Questionnaires and their problems. (+ Interviews)

Well made questionnaires can be useful for quantifying relevant information. They can be used for evidence of generalisations that can be made and just how valid those generalisations are. However they are a flawed research method if not done right.

-  For information to be useful and generalisable you have to have spoken to enough people. 

- Questions must be carefully written to allow no room for confusion in those that fill them out. You must be careful that questions cannot be interpreted in different ways. 

- Possible answers should mostly lead to quantifiable information, not a huge array of answers which will be difficult to get vast information from. So questions should be specific with limited answers. For example you could use tick boxes with options of answers.

- If you want a written answer that is not quantifiable (perhaps in order to use direct quotes and have more depth in your findings) then you must be sure to leave enough space for the kind of answer that you want. So if you want one word answers leave space for that and if you want a paragraph leave space for that. 

- You should not ask a question that shows some sort of bias that may sway a persons answer

e.g. 'Do you steal music? '

The word steal has negative connotations and people are less likely to answer honestly than if you say

'Do you download copyright music by file sharing? '

- Questionnaires MUST be specific so you need to make your aims clear before you begin.

- You need to consider who is filling out your questionnaire and if they are the best group to target. You must also know how you plan to target them and be sure that there are questions that tell you exactly who has filled out the questionnaire and specific things about them e.g. age, gender, occupation etc. 

vs. One to one interviews

Doing one to one interviews can take out some of the problems that questionnaires have, but brings it's own problems. 

They quite simply take up more time, would be more expensive to conduct, regulate and standardise interviews. 

You can get far more information and much more depth from answers than you can with questionnaires while still being able to get some generalisable information.

However people may be less likely to be honest and there is more of a chance of possible bias in the questions from the interviewer or bias from the interviewers reactions that would effect findings.