Questionnaires Flashcards
Give the 3 ways to distribute questionnaires
Post
Face to face
Email
Give an advantage and disadvantage of posted questionnaires
Ad - old people can reply easier than on email
Disad - low response rate
Give an example of low response rates postal questionnaires
Hite - sent out 100,000 questionnaires and only got 4.5% back
Give an advantage and disadvantage of face to face questionnaires
Ad - high response rate
Disad - Hawthorne effect means less valid
Give an advantage and disadvantage of email questionnaires
Ad - low cost
Disad - relies on technology and competent use of it
Define closed ended questions
Questions that provide a limited amount of answers
Who uses closed ended questions and why?
Positivists because they are quantitative data
Give 3 types of closed ended questions
Dichotomy - yes or no
Rating - 1 to 10
Likert - always, sometimes, never
Give an advantage of closed ended questions
Easy to analyse and draw conclusions
Give a disadvantage of closed ended questions
Questions may not contain their true answer so lack validity
Define open ended questions
People write their interpretations in their own words
Who uses open ended questions and why?
Interpretivists because it is qualitative data
Give an advantage of open ended questions
More detailed and valid responses
Give a disadvantage of open ended questions
Hard to analyse and are not generalisable
Give 2 practical advantages of questionnaires
Quicker and cheaper
Quantitative data is easy to analyse
Give 2 ethical advantages of questionnaires
Participants nearly always have to give consent
Not dangerous for the researcher
Give 2 theoretical advantages of questionnaires
Open ended questions give high validity
Closed ended questions give high reliability
Give 2 practical disadvantages of questionnaires
They are expensive
Low response rate
Give 2 ethical disadvantages of questionnaires
Might not be voluntary (not informed consent)
Intrusive questions - protection from harm
Give 2 theoretical disadvantages
Might not understand the question - making it less valid
Tick boxes mean people have to prune their real answers making it less valid
Give an example of a non voluntary questionnaire
The Census which requires every household in the UK to complete it or else there is a £1000 fine and a criminal record
Give an example of a questionnaire where the participant did not understand the question
Schofield - “are you a virgin?” “Not yet”
Give 3 ways of ensuring reliability in questionnaires
Use the same questions for every participant
Ask questions in a standardised way
Do not use face to face interaction
Give 3 ways of ensuring validity in questionnaires
Ensure participants understand all questions
Make sure there are sufficient options
Carry out a pilot study to identify problems
Give 3 ways to ensure ethics in questionnaires
Make sure informed consent is given
Avoid sensitive questions
Offer a debrief on how research will be used
