Sociology-Research Methods-Questionares

Questionares Practical Advantages

Quick and cheap for gathering large amounts of data

No need to train or recruit researchers-they are hired hands

Data easy to quantify due to close ended questions

Connor and Dewson-posted 4000 questionares to HE insti students to study factors influencing WC students going to university

Questionares Ethical Advantages

Informed Consent-briefed and choose to submit form

No harm to participants

Right to withdraw-give prefer not to say options

Deceitful-no deception involved

Confidentiality/Anonymity-person who answered kept private

Questionares Theoretical Advantages

Reliability-allows comparison of data, can be repeated, questionares online and postal so researchers don't influence answers

Hypothesis Testing-useful for testing cause and effect relationships

Detachment/Objectivity-personal content with respondent kept to minimum-postal+online done from a distance

Representativeness-large scale-interact with cross section of society so can make generalisations

Questionares Practical Disadvantages

Response rate-few people bothered to return it or could have faulty questionares design

Hite’s questionares on ‘love, passion and emotional violence’-sent out 100,000 only 4.5% returned

Inflexibilty-stuck with finalised questions-researcher decides what is important or not

Respondent may not receive questionare, may not fill it out themselves, may misunderstand questions

Questionare Ethical Disadvantages

May cause distress from topics that are emotional-questions are intrusive

Psychological harm+peer pressure if done in group setting

Questionares Theoretical Disadvantages

Not Valid-not truthful, does not capture the way people’s attitudes and values change, only a snapshot of a single moment

2-’lying, forgetting and right answerism’-focus on social desirability

Detachment-only get true picture by getting close to subjects and sharing their meaning

2-No rapport made, no follow up questions or clarifying of meaning

Lack of Objectivity-imposes researchers own meaning-they decide what is important, closed questions=too fixed so miss info and open questions=clumped together answers even if diff categories

20 Marker-Questionare methods in context (Operationalising Concepts)

Turning concepts into a measurable form

Some pupils may not understand-low literacy-so have to simplify

Can't simplify too much or question becomes irrelevant

20 Marker-Questionare methods in context (Samples and sampling frames)

Schools keep lists of pupils, staff and parents

But schools may deny access due to confidentiality or may not have all access wanted

Need permission to distribute by headteacher

Parents harder to locate-letter home with student

Young children affected by peer pressure

20 Marker-Questionare methods in context (Access and Response Rate)

Low response rate-schools may reject

Reasons=damage relationships in classroom, may object to topic, disrupt lesson time

High response rate in school-pressure to complete by headteacher-head may allow time out of lessons to complete-used to competing questionares

20 Marker-Questionare methods in context (Practical Issues)

Teachers may lie

Children have low attention span-must be brief

Respondent needs to know how to read and write

Data often limited or superficial

20 Marker-Questionare methods in context (Anonymity and Detachment)

Pupils more likely to reveal details of experiences

Useful for sensitive topics-overcomes embarrassment and fear

Eval-students who are anti-school may not complete it

Detached method=no rapport gained-young children may not feel comfortable disclosing info