Appropriateness to Employ

When it is Appropriate to Employ Survey Questionnaires:

• • positivist research method as the purpose is to test theories using a deductive research approach

    • deductive reasoning is the process of moving from theory to hypothesis to observation to confirmation

  • systematically composed to capture responses regarding preferences, thoughts, attitudes, and behaviours

    • allow analysis of practices to differentiate outcomes among participants

    • can be used in longitudinal designs to survey the same sample at varying times

  • can be used to collect quantitative data using structured questions and qualitative data using open-ended questions

    • the structured questions may be interpreted on a scale or index for statistical analysis

• used for descriptive, exploratory, and explanatory research

  • descriptive research aims to capture observation and documentation of a phenomenon

    • examines what, where, and when

  • exploratory research involves new inquiry to discover extent, make initial ideas, or to test feasibility of an issue

    • does not result in accurate understanding of an issue but valued in scoping out the extent of the issue to serve as a catalyst for future research

  • explanatory research explains an issue by finding causal factors and outcomes

    • answers why and how questions

    • requires theoretical and interpretation skills, intuition, insight, and experience

• • the questions related to the topic must be real, understandable, and meaningful for responses

    • this method is not appropriate for children or illiterate because they are cannot fully understand the questions to create meaningful response

    • not ideal for issues that need more clarifying or detailed responses