Questionnaires as a primary research method

Questionnaires: a set of formally prepared questions that seek information on a person’s knowledge, beliefs, feelings, opinions, likes or dislikes; it is completed by the respondent.

Developing reliable questions

It is important to include questions that:

• Are easy to understand

• Use clear, simple language

• Ask only one question at a time

• Are listed in a logical order

• Once you have developed your questionnaire, ask a friend to read and answer them as a test run. This will help to ensure that the questions are suitable and have a clear layout with plenty of space for answers. Then, make any required changes to the questions so that the questionnaire is ready to hand out.

Closed Questions

Closed question elicit a limited range of responses. They are often easier to collate and interpret. A check box, frequency or Likert scale (such as never/sometimes/always), attitudinal scale (strongly agree through to strongly disagree) or other variables can be included in these questions.

Open-ended Questions

Open-ended questions provide the opportunity for an open response that is not guided by the researcher. A line or space is provided on the questionnaire for the respondent’s answer; for example, ‘Why are informal support networks important to your family?

Common Mistakes in Surveys

www.surveymonkey.com/mp/5-common-survey-mistakes-ruin-your-data/

Collecting and recording data

Quantitative data:

Your quantitative research data can be counted and presented in:

• Graphs – bar, line or pie

• Tables with statistics or percentages

Qualitative data:

• Qualitative data can be presented in dot point form. The information should highlight the key trends in the respondents answers.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages:

• Questions can be designed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.

• Data can be collected from a large group of people in a reasonable time frame.

• Questions are completed by respondents and avoid interviewer bias.

• A written record of data is easy to access.

Disadvantages:

• Questions may be misinterpreted and cannot be explained to the respondent.

• It requires the respondent to have satisfactory literacy skills

• If there are too may questions or too many details required, respondents may not participate or complete the questionnaire.

Question:

Explain how the disadvantages associated with a questionnaire can be minimised by the researcher (4 marks)

1. Using Google Forms, work with a partner to construct a questionnaire that can be used to identify the demographics in your local community. Your questions should focus on gathering the following information.

   • gender

   • age

   • martial status

   • level of education attainment

   • culture and language

   • religious affiliations

   • employment/ occupation

   • income

   • type of housing

   • reasons for living in the community

2. Distribute your survey to 10 people each.

3. Working with your partner, tally your results and use Google Forms to construct a graph to represent the responses for each question.

4. Underneath each graph, provide a one point summary of the information.

For example: Of people in Dural aged 15 years and over, 50.2% were married and 10.7% were either divorced or separated.

The following questionnaire results may help you construct your questionnaire.

http://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quickstat/SSC12588

Discuss your use of questionnaires as a research method.

I.e. what worked well, what didn't and what can be improved.