Surveys & Questionnaires. Survey A gathering of a sample of data or opinions considered to be...
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Transcript of Surveys & Questionnaires. Survey A gathering of a sample of data or opinions considered to be...
Surveys & Questionnaires
SurveyA gathering of a sample of data or opinions considered to be representative of a whole.
Questionnaire A set of questions on a form, submitted to a number of people in order to gain statistical information
Surveys are made up of questionnaires and interviews
Don’t worry if the two terms are interspersed.
This is primary source data
Setting up a questionnaire
A questionnaire samples a section of the population with questions.
Ask yourself if your research needs a questionnaire - what do you plan to achieve?
Only use a questionnaire if there is a clear purpose.
The better the questionnaire the more valid the results.
Steps
Have a clear goal. E.g. to answer part of the hypothesis or guiding question.
Research your topic.
As a result of prior knowledge set up focus questions which help you answer your hypothesis or guiding question.
Decide on the sample of the population that you plan to question. Who & why? How many? (30 is often good…)
Questions should relate directly to the focus questions.
Include a mixture of quantitative and qualitative questions. Quantitative questions will give you data
Qualitative questions will give you opinions.
Know the difference between open and closed questions.
Begin with simple closed questions.
Are you aware of the issues relating to asylum seekers in Adelaide at the moment?
Yes No Uncertain
Many questions will work well if you give your subject some carefully researched options.
Conclude with more open questions. These are useful for quoting subjects.
Facebook was set up as a ‘social networking facility’. Do you feel that the positive aspects of the site outweigh the negatives? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Successful techniques It is a good idea to have a box at the top of the questionnaire which
explains its purpose and seeks permission to use information. (Ethical research)
Often a box for an age range and gender is useful for statistical data.
Male Female 18 to 25 26 to 40 41 to 55 Over 56
Make the survey simple.
If possible 8 to 10 questions…. perhaps 8 quantitative (useful for statistical analysis)….2 qualitative (useful for quoting)
If possible keep the questionnaire on one page
It is really important to look at other questionnaires to see how they are set out
Once you have completed your draft of the questionnaire trial it on someone.
This will help you to iron out problems