These lecture notes summarise the key points from 2nd year research methods theory lectures, including full citations from relevant reading list texts that can be used in essay citations.
Constructing
questions
Bell, J. (2010). Doing Your Research Project, 5th Edn. Maidenhead: Open University Press. p.142-149
Avoid relative terms such as "a great deal" or "a certain amount" without quantifying these statements
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February
Avoid2021
leading 23:17
questions
Avoid presuming details about your participants' lives or circumstances
Consider combining quantitative answers, such as age or number of years spent doing a certain thing, with qualitative answers to better illustrate your data
Asking people to draw too much from their distant memory could either result in incorrect data or in participants leaving the survey out of frustration
In your questions you must avoid: Tips for structuring a question bank
Ambiguity and imprecision Start with easy questions to build engagement
Assumptions - Explain esoteric terminology where Use everyday language and explain any acronyms or
Memory - Asking people to draw too much from their distant memory esoteric terms
could either result in incorrect data, or in participants leaving the survey Maintain a logical thematic flow regarding the topics being
altogether out of frustration discussed
Double questioning - This involves asking people two questions in one Only ask questions you know you need the answer to -
phrase, which may yield different or completely contradicting answers thus unnecessary data helps no-one
making the question harder for participants to answer Test-drive your questions with friends or family to check for
Leading questions - Make sure the phrasing of your questions is as neutral errors or areas of misunderstanding
as possible
Hypothetical questions - These can once again be difficult to answer and are
therefore likely to frustrate participants, and are also unhelpful when
discussing tangible topics
Research theory Page 1
, Survey question
paradigms
09 February 2021 14:33
Oakley, A. (1999). 'Gender, Methodology and People's Ways of Knowing: Some Problems
with Feminism and the paradigm Debate in Social Science', Sociology Vol.32 Issue 4,
pp.707-731.
Open questions: Closed questions:
Elicit rich, qualitative data Elicit quantitative data
Encourage thought and freedom of expression Can encourage 'mindless' replies
May discourage responses from less literate respondents Are easy for all literacy levels to respond to
Take longer to answer and may put some people off Are quick to answer and may improve your response rate
Are more difficult to analyse - responses can be misinterpreted Are easy to 'code' and analyse
Research theory Page 2
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