Surveys & Questionnaires (DP IB Psychology): Revision Note

Surveys & questionnaires

• A survey is a way of gathering information using a set of questions

  • Surveys use a questionnaire either with small samples (one participant in a case study) or large samples (surveying the whole of the UK as to their feelings about global warming)

• A questionnaire is a type of  self-report which involves participants answering a range of questions designed to collect their thoughts, feelings, attitudes, attributes and opinions

• Questionnaires may be used:

  • to understand how people feel about issues such as immigration, social media, the cost of living

  • to measure psychometric properties such as IQ, depression, empathy, decision-making

  • conducting a large-scale survey to assess the extent to which people are, for example, likely to vote, consult a doctor, use green energy

Open and closed questions

• Questionnaires can consist of either closed questions or open questions or a combination of both types of questions, e.g.,

  • closed question: Are you happy?

  • open question: What would you change about your life to increase your overall happiness?

  • combination of closed and open questions: Are you happy? Yes or no? Explain why you answered yes or no

• A closed question offers limited options for the participant’s response, e.g.,

  • Do you agree that young people are more anxious than previous generations?

    • Answer: Yes or No

  • Which of the following words best describes you? 

    • a) Sociable    b) Shy    c) Reclusive    d) Hostile

• Closed questions generate quantitative data

  • E.g., the number of ‘yes’ responses across the questionnaire

  • the number of times a participant ticked b)

  • the total score is calculated from the scaled questions, e.g., 2 + 4 + 7

• An open question offers freedom of response

  • E.g., Tell me about one time when you felt anxious

  • How do you think other people would describe you? 

• Open questions generate qualitative data

  • Themes may emerge from this type of data

  • The thoughts, ideas and feelings of the participant are not 'boiled down' into neat numerical data; instead, they record individual subjective experience

Evaluation of surveys & questionnaires

Strengths

• Surveys and questionnaires are a quick, easy and convenient method of gathering data

  • Large samples can be reached via the use of electronic survey tools

  • Large samples produce reliable results as any anomalous results are averaged by the overall trend of the data

• Questionnaires use standardised questions which means that they can be replicated to check for reliability

  • The test-retest method can check for external reliability

  • The split-half method can check for internal reliability

Limitations

• There is a tendency for people to under-report negative and over-report positive aspects of themselves when completing a questionnaire

  • This means that questionnaires can lead to participants succumbing to social desirability bias

  • Any form of bias in research impairs the validity of the findings

• Questionnaires tend to under-utilise open questions, which limits their usefulness

  • This means that they can show the 'what' of behaviour (e.g. people become more cautious with age) but not the 'why' of that behaviour (e.g. why do people become more cautious with age?)