2.1 RM - Questionnaires

Question 1

What are open questions?

Answer 1

No fixed answer, the respondent has the freedom to answer in their own words

Question 2

What are closed questions?

Answer 2

Fixed answers

The resonant chooses their answers from a few preselected ones - usually by ticking boxes

Question 3

What are practical strengths if questionnaires?

Answer 3

• Quick and cheap
• no interviewers to pay
• cover a large area
• data is easy to record and analyse
• data can be easily quantified
• no personal risk to researcher

Question 4

What are some practical weaknesses of questionnaires?

Answer 4

• inflexible - fixed questions
• limited superficial data that lacks depth
• hard to operationalise concepts
• can’t be sure if the respondent got the questionnaire or if they were the one who filled it in

Question 5

What are some ethical strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 5

• informed consent
• confidentiality
• right to withdraw

Question 6

What is an ethical weakness of questionnaires?

Answer 6

Can cause harm if asking sensitive or obtrusive questions

Question 7

What are some reliability strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 7

• repeatable - send out same questionnaire
• easy to make comparisons
• no chance of interviewer influencing responses

Question 8

What are some representative strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 8

• able to reach a large sample - likely to be representative

* if posted/ emailed able to select a random sample

Question 9

What are some representative weaknesses of questionnaires?

Answer 9

• skewed samples

* poor response rates

Question 10

What is a skewed sample?

Answer 10

A sample where too many of one group respond

Question 11

Why do questionnaires have poor response rates?

Answer 11

People can’t be bothered to complete them

Question 12

What are some valid strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 12

• Good for factual data
• objective and detached - less researcher bias
• good for testing hypothesis - cause and effect relationships

Question 13

What are some validity weaknesses of questionnaires?

Answer 13

• snapshot in time - can’t capture change
• can’t develop verstehen
• can’t clarify questions and answers
• social desirability

Question 14

What are some types of questionnaires?

Answer 14

Phone 
Online 
Posted 
Self completed 
Open questions 
Closed questions

Question 15

What are questionnaires?

Answer 15

A series of pre chosen questions that are posted, emailed or handed to respondents for self completion. They mainly use closed questions.

Question 16

What do positivists think of questionnaires?

Answer 16

They like them because they produce quantitative data from which comparisons can be drawn, they can find patterns and test hypothesis as it is a scientific method

Question 17

What do interpretivists think of questionnaires?

Answer 17

They don’t like them as they prefer qualitative methods, questionnaires lack dept and produce superficial data. Can’t develop verstehen