Deny A. Kwary Airlangga University

What is a questionnaire? A set of questions on a topic or group of topics designed to be answered by a respondent (Richards at al. 1992: 303)

Methods of Data Collection Using Questionnaires Mail questionnaires  Advantages: (1) Low cost of data collection, (2) avoidance of interviewer bias, and (3) ability to reach respondents who live far away.  Disadvantages: (1) low response rates, (2) no opportunity to correct misunderstanding, and (3) no check on incomplete sentences. Self-administered questionnaires Group-administered questionnaires

How to increase response rates: Advance warning Explanation of selection Sponsorship Envelope Publicity Incentives Confidentiality (THE CONTENT OF THIS FORM IS ABSOLUTELY CONFIDENTIAL AND WILL NOT BE DISCLOSED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES) Reminders Anonymity Appearance Length The topic and its degree of interest Rapport

Question types An open question does not require a one word or curtailed answer. A closed question can only be answered in a limited way.

Open Questions Advantages:  Freedom and spontaneity of the answers  Opportunity to probe  Useful for testing hypothesis about ideas Disadvantages:  Time-consuming  Coding: very costly and slow to process  Demand more effort from the respondents

Closed Questions Advantages:  No extended writing  Easy to process  Useful for testing specific hypothesis Disadvantages:  Loss of spontaneous response  Bias in answer categories  May irritate respondents

Several formats of closed questions Multiple choice questions (MCQ) True/False questions Yes/No questions Bogardus: Social distance scale (1930s) Likert: Attitude scale (1960s) Osgood: Semantic differential scale (1970s) Dorian: Ranking schemes (1981)

Some basic rules in designing the question wording Length Avoid double-barreled questions Avoid proverbs Avoid double negatives Consider using Don’t know and Not Applicable categories. Avoid acronyms, abbreviations, and technical terms Beware the dangers of alternative usage Don’t over-tax the respondents’ memories

Matched-guise technique (Read pp )

Giles & Powesland (1975). Speech Style and Social Evaluation. MMatched-guised technique: an investigator who could speak either Birmingham accent and RP spoke to two groups of 17-year-olds about psychology, using one accent with one group and the other accent with the other group. RResult: The investigator was rated higher in his RP in terms of competence, intelligence, and industrious.

Giles and Ryan (1982): concluded that a certain accent can change public opinion and show the speaker’s social class. MMatched-guised technique: Four groups of people were asked to listen to a recording about capital punishment. TThe first group listened to the argument in RP; TThe second group listened to it in South Wales accent; TThe third in Somerset accent; TThe fourth in Birmingham accent. Result: The RP speaker is considered to have higher competency than the local accent speakers. However, the respondents tend to agree with arguments of the local accent speaker.

Matched guise technique to children Rosenthal (1974): Attitudes of children towards SE and AAVE.  Location: Florida  Respondents: 136 school children between the ages three to six.  The children saw two identical boxes, each with a tape-recorder and a present hidden.  73% of the children expected a present from the voice with SE.