Questionnaires

Question 1

What is a questionnaire?

Answer 1

A set of questions that respondents/participants complete by themselves

Question 2

What kinds of questionnaires are there?

Answer 2

Telephone, email, online, postal, face to face

Question 3

KEY STUDY: Census (2001)

Answer 3

Structured postal questionnaires sent out by the government every 10 years to every household in the country. Collects information on jobs, health, age, religion, etc.

Question 4

KEY STUDY: Connor & Dewson (2001)

Answer 4

Posted 4,000 questionnaires to students at 14 different universities in the UK to look at what influences the decisions of working class students at university

Question 5

What are some practical strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 5

• Do not need to train interviewers
• Quick & cheap to do in large numbers (postal/email)
• Quick & easy to analyse data
• Data can be analysed by computers

Question 6

What are some practical weaknesses of questionnaires?

Answer 6

• Limited & superficial (not very deep) data; answers are often brief
• Cannot be sure that the named respondent completed the questionnaire (reduces validity)
• Lacks flexibility; once the questionnaire has been finalised, questions cannot be changed
• Could have a low response rate

Question 7

What are some ethical strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 7

• Confidential (if anonymous)
• Respondents do not have to answer questions they don’t want to (e.g. on sensitive topics)
• Informed consent; if respondents don’t want to complete it they don’t have to

Question 8

What are some ethical weaknesses of questionnaires?

Answer 8

• Difficult to explore sensitive issues as respondents may not feel comfortable doing so through a questionnaire
• Deception; if data is shared without respondents’ knowledge

Question 9

What are some theoretical strengths of questionnaires?

Answer 9

• Positivists like this method as it is highly structured, making it highly reliable
• Gains quantitative data
• Representative - large sample sizes
• Unbiased data - increases validity

Question 10

What are some theoretical weaknesses of questionnaires?

Answer 10

• Interpretivists dislike this method as there is no way to gain verstehen
• No way to clarify the meanings of questions, leading to inaccurate answers (reducing validity)
• Only provides a snapshot of people’s lives. Their answers could reflect their current mood (reducing validity)
• Respondents may lie, forget, not know, not understand questions