2691599
Description
Flashcards by ashiana121, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by ashiana121
over 9 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| What do questionnaires ask people to answer? | Pre-set questions |
| What type of questions do questionnaires tend to ask? | Closed |
| What approach to positivists take to sociological research? | A scientific approach - data should be objective and quantitative |
| What methods of research do positivists use? | Standardised |
| What do positivists argue this allows them to make about society? | Generalisations and cause-and-effect relationships |
| Give 3 reasons why positivists prefer questionnaires | They produce reliable data so previous findings can be retested, they generate quantitative data that can be used to test hypothesis and identify correlations, can be used on a large scale to produce representative data |
| What do interpretivists argue that the data produced by questionnaires lacks? | Validity |
| What are the 5 main advantages of questionnaires? | Practical advantages, reliability, hypothesis testing, detachment and objectivity and representativeness |
| What are the 5 practical advantages of questionnaires? | Quick, cheap, no need to train interviewees or observers, gather large quantities of data, easy to quantify (due to closed, pre-coded questions) |
| Why are questionnaires reliable? | Because they have a set list of questions and restricted choice of possible answers so it is easily replicated |
| Why can the respondents answers not be influenced? | There is no researchers present to influence them |
| How can researchers compare results from different groups? | By giving the same questionnaire to different groups |
| How do questionnaires maintain detachment and objectivity? | They are completed with little or no contact between researchers and respondents |
| The presence of a researcher could cause what in other methods of research such as interviews or observation? | Bias |
| Why are questionnaires representatitive? | Because they collect data from large numbers of people |
| What does this mean the findings of large scale questionnaires make the generalisations? | More accurate |
| What are the 6 disadvantages of questionnaires? | Practical problems, response rate, inflexibility, detachment, lying/forgetting/right answerism, imposing the researchers meanings |
| What are the practical problems with questionnaires? | They need to be brief, incentives may need to be offered |
| Why do questionnaires need to be brief and what problems could this cause? | Most respondents are unlikely to answer long, time-consuming questionnaires. This limits the amount of information that can be gathered |
| Why may incentives have to be offered | To persuade respondents to complete the questionnaire e.g prize draw |
| Why are the response rates low for postal questionnaires? | Few people bother to complete and return them |
| What factors may reduce response rate? | Complex language or bad design |
| What could a low response rate mean about the results? | Those who return their questionnaires may be different from those who don't so the results are unrepresentative |
| What type of people are more likely to return questionnaires? | People with time on their hands |
| In what 3 ways could researches increase the response rate? | By offering incentives, sending follow up questionnaires or collecting by hand |
| What disadvantage does this bring? | It increases the cost and adds to the time |
| Why are questionnaires inflexible? | Once finalised the researcher cannot explore any new areas of interest that may emerge during the course of the research |
| What disadvantage comes with the detachment of questionnaires? | Answers cannot be clarified, misunderstandings cannot be cleared up, no way of knowing if the researcher and respondent interpret the questions and answers in the same way |
| How may the validity of the data be reduced by the respondent? | If they lie, forget, dont know or understand, try to please or annoy the researcher or give a socially desirable answer they feel they ought to give rather than tell the truth |
| How may a questionnaire impose the researchers meanings? | The researcher chooses which questions to ask and decides the response catagories |
| What do closed ended questions limit? | The answers respondents can give |
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