SURVEY & QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN: Collecting Primary Data to Answer Research Questions
By Jane Bourke, Ann Kirby and Justin Doran
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About this ebook
SURVEY & QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN: Collecting Primary Data to Answer Research Questions presents practice-oriented guidance on survey and questionnaire design, as well as exercises and video presentations, to assist you in your research. It is based on lecture notes and hand-outs used by the authors in the various classes they have taught over the past number of years. Within the research process, you may wish to collect primary data using a survey. Surveys have a number of different steps that need to be addressed. Designing surveys requires you to: Set objectives for information collection; Design your research around those objectives; Prepare a reliable survey instrument; Manage and code the instrument; Analyse data; Report results. Sections 1 and 2 of this ebook are devoted primarily to the construction of the research question and its importance in influencing the design of the survey. Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 concentrate on the development of the questionnaire or survey instrument. Section 7 ensures that the survey instrument is valid and reliable. Finally, Section 8 considers the layout of your survey questionnaire.
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SURVEY & QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN - Jane Bourke
BOOKS
INTRODUCTION
This e-book presents practice-oriented guidance on survey and questionnaire design, as well as exercises and video presentations, to assist you in your research. It is based on lecture notes and hand-outs used by the authors in the various classes they have taught over the past number of years.
Within the research process, you may wish to collect primary data using a survey. Surveys have a number of different steps that need to be addressed. Designing surveys requires you to:
Set objectives for information collection;
Design your research around those objectives;
Prepare a reliable survey instrument;
Manage and code the instrument;
Analyse data;
Report results.
The first, most important step is to develop a research question that helps generate data. Once the research question has been agreed on, it will guide the other stages of development in the survey design. It will help to determine, for example:
The design and types of questions to be included in the questionnaire (closed or open questions?);
Who the questionnaire needs to be distributed to;
What type of data is needed (qualitative, quantitative or both?);
How the data is collected and presented.
These stages of development in the research process are all influenced by the research question. Some time should be given to its construction, focusing specifically on whether the research question, as expressed, will find a resolution to the problem identified.
Sections 1 and 2 of this ebook are devoted primarily to the construction of the research question and its importance in influencing the design of the survey. Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 concentrate on the development of the questionnaire or survey instrument. Section 7 ensures that the survey instrument is valid and reliable. Finally, Section 8 considers the layout of your survey questionnaire.
Good luck with your surveying!
Jane Bourke
Ann Kirby
Justin Doran
Cork, September 2016
1: THE RESEARCH QUESTION
After reading this section you should be able to:
Develop and construct a research question.
The world is full of well-meaning people who believe that anyone who can write plain English and has a modicum of common sense can produce a questionnaire.
Oppenheim (1992:1)
The Research Question
How to formulate and clarify your research question is difficult. Without being clear about what you are going to research, it is difficult to plan. This reminds us of a favourite quote from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. In a conversation with the Cheshire Cat, Alice asks (Carroll, 1865:63-64):
‘Would you tell me please which way I ought to walk from here?’
‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to’, said the Cat.
‘I don’t much care where’, said Alice.
‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk’, said the Cat.
Formulating and clarifying your research topic is the starting point of your research question and objectives. Formulating and trying to identify a research question can be influenced by various stages in the research development process. Figure 1 shows an example of problem-based learning (PBL), one approach that can be adopted by, for