questionnaires

• what is a questionnaire?

  a research method that involves a set of written or printed questions used to collect data from respondents
• what are structured questionnaires?

  closed ended questions that provide fixed responses and options that obtain quantitive responses
• what are unstructured questions?

  open ended questions that allow for more detailed qualitative responses
• quantitative examples


  money, time, speed, height, length
• qualitative examples


  verbal/written feedback, narrative story, visual images/drawing, experimental sensation, descriptions
• strengths of questionnaires 


  self and report methods are a means of finding out how people think/ feel

  can easily be repeated so data can be collected from large numbers of people relatively quickly

  respondents may feel more willing to reveal personal info as they feel more anonymous
• weaknesses of questionnaires 


  people often lie, this may be because they are uneducated on the topic/ don’t know how they would behave in the situation, also they don’t want to look foolish/ be unlikeable

  group of people involved may be biased because only certain kinds of people are willing to fill out a questionnaire
• open ended questions


  often begin with ‘how’ ‘what’ & ‘why’
• closed ended questions 


  questions with a fixed answer
• strengths of open ended questions

  provides rich detailed qualitative data

  allows respondents to express their thoughts in their own words

  can reveal new insights / unanticipated info
• weaknesses of open ended questions

  more time consuming for respondents to answer and for researchers to analyse

  responses may be varied and harder to categorise

  risk of irrelevant/ off topic answers
• strengths of closed ended questions

  easier and faster for respondents to complete

  simplifies data analysis making it easier to compare and quantify

  reduces ambiguity and ensures more consistent answers
• weaknesses of closed ended questions

  may limit depth and detail of answers

  respondents may feel constrained
• what are ranked scale questions?

  a type of closed ended question where respondents are asked to give an assessment of their views using a scale (.e.g. a scale of 1-5)
• strengths of ranked scale questions

  quantifiable data - produces numerical data that is easy to analyse structurally

  consistency - standardised response options allows for consistent comparison across respondents

  ease of completion - simple & quick for respondents to answer leading to higher response rates
• weaknesses of ranked scale questions

  limited depth - doesn’t provide detailed detailed qualitative insights into respondents views

  ambiguity - respondents may interpret scale points differently

  central tendency bias - respondents may choose middle options to avoid extreme positions