QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD - RESEARCH METHOD SOCIOLOGY

QUESTIONNAIRE 

What Is A Questionnaire ?

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a set of standardized questions to gather statistically useful information on some subject from one or more respondents.

To make it simple, consider questionnaire to be written interview consisting standardized questions which can be answered face-to-face, over the telephone, through the post, or even online.

Definition

Goode & Hatt: Questionnaire is a device for securing answers to questions using a form which the respondents fill it.

Bogardus: Questionnaire is a list of questions with structured answer sent to the respondents for filling.

P.V. Young: Questionnaire is a paper consists on questions with answers sent to the respondents through mail with a 

specified covering latter.

In simple words we can define questionnaire is a document consists of questions along with their answers prepared by the researcher and send it to the respondents through mail. The respondents fill. It and sent back to the researcher for further use.

Purpose Of  Questionnaire

The main purpose of a questionnaire is to extract data from the respondents.

It’s a relatively inexpensive, quick, and efficient way of collecting large amount data even when the researcher isn’t present to collect those responses first hand.

But an important factor to note is that a questionnaire isn’t the process of analyzing the responses. The process is surveying.

Questionnaire Types

A questionnaire is a very useful tool to gather first-hand information from a large audience. It can be categorized into two types –

Descriptive Questionnaire

A descriptive questionnaire is developed to capture a particular topic or issue within a population of interest, that is, what exists at the moment. Questions in this questionnaire are usually focused on how many people participate in a certain behavior or hold a particular opinion.

An example of a descriptive questionnaire would be a questionnaire to calculate the percentage of people who vote and people who don’t.

Analytical Questionnaire

An analytical questionnaire is developed to explore and explain relationships between particular concepts, that is, why certain situations exist. Analytical questionnaires usually examine two or more variables and are used in theory building and hypothesis testing.

An example of an analytical questionnaire would be a questionnaire to examine the interrelationship of lifestyle with TV viewing habit.

Types Of Questions In A Questionnaire

Now, both descriptive and analytical questionnaires include a set of questions that also be categorized into two types. These are –

Open-Ended Questions (Unstructured)

Close-Ended Questions (Structured)

Types of questionnaires

As we explored before, questionnaires can be either structured or free-flowing. Let’s take a closer look at what that entails for your surveys.

·         Structured Questionnaires: Structured questionnaires collect quantitative data. The questionnaire is planned and designed to gather precise information. It also initiates a formal inquiry, supplements data, checks previously accumulated data, and helps validate any prior hypothesis.

 

Close-Ended Questions (Structured)

Open-ended questions are usually used –

• To get feedback on a product, service, policy, etc.
• To collect data that can easily be structured into options.

Examples of such close-ended questions are –

• How do you rate the services of your library?
• How much satisfaction do you get from your job?

 

 Open-ended questions are usually used –

• At the time of the interview
• To collect data about the personal lives of the respondents like beliefs, family relations, motivations, etc.

• To ask questions to get opinions or views about an aspect.

 

Examples of such open-ended questions are –

Suggest your opinion to reduce plastic pollution in urban cities.

• How can we reduce the men-women pay gap?

 

·         Unstructured Questionnaires: Unstructured questionnaires collect qualitative data. They use a basic structure and some branching questions but nothing that limits the responses of a respondent. The questions are more open-ended to collect specific data from participants.

Types of questions in a questionnaire

You can use multiple question types in a questionnaire. Using various question types can help increase responses to your research questionnaire as they tend to keep participants more engaged. The best customer satisfaction survey templates are the most commonly used for better insights and decision-making.

Some of the widely used types of questions are:

Open-Ended Questions: Open-ended questions help collect qualitative data in a questionnaire where the respondent can answer in a free form with little to no restrictions.

 

Dichotomous Questions: The dichotomous question is generally a “yes/no” close-ended question. This question is usually used in case of the need for necessary validation. It is the most natural form of a questionnaire.

Multiple-Choice Questions: Multiple-choice questions are a close-ended question type in which a respondent has to select one (single-select multiple-choice question) or many (multi-select multiple choice question) responses from a given list of options. The multiple-choice question consists of an incomplete stem (question), right answer or answers, incorrect answers, close alternatives, and distractors. Of course, not all multiple-choice questions have all of the answer types. For example, you probably won’t have the wrong or right answers if you’re looking for customer opinion.

Scaling Questions: These questions are based on the principles of the four measurement scales – nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. A few of the question types that utilize these scales’ fundamental properties are rank order questions, Likert scale questions, semantic differential scale questions, and Stapel scale questions.

Pictorial Questions: This question type is easy to use and encourages respondents to answer. It works similarly to a multiple-choice question. Respondents are asked a question, and the answer choices are images. This helps respondents choose an answer quickly without over-thinking their answers, giving you more accurate data.

Questionnaires can be administered or distributed in the following forms:

Online Questionnaire: In this type, respondents are sent the questionnaire via email or other online mediums. This method is generally cost-effective and time-efficient. Respondents can also answer at leisure. Without the pressure to respond immediately, responses may be more accurate. The disadvantage, however, is that respondents can easily ignore these questionnaires. Read more about online surveys.

Telephone Questionnaire: A researcher makes a phone call to a respondent to collect responses directly. Responses are quick once you have a respondent on the phone. However, a lot of times, the respondents hesitate to give out much information over the phone. It is also an expensive way of conducting research. You’re usually not able to collect as many responses as other types of questionnaires, so your sample may not represent the broader population.

In-House Questionnaire: This type is used by a researcher who visits the respondent’s home or workplace. The advantage of this method is that the respondent is in a comfortable and natural environment, and in-depth data can be collected. The disadvantage, though, is that it is expensive and slow to conduct.

Mail Questionnaire: These are starting to be obsolete but are still being used in some market research studies. This method involves a researcher sending a physical data collection questionnaire request to a respondent that can be filled in and sent back. The advantage of this method is that respondents can complete this on their own time to answer truthfully and entirely. The disadvantage is that this method is expensive and time-consuming. There is also a high risk of not collecting enough responses to make actionable insights from the data.

A good questionnaire design

Questionnaire design is a multistep process that requires attention to detail at every step.

Researchers are always hoping that the responses received for a survey questionnaire yields useable data. If the questionnaire is too complicated, there is a fair chance that the respondent might get confused and will drop out or answer inaccurately.

As a survey creator, you may want to pre-test the survey by administering it to a focus group during development. You can try out a few different questionnaire designs to determine which resonates best with your target audience. Pre-testing is a good practice as the survey creator can comprehend the initial stages if there are any changes required in the survey.

Closed Questions

Closed questions structure the answer by only allowing responses which fit into pre-decided categories.

Data that can be placed into a category is called nominal data. The category can be restricted to as few as two options, i.e., dichotomous (e.g., 'yes' or 'no,' 'male' or 'female'), or include quite complex lists of alternatives from which the respondent can choose (e.g., polytomous).

Closed questions can also provide ordinal data (which can be ranked). This often involves using a continuous rating scale to measure the strength of attitudes or emotions.

For example, strongly agree / agree / neutral / disagree / strongly disagree / unable to answer.

Strengths

·                     They can be economical. This means they can provide large amounts of research data for relatively low costs. Therefore, a large sample size can be obtained which should be representative of the population, which a researcher can then generalize from.

·                     The respondent provides information which can be easily converted into quantitative data (e.g., count the number of 'yes' or 'no' answers), allowing statistical analysis of the responses.

·                     The questions are standardized. All respondents are asked exactly the same questions in the same order. This means a questionnaire can be replicated easily to check for reliability. Therefore, a second researcher can use the questionnaire to check that the results are consistent.

Limitations

·                     They lack detail. Because the responses are fixed, there is less scope for respondents to supply answers which reflect their true feelings on a topic.

 

Open Questions

Open questions allow people to express what they think in their own words. Open-ended questions enable the respondent to answer in as much detail as they like in their own words.

For example: “can you tell me how happy you feel right now?”

If you want to gather more in-depth answers from your respondents, then open questions will work better. These give no pre-set answer options and instead allow the respondents to put down exactly what they like in their own words.

Open questions are often used for complex questions that cannot be answered in a few simple categories but require more detail and discussion.

Lawrence Kohlberg presented his participants with moral dilemmas. One of the most famous concerns a character called Heinz who is faced with the choice between watching his wife die of cancer or stealing the only drug that could help her.

Participants were asked whether Heinz should steal the drug or not and, more importantly, for their reasons why upholding or breaking the law is right.

Strengths

·                     Rich qualitative data is obtained as open questions allow the respondent to elaborate on their answer. This means the research can find out why a person holds a certain attitude.

Limitations

·                     Time-consuming to collect the data. It takes longer for the respondent to complete open questions. This is a problem as a smaller sample size may be obtained.

·                     Time-consuming to analyze the data. It takes longer for the researcher to analyze qualitative data as they have to read the answers and try to put them into categories by coding, which is often subjective and difficult. However, Smith (1992) has devoted an entire book to the issues of thematic content analysis the includes 14 different scoring systems for open-ended questions.

·                     Not suitable for less educated respondents as open questions require superior writing skills and a better ability to express one's feelings verbally.

 

Advantages of a well-designed questionnaire

§     With a survey questionnaire, you can gather a lot of data in less time.

§     There is less chance of any bias creeping if you have a standard set of questions to be used to your target audience. You can apply logic to questions based on the respondents’ answers, but the questionnaire will remain standard for a group of respondents that fall in the same segment.

§     Surveying online survey software is quick and cost-effective. It offers you a rich set of features to design, distribute, and analyze the response data.

§     It can be customized to reflect your brand voice. Thus, it can be used to reinforce your brand image.

§     The responses can be compared with the historical data and understand the shift in respondents’ choices and experiences.

§     Respondents can answer the questionnaire without revealing their identity. Also, many survey software complies with significant data security and privacy regulations.

 

Characteristics of a good questionnaire

Your survey design depends on the type of information you need to collect from respondents. Qualitative questionnaires are used when there is a need to collect exploratory information to help prove or disprove a hypothesis.

Quantitative questionnaires are used to validate or test a previously generated hypothesis. However, most questionnaires follow some essential characteristics:

·                     Uniformity: Questionnaires are very useful to collect demographic information, personal opinions, facts, or attitudes from respondents. One of the most significant attributes of a research form is uniform design and standardization. Every respondent sees the same questions. This helps in data collection and statistical analysis of this data. For example, the retail store evaluation questionnaire template contains questions for evaluating retail store experiences. Questions relate to purchase value, range of options for product selections, and quality of merchandise. These questions are uniform for all customers.

·                     Exploratory: It should be exploratory to collect qualitative data. There is no restriction on questions that can be in your questionnaire. For example, you use a data collection questionnaire and send it to the female of the household to understand her spending and saving habits relative to the household income. Open-ended questions give you more insight and allow the respondents to explain their practices. A very structured question list could limit the data collection.

·                     Question Sequence: It typically follows a structured flow of questions to increase the number of responses. This sequence of questions is screening questions, warm-up questions, transition questions, skip questions, challenging questions, and classification questions. For example, our motivation and buying experience questionnaire template covers initial demographic questions and then asks for time spent in sections of the store and the rationale behind purchases.

Differences between a Questionnaire and a Survey

QUICK GUIDE

A well designed questionnaire have the following characters either in his body or in covering letter.

1.       A descriptive title of the study.

2.       Purpose of the study.

3.       Introduction of the investigator.

4.       Name of sponsoring agency.

5.       Structure of questions.

6.       Quantity and quality of paper etc.

 

A questionnaire is a list of pre-set questions to which the participants are asked to answer. A written questionnaire will require the participant to answer the questions in writing. A spoken questionnaire is an interview.

Closed questionnaires – are very structured with the participant having a few set answers to choose from.

Advantages of closed questionnaires

·         Quick to complete

·         Data is quantitative so easy to analyse and compute

·         They allow comparisons to be made with other sets of data

·         The research is easy to repeat

Disadvantages of closed questionnaires

·         You cannot explain a questionnaire to a participant so it could be confusing

·         You cannot follow up with extra questions to gain richer data

·         The participant might not agree with any of the answers they have to choose from

Open-ended questionnaires – are less structured than closed questionnaires. There will normally be a set number of questions, but there is no pre-set choice of answers, so the participant can say whatever they want. This method will often involve an interview rather than written question.

Advantages of open questionnaires

·         The participant isn’t limited by set answers, so they can express what they really mean and explain why they think this

·         The interviewer can follow up with more questions, meaning you get richer data

·         In general you get richer data because the answers will be longer and more in depth

Disadvantages of open questionnaires

·         You get qualitative data, which is hard to quantify and analyse

·         This makes it hard to compare one set of data with another

·         The interviewer has to interpret the data, and they could interpret it differently to how the participant meant it.

Postal or self-complete questionnaires – are when the participant picks up or is sent a questionnaire which they fill out themselves and return by post or via the internet.

Advantages of postal or other self-completion questionnaires

·         They are cheap, especially if done over the internet

·         Results are obtained quickly

·         People can respond whenever they want, not just when  an interviewer is present

·         Participants are more likely to give personal or embarrassing responses if they have the privacy of a self-completion questionnaire

·         There is less risk of interviewer bias

Disadvantages of postal or other self-completion questionnaires

·         There is a very low response rate with self-completion questionnaires as there is no real pressure to complete them

·         You are likely to get a certain group of people, for example the unemployed or elderly that answer the questionnaire as many other people might be too busy, and so you won’t get a particularly representative sample.

·         There is no way of knowing whether the right person actually completed the survey or if someone else did it for them

·         The interviewer isn’t there to ask follow up questions and explain questions the participants if they don’t understand

 

Advantages of the Questionnaire:

Let us now turn to discuss the typical advantages of the questionnaire as compared to other major methods of collecting data for research:

(1) In so far as the questionnaire is usually mailed to the respondents and contains specific, clear-cut directions, the persons charged with the collection of data need not exert themselves on offering additional explanations or instructions. It is obvious that the questionnaire technique does not call for any special skills of training on the part of investigators in the field.

(2) Since the questionnaire approach makes it possible to cover, at the same time, a large number of people spread over a large territory, it is decidedly more economical in terms of money, time and energy. Other methods do not afford such a facility.

(3) The questionnaire, by its very nature, is an impersonal technique. Uniformity from one measurement situation to another is provided by virtue of its standardized working of questions, standardized sequence of questions and fixed or standardized instructions for recording responses.

This alleged uniformity, viewed from the psychological angle, is often more illusory than real. A given question in spite of its ‘standardized’ wording could have different meanings for different persons.

Careful trial-testing and helping respondents to understand the questions in the course of administration may, however, go a long way toward ensuring uniformity of questions in the questionnaire and as such, making the replies comparable.

(4) Yet another typical merit of the questionnaire is that it ensures anonymity. The respondents have a greater confidence that will not be identified as holding a particular view or opinion. The subjects feel more free to express views that they think would arouse disapproval or get them into trouble.

It has been found that there is often a marked difference between the replies to the questionnaire and those to the interviews. The difference stems from the element of anonymity that is characteristic of the questionnaire approach. Anonymity is not, however, the best method of eliciting replies at all times.

Complex issues like familial adjustment which are bound to have strong emotional overtones may not be inquired into by means of the anonymous tool that a questionnaire is. Here a personal understanding and permissive manner on the part of an interviewer may prove effective.

(5) The questionnaire places less pressure on the respondents for immediate response. The subject, given ample time, can consider each point carefully before actually putting his reply in writing.

If there is some kind of pressure for time on the subject (as is often the case in interview) he may reply with the first thought that comes to his mind. It should, however, be noted that pressure on the subject for immediate response has a certain advantage in situations where spontaneous responses matter.

Limitations of the Questionnaire:

The foregoing discussion also hints at some of the disadvantages or limitations of the questionnaire. We shall deal with these at some length:

(1) One of the major limitations of the education questionnaire is that it can be administered only on subjects with a considerable amount of education. Complex questionnaire requiring elaborate written replies can be used indeed on a very small percentage of population.

It is seen that even the highly educated persons may have little facility for writing and even granting this, very fey have the motivation and the patience to write as much as they might speak out.

Thus, questionnaires are hardly appropriate for a larger section of maintaining interest on the contemporaneous burden of writing and of maintaining interest on the subjects is quite heavy, the number of questions they may be asked as also the fullness of response is severely limited.

(2) In a mailed questionnaire, the proportion of returns is usually low; it may sometimes be as low as 10%. Among the factors that may affect the returns are the sponsoring agency, the attractiveness of the questionnaire, its length, nature of the accompanying appeal, the care of filling out the questionnaire and of mailing it back, inducements for replying and the kind of people to whom questionnaire is sent, etc.

Even under the best of circumstances, a considerable proportion may not return the questionnaire.

(3) In a questionnaire, if the respondent misinterprets a question or writes his reply unintelligibly, there is very little that can be done to correct this. In this approach there is no facility for repeating questions, explaining them or seeking clarification of a particular response.

In questionnaire approach, the validity of respondents’ reports can hardly be appraised. The researcher here is in no position to observe the gestures and expressions of the respondents. He cannot follow-up the inconsistencies or contradictions in the replies.

(4) The usefulness of the questionnaire is restricted to issues on which the respondents have more or less crystallized views that can be simply expressed in words.

The rigidity of questionnaires and the inability to explain elaborately in writing one’s ‘abnormal’, anti-social feelings and behaviour coupled with the fact that the subject has to render his response in writing — all go against frank discussion of socially-tabooed issues raised in a questionnaire.

(5) The success of the questionnaire approach depends upon the ‘sense of responsibility’ among the subjects. A serious attempt at filling out the questionnaire-format presupposes, among other things, the awareness on the part of the subjects of their responsibility to the larger institution of science.

Only then may responsible help be forthcoming. Such an awareness, even in countries where education is quite advanced, is difficult to come by.

(6) A significant limitation of the questionnaire is that the researcher/investigator is not in a position to vary the stimuli or social atmosphere impinging upon the subjects according to his designs.

Certain other approaches to data collection do allow this facility to a greater or lesser extent; the stimuli or atmosphere as he questions the subjects. Such a flexibility characteristic of the interview approach is conspicuously absent in the questionnaire.

This flexibility is indeed a very valuable asset. Johan Galtung has offered a very apt analogy that sums up our discussion. He likens interview to the musical symphony; waves after waves of sound impinging upon the audience.

The questionnaire, on the other hand, has been likened to presentation before subjects of stimuli in the manner of a painting, various shades of colour spread over the canvas. In other words, the interview method involves presentation, one after the other, of stimuli on the continuum of time whereas in the questionnaire, these are presented in space.