Questionnaires Flashcards
What is a questionnaire?
A printed series of questions used to gather information on a certain topic
What do self-report techniques allow people to do?
Provide information without presence of a researcher
What are most surveys carried out on?
Representative samples so the researcher can generalise the findings to the wider population
What survey doesn’t use a sample but the entire population?
The census
What do questionnaires allow researchers to do?
Gain information from a large sample of participants relatively quickly, efficiently and cheaply
How can questionnaire be conducted?
By post, telephone, via the Internet or left for participants to collect for some central point
What type of data is produced from questionnaires?
Both qualitative and quantitative
When doing a questionnaire what is it good practice to do?
Keep the number of questions to a minimum, use short questions, phrase questions clearly to avoid ambiguity or misunderstanding and avoid questions that are emotionally charged
Give two examples of well known questionnaires
Social Readjustment Rating Scale (Holmes and Rahe 1967) and Hassles and Uplifts (Kanner et al 1981)
What are the three main types of question in a questionnaire?
Closed questions, open-ended questions and leading questions
What does the researcher determine in closed questions?
The range of possible answers that the respondent can pick from
When are closed questions best?
When only straightforward data is needed
What type of data is produced from closed questions?
Quantitative data
What is one negative of closed questions?
Data may lack realism because participants have to pick one of the answers that already exist
What is an open ended question?
A question that is not restricted by a range of answers
