reseach design and planning lecture 4

Question 1

th stages of designing a survey

Answer 1

1. aims and objectives
2. question style
3. question design
4. piloting
5. revising
6. administering
7. analysis and publication

Question 2

stage 1: aims and objectives

Answer 2

• what is the aim?
• define target groups
• must be worked out before survey is made
• own questions or taken from somewhere else?
• inclusivity principles

Question 3

stage 2: question style

Answer 3

• decode on the most appropriate q style that will provide the most relevant info to meet the aims and objectives

Question 4

stage 3: question design

Answer 4

• questions must have the right formatting, phrasing and amount
• must be easily understandable
• for double barelled questions -> split into two seperate questions
• question order matters
• have different versions of questionairre to avoid order effects.
• avoide leading Q’s -> phrase neutrally
• avoid acquiescence bias

Question 5

acquiescence bias

Answer 5

• yay sayers always agreeing with question
• no sayers always disagreeing with question
• fence sitting = always picking middle category
• solution -> reverse worded items to spot them, have an even number of likert responses to avoid fence sitting

Question 6

open vs closed questions

Answer 6

open = mainly for qualitative research, can be difficult to interpret

closed = mainly for quantitative

Question 7

stage 4; piloting

Answer 7

• run a pilot test on a small target population
• helps you to identify Q’s that have been missed/misunderstood

Question 8

stage 5: revising

Answer 8

= revise survey to make changes to the questions identified during piloting
- can rephrase Q’s to make them clearer

Question 9

stage 6: administering

Answer 9

= how will the survey reach respondents

Question 10

stage 7: analysis and publication

Answer 10

= analyse the data using the right descriptive and inferential statistics
- write up for publication to spread the findings

Question 11

benefits and limitations of a questionairre

Answer 11

benefits
- easy to do
- large number of participants
- cost effective
- anonymity
- efficient and scalable

costs
- limit depth
- response biases
- low response rates/ attribution

Question 12

costs and benefits of interviews

Answer 12

benefits
- more depth and detail
- can clarify

costs
- time consuming
- limited sample size
- interview bias
- complex data analysis
- reliability issues

Question 13

interview styles- structured and semi-structured

Answer 13

structured = set questions, no deviation -> greater reliability, straightforward analysis, however creates unnatural conversation, cannot probe answers, cannot build rapport

semi-structured -> allows respondents more freedom, rich data, researcher can ask follow up Q’s, but less reliable, difficult to analyse and compare answers.