Questionnaires

Questionnaires

1. Definition

   • Questionnaires have been centrally used to provide an indication of the make-up of society in the UK for centuries in the form of periodic census surveys and are often used by large organisations to establish people’s views and opinions on a wide variety of topics.

2. Limitations

   • Questionnaires are successfully used in many situations to gather data and information on a broad range of issues, but they do have application and data-collection limitations, most of which are the product of poor design in the instrument. The major limitations we have found with this much-abused research instrument are discussed below
     • Leading questions
     • Complicated questions
     • Ambiguous or unclear questions
     • Too many open-ended questions
     • Irritating questions

3. Conducting an observation

4. Types of questionnaire

   • Essentially, there are three broad types of questionnaire – the mail survey, the group-administered questionnaire, and the household drop-off survey
     • The mail survey is, by far, the most common questionnaire type.
       • This instrument is addressed to respondents and delivered by mail, and can be an efficient way of collecting large amounts of data
       • The mail survey is, however, sometimes considered impersonal and can suffer from low response rates.

5. Data analysis

   • Most questionnaires require respondents to register replies to questions by ticking boxes, completing statements, or by providing written replies according to the question type. Answers or responses are coded (i.e. reduced to a number) by the researcher or those responsible for developing the questionnaire.
     • In their evaluation work, Nick Frost and Nicky Ryden utilised two questionnaires to assess the impact of a parenting programme . Using statistical techniques to analyse variances in response, these researchers were able to determine where both positive and negative changes had taken place using sets of questions in both instruments which addressed the same issue or topic

6. Uses

   • Questionnaires can facilitate the collection of vast amounts of data with minimal effort.
   • • Well-designed questionnaires can allow relationships between data to be identified.
   • • Unlike some other instruments (such as unstructured interviews) the researcher retains control over the research, directing how the topic is approached and guiding the respondents to discuss the issues selected.
   • • If coded in an appropriate way, they can enable analysis to be conducted extremely quickly and with low error rates.

7. Maria Guadalupe Guadarrama Ceron

8. Issues

   • • Ease of production and distribution can result in the collection of far more data than can be effectively used.
   • • Questionnaires are everywhere, competing for respondents’ time. Lack of adequate time to complete the instrument may result in the return of superficial data.
   • • Lack of personal contact (if the questionnaire is mailed) may mean that response rates suffer, necessitating the expense of follow-up letters, telephone calls and other means of ‘chasing’ the respondent.

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