Module teaching and integrating language skills lesson 1

MODUL 4: CLASSROOM INVESTIGATION
LESSON 21
THEME: Questionnaire to students and teachers. Diary
Questionnaire
A questionnaire is a means of eliciting the feelings, beliefs, experiences, perceptions, or attitudes of some sample of individuals. As a data collecting instrument, it could be structured or unstructured.
The questionnaire is most frequently a very concise, preplanned set of questions designed to yield specific information to meet a particular need for research information about a pertinent topic. The research information is attained from respondents normally from a related interest area. The dictionary definition gives a clearer definition: A questionnaire is a written or printed form used in gathering information on some subject or subjects consisting of a list of questions to be submitted to one or more persons.
Advantages

Economy - Expense and time involved in training interviewers and sending them to interview are reduced by using questionnaires.

Uniformity of questions - Each respondent receives the same set of questions phrased in exactly the same way. Questionnaires may, therefore, yield data more comparable than information obtained through an interview.

Standardization - If the questions are highly structured and the conditions under which they are answered are controlled, then the questionnaire could become standardized.

Disadvantages

Respondent’s motivation is difficult to assess, affecting the validity of response.

Unless a random sampling of returns is obtained, those returned completed may represent biased samples.