Questionnaires

 What is a Questionnaire ?

A questionnaire is a research method that allows us to collect data using a range of different question which we ask a range of people. "Surveys often measure respondent's self-reported attitudes, opinions and behaviours; they are used frequently in social science to measure what psychologists call constructs." (Morrison, Accessed 2020)  There are many different uses from questionnaires and many different types of questionnaires which all prove useful in data collection. The primary form of questionnaires is one intended for self-completion by a survey participant, these forms of questionnaires are used in many situations; magazines use them to fill space and allow audiences to engage themselves with the task, they can be used for gathering opinions on a new untested product, they could also be used to gather opinions on a certain topic for example a  questionnaire could be created to gather the UK's opinion of homelessness in their area. These questionnaires are very helpful and efficient as they allow us to circulate the questionnaires to as many people as we want and just wait for a response. Another form of questionnaire is "to survey instrument intended to be administrated by an interviewer" (Brace, 2008), This form of questionnaire takes longer to finish as you will have to interview each individual participant however, it allows us to gather more reliable data than self-completed questionnaires, this is because the interviewer can make sure answers aren't untruthful and can disqualify results which don't support the research, when completed in a more formal environment like an interview, data gathered is usually a lot more intellectual. A questionnaire can have questions and boxes with pre-prepared answers or it could have a box for you to insert your own answer, the first option offers quantitative data which is measurable allowing us to easily find a result, the second option offers qualitative data, this is good as it gives us more detail allowing us to understand the reasons for the outcome of the quantitative data.

What to Consider When Creating A Questionnaire?

Validity - "A valid questionnaire ask what it intends to ask" (Jenn, 2006), questions should be structured in a way that helps the participant understand the objective of the question. The validity is concerned with the accuracy of the data gathered from the questionnaire. The way the data is measured has a big effect on the validity of the test. The accuracy of a questionnaire can be assessed using a number of different methods which are chosen based on the individual design and purpose of the survey (Morrison, Accessed 2020).

Reliability - This is "the extent to which an instrument would give the same result if measurements were to be taken again under the same conditions" (Morrison, Accessed 2020). There are many ways in which to assess the reliability of a questionnaire, the most common is to complete the questionnaire again which a new sample of participants to gather more data to assess the consistency of the results if the results change this affects the reliability of the test. The test can be completed again with the same participants to compare the responses at two timepoints, this allows us to judge whether the responses from the same individuals has changed if so we must determine the reason, in this situation qualitative data can help us understand why the participants have changed their answers.

Triangulation - "The practise of using multiple sources of data or multiple approaches of analysing data to enhance the credibility of the research study" (Salkind, 2010). When creative a questionnaire it is important to consider multiple methods of data collection as this gives more evidence of reliable and valid data.

Pilot Study - A pilot study is where you launch a test version of your survey to a close group to review the questionnaire before you but time and money into circulation and checking the results of the research (Online Survey, Accessed 2020). It is important to test your questionnaire on friends, family and colleagues first in order to make sure there are no changes needed to be made before releasing the questionnaire to the public as it could results in the collecting of inaccurate results. 

Sample - Your sample in the questionnaire refers to the people in which participate in the study, there are many ways of choosing your sample and the size however, it must be well thought out as the sample will inform your results. The use of random sampling "provides equal chances of being picked for each member of the target population" (Sincero, 2012). There are many other methods of sampling which are stated below with their purpose.

Types of Sampling Styles

Random Sampling - By choosing you sample randomly there is equal chance of being picked for the questionnaire (Sincero, 2012). This is the least complicated method of sample collection as there a little requirements. This method should only be used in questionnaires were the validity of the test isn't depended on the demographic of the audience.

Stratified Sampling - "A subset of the target population wherein the members possess one or more common attributes (Sincero, 2012). This is where you choose a specific demographic to concern your study for example if assessing the use of peer-assessment in schools, the demographic you would use would most likely include teachers and students. 

Systematic Sampling - In this method you make a list of all the people in the population, you choose the amount of people you want in your sample. By dividing the number of people in the population by the number of people you want in the sample, the number you get is what we call n (McLeod, 2019). You will choose the nth name and you will end up with a systematic sample of the desired sign. For example if your sample was taken from a school with 1500 pupils, you would have a sample of 150 pupils, to chose the pupils you would take every 10th person on the list. This method is more time consuming and difficult to achieve however, should provide a representative sample.

Convenience Sampling - This is a non-probability method of sampling, you find any person willing to participate in the research without any additional requirements a good example of this is online polls on social media. (Business Research Methodology, Accessed 2020).

Quota Sampling -  This method is tailored to the traits and characteristics of your population, in this method of sampling you will divide your population into groups and then you will take a sample from each group to meet your quota. In this form of sampling a lot of care is taken to make sure that the correct proportions are made to represent the population (Statistics How To, Accessed 2020).

Distribution

There are many methods for distributing a questionnaire which all have positive and negative aspects to them. The use of the internet allows us to easily send people questionnaires without having to spend too much money. You can embed the link to a questionnaire within your website or you can send it to individual people through email. Having the questionnaire on your website means that anyone can access it however, only people that are interested in the website and the products will view it meaning the sample will understand the topic of the questionnaire. Using email allows you to target individual people based on their interest in your website or cause for questionnaire. Both methods allow the participants to answer online and send it back, this is the most efficient and cost effective method which is most likely to reach a larger audience. 

You can also send people your questionnaire via text message, this allows you to only text the questionnaire to people you already have the number of for example banks and companies selling products usually send questionnaires via text to rate their experience with the company, they are able to do this as they have all their consumers details on file. The use of this method is effective and easy however, sending a large sample means that you will have to pay for the message sent. Sometimes the use of automated responses allows you to make the questionnaire more efficient however, it means that the participants can only answer using quantitative data rather than qualitative. 

The use of survey panels provides quick access to a group with a similar demographic, you could choose from characteristics such as age, gender, locations (Cleave, 2016) as well as many more niche demographics such as people who share an interest in boats. The use of this method can become quite costly. It is a great method as you can rely on receiving an instant response from the participants.

The use of posting the questionnaire out to the public can also be used for example when voting for a government, questionnaires are sent to each individual over the age of 18. This method is the least successful as it takes a while to so send and receive the questionnaire and it also has a low chance of the questionnaire being sent back as it requires more effort than the methods stated above. The results however, can be more accurate as the people sending the questionnaires back have a genuine interest therefore, give answers which they truly believe are correct.

Strengths of using Questionnaires

• You can collect data from a large portion of the population. As there are so many methods of distributing a questionnaire you are likely to receive more data than you would in focus groups and interviews as more people are willing to participate.
• It offers both qualitative and quantitative data, if you use both open and closed questions you are able to get some data which can be used to create statistics and graphs whereas you will also have data which offers reasons and opinions giving us more knowledge into why they answer questions in a certain way.
• Inexpensive, if you do not have much money to distribute the questionnaire, there are many cheap methods which do not require any money being put into them such as emails, polls on social media and in-app questionnaires.
• Responses gathered are standardised therefore, they are more objective.
• They take less time than other research methods. 

Drawbacks of Using Questionnaires

• Not many people answer the questionnaires, especially if a questionnaire seems wordy and long a participant is more likely to leave the questionnaire rather than completing it.
• Many people may not understand the questionnaire, as the researcher is not there to help them complete the questionnaire it is likely they will answer questions incorrectly making the data gathered unreliable.
• Open ended questions can take a long time to analyse.
• Respondents may forward information which they know is incorrect, this usually happens out of boredom therefore questionnaires should be kept short and simple so that the participants do not lose interest.
• It may take a long time for the participants to send back questionnaires or respond. 

Overall Evaluation of Questionnaires

Overall, I believe that questionnaires are a valuable research method, they allow you to gather both qualitative and quantitative data which can be helpful in collecting data. As all the questions are the same for each participant they are very easy to analyse and reach a conclusion. There are many different ways of distributing questionnaires which are all useful for different purposes for example, questionnaires in magazines are useful as they help engage a reader and they make them enjoy the product more, the use of text message questionnaires are good for evaluating the customer service of a recent call with a company quick and easy. I believe that questionnaires work best when they are short and simple as this keeps the participants interested therefore giving you the most accurate data. Using open ended questions can be risky as the data is harder to analyse however, it offers the opportunity to justify why you answer a question in a certain way giving us helpful data. Using questionnaires offers a lot of flexibility, there are so many methods of distribution, there are many methods of choosing a sample which is most suitable to your key demographic and there is also a lot of flexibility in the sort of questions you ask the participants. When correctly researched and structured a questionnaire can be a big help to your research however, when done incorrectly the data gathered will be invalid therefore, it is good to first research how to create a questionnaire before starting in order to make sure you are getting the most out of your questionnaire. 

References

Brace, I. 2008. Questionnaire Design: How to Plan, Structure and Write Survey Material for Effective Market Research (Book)

Jenn, N.C., 2006. Designing a Questionnaire (Online)

Available at : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4797036/

Morrison, J., Accessed 2020. Assessing Questionnaire Validity (Online)

Available at : https://select-statistics.co.uk/blog/assessing-questionnaire-validity/

Morrison, J., Accessed 2020. Assessing Questionnaire Reliability (Online)

Available at : https://select-statistics.co.uk/blog/assessing-questionnaire-reliability/

Salkind, N.J., 2010.Triangulation (Online)

Available at : https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/encyc-of-research-design/n469.xml

Online Surveys, Accessed 2020, Why Should I always Pilot my Survey? (Online)

Available at : https://www.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/help-support/why-should-i-always-pilot-my-survey/#:~:text=When%20you%20pilot%20your%20survey,complete%20the%20pilot%20survey%20yourself.

Sincero, S.M., 2012. Methods of Survey Sampling (Online)

Available at : https://explorable.com/methods-of-survey-sampling

Cleave, P. 2016. Survey Distribution - The Best Methods (Online)

Available at : https://blog.smartsurvey.co.uk/survey-distribution#:~:text=Survey%20distribution%20tools%20allow%20you,and%20make%20quick%2C%20informed%20decisions.&text=Different%20survey%20distribution%20methods%20provide,the%20reach%20of%20your%20questionnaire.

McLeod, S. 2019. Sampling Methods (Online)

Available at : https://www.simplypsychology.org/sampling.html

Business Research Methodology, Accessed 2020, Convenience Sampling (Online)

Available at : https://research-methodology.net/sampling-in-primary-data-collection/convenience-sampling/

Statistics How To, Accessed 2020, Quota Sampling (Online)

Available at : https://www.statisticshowto.com/quota-sampling/