2.3.3 Questionnaires Flashcards
(7 cards)
What are questionaires?
- A list of predetermined questions.
- May be administered by hand, post or online.
- There is either closed or open questions.
- Mainly used for a macro level of analysis & generating quantitative data.
What are advantages of questionaires?
Practical:
- Quick & cheap way of gathering large amount of data from a geographically dispersed sample.
Reliability:
- They’re standardised that can be used by any researcher & all respondents are asked the same questions.
Hypothesis testing:
- They’re useful for testing hypotheses about cause & effect relationships.
What are disadvantages of Questionnaires?
Practical:
- Data tends to be limited & superficial.
Low response rate:
- Results may get distorted & will be unrepresentative.
Inflexible:
- If new areas of interest come up the research cannot be explored.
Snapshot picture:
- They only provide a picture of a social reality at only one point in time.
Right answerism:
- People try to give the right answers that they believe the sociologists want.
What are advantages of postal questionnaires?
- Quicky, easy & cheap.
- Can be sent to large groups.
- Objective data.
- Extremely detached.
- Ethical as they’re fully anonymous.
- More representative.
What are disadvantages of postal questionnaires?
- People in the household may accidentally answer.
- Dishonest answers.
- Low response rate.
- Answers may be misunderstood.
- Snapshot.
What are disadvantages of using questionnaires in education research?
- Turning abstract ideas into a measurable form may be difficult.
- Schooks may not keep lists that reflect the researchers interest.
- Children may not actually know the answers to some questions.
What are advantages of using questionnaires in education research?
- Useful for gathering large quantities of basic information quickly & cheaply.
- Schools are a good source of ready made sampling frames.
- Headteachers with authority may make it an obligation to pupil & teachers.
