Questionnaires

AO1 explanation of questionnaires?

• Data collection tools, usually ask participants to give responses about themselves or their ideas

• Type of self-report data, the researcher doesn’t need to be present for their completion

• Can be used in a wide range of research situations

• Can be conducted by post, telephone, via the internet, etc.

• Both quantitive and qualitative data may be collected

• They ask for personal data such as age, gender and background. Ethically, they must only ever ask what the researcher actually needs to know for their research

Define ‘closed ended questions’

Questions that provide limited response choices. Can take the form of Likert scales.

Define ‘open ended questions’

Questions in which the researcher doesn’t does not restrict the range of available answers.

Strengths of open ended questions? (3)

• Produce a lot of detailed, verbal information (qualitative data)

• May produce useful, unexpected findings

• People’s thoughts are rich - unrestrained by categories

Weaknesses of open ended questions? (2)

• Difficult to analyse (draw conclusions) as there is an unlimited range of answers

• Interpretation of answers requires subjective reasoning and these interpretations therefore may not be wholly accurate

Strengths of closed ended questions? (2)

• Easy to analyse as data is quantitive. Can be displayed with graphs and so findings are easier to compare and draw conclusions from.

• Answers are objective and require no interpretation, eliminating the risk of miscommunication

Weaknesses of closed ended questions? (3)

• May not allow people to express their precise feelings

• In Likert scales, participants may respond in the same way to all questions as humans have a tendency to always pick the middle value.

• Oversimplifies complex human experiences