Questionnaires in child

Question 1

AO1: Description

Answer 1

• Standardised questions given to large groups of people
• Measures opinions and points of view
• Uses both open and closed questions (give examples of the types)
• Gains both Qualitative and Quantitative data
• Li uses questionnaires (or rather the NICHD where she got her data from did) about children’s behaviour
• Often will be completed by the children’s parents (because they would have difficulty)
• May replace rating/likert scales with smiley faces or a thermometer or something else children can grasp easier mentally
• Questions need to be designed so children can answer them effectively

Question 2

AO3: Strengths

Answer 2

• Large numbers of questionnaires can be administered quickly: cost-efficient and less time consuming.
• Easy to reach a wide range of participants from target population.
• Completed privately and easily made anonymous: more honest (valid) responses should be gained.
• Easy to repeat
• Can test reliability with split half reliability method

Open questions-
• Get rich qualitative data,
• People can say anything they want so more valid

Closed questions-
• Get quantitative data which can be analysed statistically

Question 3

AO3: Weaknesses

Answer 3

• Participants might be influenced by social desirability (they will give answers which make them look good).
• Response bias: only certain types of people will return the questionnaire making it less generalizable
• Response rates are low, making it hard to generalise the results to the target population.
• Respondents may misunderstand the questions, leading to invalid data.

Open questions-
• Difficult to repeat/can’t compare answers easily
• Need to be interpreted so can be subjective

Closed questions-
• May get a forced choice, not what people really think
• Scales can be interpreted differently