Questionnaires
Practical (Advantages & Disadvantages) Ethical issues Theoretical (Advantages & Disadvantages)
Quick and cheap and Data is limited/ There are few ethical Hypothesis testing - can establish Lying/ forgetting/ trying to impress -
can gather data from superficial as issues: correlations/ relationships allowing the respondents may try to impress and
large samples. questionnaires they Informed consent - discovering of possible cause and effect may second guess what the research
are usually quite brief. completing the relationships between variables. Can is ‘looking for’. Impossible to confirm
questionnaire then construct hypothesis, for future truthfulness what people say they do
indicates consent. testing. and actually do. Lack of validity if the
Deception- state at participants do not understand the
the top of the questions.
Data is easy to Must have prior questionnaire the Representativeness- questionnaires Imposing the researchers meanings-
quantify. This is knowledge of topic in full aim and nature usually involve sophisticated sampling respondents either choose a limited
especially true with order to write of the study. techniques meaning that samples are number of options or have their
closed-ended questions and make a Protection from representative. They are large scale answers lumped with non-identical
questions, which can clear hypothesis. harm-questions meaning that they can be distributed ones during coding. Researchers ends
be processed quickly Makes it hard to about potentially quickly to wide geographical areas. We up imposing their values onto the
using computer explore unfamiliar sensitive topics, can generalise these large scale surveys research by the deciding what
software. topics. participants aren’t to the wider research population. questions are important to ask.
Comparisons can be Unknown respondent, obligated to Detachment/ objectivity - involvement
made between can't be sure that the answer. with participants is minimal. Therefore,
groups and across intended recipient Anonymity- unbiased and the subjective opinions of
time, by asking the completed the researchers should the researcher don't contaminate
same questions. questionnaire. refer to participants findings.
No need to train Inflexibility as once by numbers or their Reliability – questionnaires are a Detachment/ lack of contact-
interviewers because finalised the initials. standardised measuring instrument and impossible to clarify misunderstood
respondents can researcher is stuck can be easily replicate. Results can be questions/answers. This is especially
complete the with the questions. checked or falsified by other researcher the case where there may be
questions on their Cannot explore new to see if they get the same answers, cultural/language differences. The
own. areas of interest. increasing validity. questionnaire fails to produce valid
data as we are distant from the
people we are researching.
Practical (Advantages & Disadvantages) Ethical issues Theoretical (Advantages & Disadvantages)
Quick and cheap and Data is limited/ There are few ethical Hypothesis testing - can establish Lying/ forgetting/ trying to impress -
can gather data from superficial as issues: correlations/ relationships allowing the respondents may try to impress and
large samples. questionnaires they Informed consent - discovering of possible cause and effect may second guess what the research
are usually quite brief. completing the relationships between variables. Can is ‘looking for’. Impossible to confirm
questionnaire then construct hypothesis, for future truthfulness what people say they do
indicates consent. testing. and actually do. Lack of validity if the
Deception- state at participants do not understand the
the top of the questions.
Data is easy to Must have prior questionnaire the Representativeness- questionnaires Imposing the researchers meanings-
quantify. This is knowledge of topic in full aim and nature usually involve sophisticated sampling respondents either choose a limited
especially true with order to write of the study. techniques meaning that samples are number of options or have their
closed-ended questions and make a Protection from representative. They are large scale answers lumped with non-identical
questions, which can clear hypothesis. harm-questions meaning that they can be distributed ones during coding. Researchers ends
be processed quickly Makes it hard to about potentially quickly to wide geographical areas. We up imposing their values onto the
using computer explore unfamiliar sensitive topics, can generalise these large scale surveys research by the deciding what
software. topics. participants aren’t to the wider research population. questions are important to ask.
Comparisons can be Unknown respondent, obligated to Detachment/ objectivity - involvement
made between can't be sure that the answer. with participants is minimal. Therefore,
groups and across intended recipient Anonymity- unbiased and the subjective opinions of
time, by asking the completed the researchers should the researcher don't contaminate
same questions. questionnaire. refer to participants findings.
No need to train Inflexibility as once by numbers or their Reliability – questionnaires are a Detachment/ lack of contact-
interviewers because finalised the initials. standardised measuring instrument and impossible to clarify misunderstood
respondents can researcher is stuck can be easily replicate. Results can be questions/answers. This is especially
complete the with the questions. checked or falsified by other researcher the case where there may be
questions on their Cannot explore new to see if they get the same answers, cultural/language differences. The
own. areas of interest. increasing validity. questionnaire fails to produce valid
data as we are distant from the
people we are researching.
