Questionnaire Research

A Practical Guide

Mildred Patten, Mildred L Patten

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781351968416
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Social Science Research & Methodology
• Index: Psychology

• Provides step-by-step guidance for students who will be conducting their first surveys to collect factual information, measure attitudes, and evaluate products, services, and programs using questionnaires.

• Each chapter is structured around easy-to-follow guidelines.

• Numerous examples illustrate the guidelines. The examples are on timely topics of interest to students.

• This short book is an ideal supplement for guiding students through a class project. At the end of Chapter 1, they write the objectives for their questionnaires. They then follow the guidelines in subsequent chapters to complete their project.

• Exercises at the end of each chapter allow students to practice their newly acquired skills.

• Students learn that using questionnaires in research is both an art and a science—with principles that need to be followed for efficient, effective data collection.

• Thoroughly field-tested for student interest and comprehension, this book is sure to please both you and your students.

• We've had highly positive feedback from the numerous professors who have adopted this book to guide students in conducting term projects.

Chapter 1
Planning Questionnaire Research

This chapter describes guidelines for planning questionnaire research. In subsequent chapters, we will consider how to write questionnaire items, refine them through tryouts, assemble them, administer them to respondents, analyze the responses, and write reports of the findings.

Guideline 1.1 Consider the advantages and disadvantages of using questionnaires.

All methods of collecting data have strengths and weaknesses. You should consider those unique to questionnaires before deciding to undertake questionnaire research.

In the following discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of written questionnaires, we will briefly compare questionnaires with two major alternatives for collecting data:

• Structured telephone interviews in which all respondents are asked the same questions—usually short-answer or multiple-choice questions.
• In-depth, semistructured personal interviews in which interviewers have some questions they ask all respondents but may also follow up with additional questions constructed on the spot to take advantage of leads, obtain additional details, and so on.

Advantages of Using Questionnaires in Research

1.1.1 Questionnaires provide an efficient way to collect data.

Suppose school administrators want to know which illegal drugs high school seniors use and how often they use them. They can construct a questionnaire that may be administered simultaneously to hundreds of seniors throughout their school district. In contrast, telephone interviews and personal interviews are usually considerably less efficient because both alternatives require one-on-one data collection.

Questionnaires yield responses that are usually easy to tabulate or score, and the resulting data are easy to analyze—especially if the questionnaires mainly contain items with choices to be checked, which is recommended in this book. Because telephone interviews are usually based on the same types of questions as those used in questionnaires, they are about as easy to tabulate as questionnaires. In contrast, semistructured personal interviews produce narrative material — sometimes a tremendous amount of such material—that can be difficult and time-consuming to summarize and interpret.

1.1.2 Questionnaires are useful for collecting information on sensitive matters.

Questionnaires can be administered anonymously. Knowing that their responses are anonymous encourages respondents to be truthful. In contrast, responses to telephone interviews and personal interviews are inherently not anonymous. Of course, the interviewers can assure respondents that their responses will remain confidential, but many respondents may be skeptical. Note that researchers conducting personal interviews may be able to build rapport with respondents, leading them to develop a sense of trust and to be open in their responses. This is far from assured, however, even if professional interviewers conduct the interviews.

1.1.3 Questionnaire research is economical.

The only major expenses will be for duplication and, if the questionnaires are mailed to the respondents, postage. Mailing questionnaires is an economical way for researchers to contact many respondents who are geographically distant. Telephone interviews also easily allow researchers to contact respondents who are geographically distant, but the interviews must be conducted one at a time, leading to personnel costs if assistants must be hired. Also, there may be long-distance telephone charges. One-on-one personal interviews are the most expensive, especially if the interviewers must travel to reach the respondents.

Disadvantages of Using Questionnaires in Research

1.1.4 The response rate to questionnaires is often low.

This is especially true when questionnaires are mailed to potential respondents who do not personally know the researcher.¹ This is an acute problem because considerable research indicates that nonrespondents often are less well educated and from lower socioeconomic status groups than respondents. Thus, failure of all those selected to respond is presumed to bias the results of a survey conducted with mailed questionnaires.

Generally, researchers can expect higher response rates when contacting potential respondents by telephone and even higher response rates when contacting them in person for personal interviews. Put another way, people find it easier to discard a questionnaire they regard as impersonal than to say, "No, I won't answer your questions" to someone who has contacted them personally (e.g., by phone or in person).

Mailed questionnaires do not always lead to low response rates. For instance, a college president might send questionnaires through the campus mail to members of the faculty and receive a very high rate of return. In addition, questionnaires are not always mailed. For instance, a workshop leader might distribute questionnaires to participants in a workshop. The participants are likely to complete them because time has been allotted during the workshop for this activity.

1.1.5 Questionnaires may provide only a snapshot.

This disadvantage stems from the fact that questionnaires usually work best when they contain items to which the responses can be scored objectively, such as items with choices² and short-answer items that require very limited responses, such as responses to the question, "What is your age?" In response to these types of items on questionnaires, respondents tend to move through them quickly, giving the responses that first come to mind. Thus, questionnaires usually provide only a snapshot rather than a rich, in-depth picture of an area of concern.

For instance, while a questionnaire can be used to determine which illegal drugs students use, how often they use them, why they started using them, and so on, questionnaire data will not reveal the rich context and texture that in-depth interviews can provide. A professional interviewer conducting a semistructured personal interview may be able to establish rapport with respondents, get them to explore their feelings, and spend time thinking about issues related to their drug use that they may not have seriously considered before. In addition, an interviewer can easily follow up on interesting leads, change the focus of the interviews as needed, and take note of respondents' nonverbal communications. Because telephone interviews work best when the questions require only limited responses, they are not noticeably superior to questionnaires with respect to obtaining in-depth information.

1.1.6 Questionnaires elicit socially desirable responses.

Another disadvantage of questionnaires is that some respondents may be swayed by social desirability. That is, they may give answers that they think are socially desirable—even if they are not fully accurate. Although making the responses anonymous may reduce the effects of social desirability, the need for approval and the desire to seek it is so strong in some individuals that they will give socially desirable answers even when their responses are anonymous. Unfortunately, data collected by means of the other two alternatives—telephone interviews and personal interviews—are also subject to social desirability, and they may be even more so because the respondents are not anonymous to the interviewers.

Guideline 1.2 Prepare written objectives for the research.

The first step in conducting questionnaire research is to prepare a written list of specific objectives for the research. The more specific you can be, the more likely it is that you will avoid getting off track while writing a questionnaire. Example 1.2.1 shows an objective that is too broad to provide direct guidance in writing questionnaire items. The Improved Version of Example 1.2.1 is much more specific. The elements listed in the improved version provide specific guidance for item writing—one or more items should be written for each element.

Example 1.2.1

Objective: To explore customers' satisfaction with their service visit to the repair shop of an automobile dealer.

Improved Version of Example 1.2.1

Objective: To determine customers' satisfaction with their service visit to the repair shop of an aut...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Planning Questionnaire Research
• 2. Writing Items to Collect Factual Information
• 3. Writing Items to Collect Demographic Information
• 4. Writing Items to Measure Attitudes
• 5. Writing Items to Evaluate Products, Services, and Programs
• 6. Conducting Item Tryouts and an Item Analysis
• 7. Preparing a Questionnaire for Administration
• 8. Selecting a Sample of Respondents
• 9. Preparing Statistical Tables and Figures
• 10. Describing Averages and Variability
• 11. Describing Relationships
• 12. Estimating Margins of Error
• 13. Writing Reports of Questionnaire Research
• Appendix A Questions on Race Used in the 2010 Census
• Appendix B Sample Cover Letter for a Questionnaire
• Appendix C Sample Informed Consent Form
• Appendix D Sample Follow-up Postcard
• Appendix E Table of Random Numbers
• Appendix F Introduction to Statistical Significance
• Appendix G Other Computational Procedures
• Appendix H Sample Questionnaire: Attitudes Toward Statistics Questionnaire
• Appendix I Sample Questionnaire: Campus Bookstore Evaluation
• Appendix J Checklist of Guidelines