Weakness

• Practical Limitations

  • questionnaires suffer from inflexibility that comes from having to draw up questions in advance .
  • findings may lack validity because they don’t reflect respondents concerns and priorities . As a result findings may lack validity because they do not reflect the respondents concerns and priorities in particular establishing questions beforehand and then sticking to them rigidly will make it impossible to pursue any interesting leads
• 1. Practical -  Low Response Rate

  Questionnaires can have very low response rates, especially postal questionnaires. This is because few of those who receive a questionnaire bother to complete and return it. The average response rate for postal questionnaires is 50%. An extreme example of low-response is Hite's (1991) study of "Love, Passion and Emotional Violence' in America sent out 100,000 questionnaires, but only 4.5% of them were returned.
• Practical Low response rate (2)

  Those who do respond may be different from those who don't. unrepresentative results, from which no accurate generalisations can be made

  busy people in fulltime employment or with young children may fail to respond, the unemployed / socially isolated

  with time on their hands more likely to fill in their questionnaires.

  Similarly, those with strong views on a subject are more likely to respond than those who have little knowledge or interest in it. If the respondents are different from the non-respondents, this will produce distorted and
• Theoretical – Lack of Validity

  A valid method is one that provides a true, authentic picture of the topic being researched. Interpretivists argue questionnaires often produce a false picture of the subjects they are trying to study.

  Questionnaires usually use closed-ended questions that restrict respondents to choosing from a limited number of pre-set answers. If none of these answers fits what the respondent really wishes to say
• Theoretical -Lack of Validity (2)

  • They give participants very little freedom to explain questions or clarify misunderstandings as the researcher is most likely not present, especially with postal questionnaires.

  People may lie or exaggerate. These responses will produce false, invalid data. Whether face to face or not, the respondent's desire to be seen in a favourable light may lead to untruthful answers being provided – known as the social desirability effect.
• Theoretical – Lack of Verstehen

  Questionnaires dont allow for the researcher to gain empathic insight (verstehen). Because the researcher remains detached and objective, they dont get close to the subjects of the study and share their meanings. This means they are unable to gain a true understanding of the participant’s experiences of the social world. Interpretivists would argue such an insight is important if the researcher is to gain an understanding of social reality.