are scientific because they are high in reliability. It is argued that if a questionnaire is well designed and questions are neutral and objective (that is, not leading, loaded and so on), another researcher using the same questionnaire should be able to repeat it and achieve similar results. It is, therefore, a standardised instrument of measurement.
Positivists are also keen on this method because it produces lots of statistical data which can be compared, correlated and turned into tables, charts and graphs.
