questionnaires

• There are two types of questionnaires

  • Open
  • Closed
• A questionnaire is a self-completion quiz which is given to the respondent to fill in, these are often referred to as social surveys.
• Questionnaires have a set list of pre-determined questions on.
• Closed questionnaires produced quantitative date which makes the data easier to analyze and gather numerical data from.
• An open questionnaire can produce qualitative data as you get a more involved insight and understanding of what is being investigated.
• A closed questionnaire often has pre-set possible questions and answers, you are able to choose out of these answers.
• When conducting a questionnaire, the researcher needs to decide which is the best choice for the data you would like, this determines what type of questions there are.

  The researcher needs to write the questionnaire like:

  • Plain language to understand
  • Avoid leading questions
  • Avoid questions with two answers
  • Avoid difficult questions
• Practical issues of questionnaires is:

  • Very cheap ( sent by email )
  • Accessible as able to translate
  • May have to use an incentive
  • Postage can be expensive
  • Time consuming to analyze
  • Able to access a larger sample
• Ethical issues of questionnaires is:

  • Able to give consent when doing it
  • Can be anonymous
  • There may be triggering questions for some
  • May give a socially desirable answer
• Theoretical issues of questionnaires is:

  • Reliability as everyone is given same questions (Closed)
  • Allows for comparison
  • Decent validity as no researcher bias however may give social desirability/able to lie
  • Can access a larger sample so more representative