questionnaires

Question 1

what is the strength of questionnaires in regards to representativeness? how is this achieved?

Answer 1

• reach larger and thus more representative samples of people
• because its handed out/ posted to many people

Question 2

what is the strength of questionnaires in regards to reaching different places?

Answer 2

• use postal questionnaires

- if research pop. is geographically dispersed or if info is needed from different regions for comparison

Question 3

what is the strength of questionnaires in regards to time and money?

Answer 3

• less time consuming

- cheaper

Question 4

what is the strength of questionnaires in regards to sensitive topics?

Answer 4

• if they guarantee anonymity, they’re useful for research that wants to ask sensitive or embarrassing questions

Question 5

what is the strength of questionnaires in regards to sociologist’s influence?

Answer 5

• It ensures that the sociologist has minimum contact with the respondent
• So wont influence results by being there during filling in

Question 6

What 3 reasons are positivist sociologists keen on questionnaires for?

Answer 6

• They say they’re scientific because they’re high in reliability
• if its designed well with neutral and objective questions, then another researcher could use the same questionnaire and achieve similar results = it’s a standardised instrument of measurement

Question 7

what is the weakness of questionnaires in regards to response?

Answer 7

• People not bothered to reply and so questionnaires suffer low response (or no response) rates
• Postal questionnaires suffer worst response rates
• If rate is less than 50% it undermines validity of results because they’re unlikely to reflect the social make-up of the research pop. that’s being investigated

Question 8

what is the weakness of questionnaires in regards to validity and who makes this criticism?

Answer 8

• Interpretivist sociologist criticise for producing data that’s low in validity
• It low because they say that real life is too complex to categorise into closed q’s and responses
• Thus, not suitable for uncovering motives for behaviour

Question 9

what is the weakness of questionnaires in regards to interpretation? who makes this criticism?

Answer 9

• interpretivists sat there’s chance that respondents may interpret questions in a different way to what the researcher intended
• since sociologist isn’t there to clarify misunderstandings, increases likelihood of misinterpretation of q’s = undermine validity of data

Question 10

what is the weakness of questionnaires in regards to impression management?

Answer 10

• people manage the impression other people have of them which can shape their responses in a questionnaire
• thus, people may lie or misrepresent themselves

Question 11

what is the weakness of questionnaires in regards to the imposition problem and who makes this argument?

Answer 11

• interpretivist sociologists
• questionnaires that use closed questions with tick-box responses suffer from imposition problem
• this means that it measures what sociologist thinks is important not the respondents experiences
• by choosing the questions and responses, the sociologist has mapped out the respondent’s experiences
• respondents may also be forced to tick boxes that only approximate their views, experiences etc.