What is a questionnaire in sociology?
A written set of questions completed by respondents themselves.
How are questionnaires usually distributed?
By post or email and returned to the researcher.
What is a closed-ended question?
A question with fixed response options.
What type of data do closed questions produce?
Quantitative data.
What is an open-ended question?
A question allowing answers in respondents’ own words.
What type of data do open questions produce?
Qualitative data.
Why do positivists prefer questionnaires?
They are reliable
Why are questionnaires considered practical?
They are cheap
Why are questionnaires high in reliability?
All respondents answer the same standardised questions
Why can questionnaires be used for comparisons?
The same questions can be repeated over time or between societies.
Why are questionnaires useful for hypothesis testing?
They can identify correlations between variables.
Why are questionnaires seen as objective?
There is minimal researcher involvement
Why can questionnaires achieve representativeness?
They can gather data from large numbers of people.
What ethical strengths do questionnaires have?
Consent
What practical problem can questionnaires face?
Many people do not complete or return them.
Why can questionnaires suffer from low response rates?
Only certain groups may choose to respond.
How do low response rates affect research?
They reduce representativeness and limit generalisation.
Why are questionnaires inflexible?
Questions cannot be changed or followed up once distributed.
Why do questionnaires often lack validity?
They are too detached to explore meanings deeply.
What is social desirability bias?
Giving acceptable answers instead of truthful ones.
How can lying or forgetting affect questionnaire data?
It reduces validity.
What does imposing the researcher’s meanings mean?
The researcher decides what is important and limits response options.
Why do interpretivists criticise questionnaires?
They lack depth and fail to capture real meanings.
what are questionnaires high and low in?
what are questionnaires high and low in? High in reliability and representativeness but often lower in validity.
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new right set18
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functionalism set18
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social class internal factors23
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social class external factors27
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ethnicity factors in edu25
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gender factors in education43
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student idendities28
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WC sucultures18
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marketisation & privatisation policies24
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vocational education12
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social policy 1870-199730
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globalisation and education26
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positivists & interpretivists29
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questionnaire24
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methods in education26
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interactionism set25
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marxism set28
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feminism set23
