Strength and Limitation P.E.T - Questionnaires

Question 1

Strengths - practical

Answer 1

• Quick and cheap- Questionnaires are generally cheap to administer, which make them cost effective and more time efficient than other research methods especially when funds are limited and a large sample is required
• A self- completion questionnaire allows the participant to be more honest with their answers than a face to face interview, especially if it addresses sensitive or personal issues. The presence of the interviewer may influence the respondents answer which will decrease the validity of the data.

Question 2

Limitation- practical

Answer 2

• low response rate- Self completion questionnaire such as postal questionnaire suffer from a low response rate. Non response is also a problem, because the people who do not return questionnaires differ from those who do. Those who do respond often tend to be higher class and more educated. This can also reduce the validity and reliability of the findings.
• No flexibility- The sociological issue under investigation is decided by the researcher in advance, as are the question and the range of predefined answers.

Question 3

Strength- ethical*

Answer 3

• Researchers should gain consent, guarantee respondents anonymity and make it clear that they have a right not to answer any of the questions if they do not wish to.
  -This method has little ethical issue because through intrusive questions can be asked respondent are under obligation to answer them.

Question 4

Limitation- ethical

Answer 4

Consent- The research will need the consent of the respondent if the data is to be published in the future and knows that respondents can withdraw all or some of the data if they wish
-Risk of harm- The researcher needs to ensure that the questionnaire and the way the questions are worded do not cause psychological stress, which must not be greater than any caused in ordinary life. If questions are of personal or sensitive nature that may cause distress, support must be available.

Question 5

Theoretical - strength

Answer 5

• Representativeness- Positivists tend to favour close- ended questionnaires because the data collected from the sample can be very large. This increases the chance of the sample being representative of the target population and mean it is possible to make generalisation from the research findings.
• Reliability- Close ended questionnaires are seen as being highly reliable methods of gathering data. This is because the questions have been standardised: every participant is asked the same sets of questions to every participant and there is no researcher to influence the person answer which make the result objective. The questionnaire can be easily replicated by other researchers on other groups of people and data compared. If similar results the reliability and validity of the study increase

Question 6

Theoretical- Limitations

Answer 6

• Limited insight- Interpretivists tend not to use close ended questionnaires. There is no opportunity to probe deeper, beyond the limited pre-set answers. This prevents them from obtaining an in depth account of participant opinion, attitudes, meanings and feelings. therefore the information collected from closed questions is likely to be very limited which reduces the validity of the findings.
• Social desirability effect- Respondents may answer questions in a particular way that portrays them in a positive light rather than giving truthful answers. This is known as the social desirability effect which if it occurs decreases the validity of the data.