Information system analysis and design Dr. Dina Tbaishat

Recap Last lecture we discussed one data collection method (interviews) Today we shall look at another method; questionnaires

Questionnaires Very popular data collection method Includes questions (usually very short) Are distributed to a number of people who in turn would fill them up and return them to the researcher Questionnaires can be sent by post, email, or can be self administered (having the researcher waiting for respondents to finish)

Advantages: Quick Easy and cheap to administer (Should be) free of bias and can be anonymous (Should be) easy to analyse Can be sent to lots of people – even in remote places Disadvantages: Difficult to discover people’s attitudes May miss the problem May unintentionally offend the respondent Low response rate? How many to do to get a reasonable number?

Questionnaires characteristics: Easy to follow Polite Unambiguous – avoid vague (unclear) words Allow for all possible responses per question Non-biased – don’t lead respondent to give certain answers Need covering letter Need introduction Need to thank the respondent Maybe inform respondents of the results?

Questionnaires vs. interviews When comparing questionnaires to interviews, the following advantages are noted: Questionnaires have more closed questions, which are easier / faster to answer Questionnaires have ‘easier to follow’ design Questionnaires are easier to terminate Questionnaires are cheaper to administer

Questionnaires are easier to administer (thousands of them can be sent in one batch) Questionnaires do not have the problem of the interviewer effect (where in interviews, the interviewer might be affected by the interviewee look, gender or ethnicity) Questionnaires do not have the problem of asking questions in different ways Questionnaires are more convenient for respondents

Also, when comparing questionnaires to interviews, the following disadvantages are noted: Cannot help respondents in questionnaires Questions are more boring to respondents in questionnaires compared to those in an interview Questions in questionnaires are dependent; as respondents can read the whole questionnaire  question order effect

In questionnaires you cannot tell who actually answered Cannot collect additional data Questionnaires have lower response rate Questionnaires may not be suitable for some kinds of respondents (those who have limited literacy)

Types of questions in questionnaires 1. Closed questions: Categories, for example: ages 5-9, 10-19; yes/no; scales (agree strongly, agree, neither, disagree, disagree strongly) +ve: easier to analyse -ve: need to have chosen categories 2. Open-ended questions: Free text comments +ve: might learn new things -ve: hard to analyse & longer to fill in Avoid loaded / leading questions!

Exercise: what is wrong with these questions? Q.1 What is your age? 0 -20 [ ] 20-30 [ ] 30-40 [ ] 40-50 [ ] 50-60 [ ] 60 and over [ ] Q.2 Do you consider keeping fit to be necessary but hard or do you gain enjoyment from it? Yes/No/Don’t know Q.3 Do you feel you could cheat in exams if you so wished? Yes/No Q.4 Do you go out to work? Yes/No

Some respondent’s problems with questionnaires: No reason given: why should I fill it in? There is no suitable category given in this question for my real answer This question is offensive There are two questions here – which do I answer? I simply do not understand what this question is about! Where am I going with this – the order is illogical / I have lost my way

References Bryman, A. (2004). Social Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press