Research Methods

Question	Answer
Questionnaires	Pre-Coded: Pre-set questions with a limited amount of multiple choice answers.
Strengths	1-Quick to analyse 2-People are more likely to tell the truth
Weaknesses	1-Answers could overlap 2-No detail
Questionnaires	Open-Ended: Pre-set questions with no choice answers, enables respondents to dictate their answers.
Strengths	1-Always able to get an answer 2-Valid Data
Weaknesses	1-Takes time to answer and analyse 2-Respondents don't always answer the questions
Advantages of given by hand	1-Higher response rate 2-Clarify information
Disadvantages of given by hand	1-Socially acceptable results 2-Less likely to be anonymous
Advantages of email	1-Most likely to be honest 2-Less time consuming
Disadvantages of email	1-Not everyone is honest 2-Low response rate
Overall Advantages	1-People can take their time to think of appropriate answers 2-They produce reliable data 3-They can reach a large sample 4-Quick way to collect a large amount of data 5-They are relatively cheap 6-Possible to cross-reference data 7-They can be designed on a computer
Overall Disadvantages	1-The researcher may choose a biased set of questions 2-Response rates vary depending on how the questionnaire is distributed 3-Respondents might rush through the questions 4-Questions may be misunderstood 5-Responses may lack validity 6-Open-ended questions take a long time to analyse 7-If too much data is collected, it will take a long time to analyse

Resource summary

	Created by abigailmorey about 10 years ago