Questionnaires
questionnaires by Sam Cook a former student
Questionnaires are a common method of discovering sociological truths. Many students think all you have to do is write a list of questions and then go and get people to answer them. Once that’s completed you summerise your findings from your valid 
(validity) data to form a general (generalisation) conclusion. To most students it seems the simplest of things to undertake, the trouble is it’s a lot more complicated than that.
Firstly if you’re using positivist methods you’ll have to make an closed or structured or pre-coded questionnaire in order to gather quantitative data. On the other hand as a sociologist you might wish to adopt an interpretivist approach and use open-ended or unstructured questionnaires.
Closed or structured or pre-coded questionnaires
Advantages
- relatively quick to complete by respondent
- easier, quick, and less costly to analyze
- data produced ought to be reliable (easy to repeat) allowing other researchers to test the findings (replicating
the method of the natural scientists) - they produce data which is relatively easy to categorise and present in statistical form such as graphs and charts
- make it easy for comparisons to be between different groups. This is because respondents are all answering the same questions
Disadvantages
- possible misinterpretation of questions
- limited choice of answers puts artificial limits on how the respondent answers
- if answered with researcher present respondent might ‘lie’ as they’re too embarrassed to tell the truth
- the responses set out are those of the sociologist and not necessarily those of the respondent (imposition problem)
- too many options might confuse the respondent
- no way of knowing if respondent understood the question/questions
- response options can put ideas into the respondents mind
Open or unstructured questionnaires
Advantages
- responses are in the respondents own words, rather than those of sociologist as with closed questionnaires, which improves validity
- the imposition problem found in closed questionnaires is less of an issue as the respondent is using their own words and not those of the researcher as with closed questionnaires
- they provide more detailed and deeper answers including more information such as feelings and attitudes
- open-ended questions simply do not allow respondents to speed read or avoid reading the questions and so “fill in” the answer without thinking
Disadvantages
- with such a broad range of answers it can be hard to classify and quantify the date into graphs and charts
- with such a broad range of answers it can be difficult to compare results with similar research
- response rate can lower than with those that use closed-ended questions as people have to fill them in and they might feel awkward regarding their spelling and or hand-writing
- responses might be ‘skip’ to the point as the respondent is in a rush and so the answers given are too vague
- hand-writing might be illegible through the respondent rushing
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