Research Methods in Tourism, Hospitality and Events Management

Ambiguous questions

It is also important for you to avoid ambiguous questions for the same

reasons as above. Your questions should be straightforward and easy for the

respondent to understand. Again, piloting the interview before you go ahead

will make sure that you have not fallen into this trap.

Leading questions

It is very important during qualitative research that you do not lead the

respondent on. This is a particular danger for you if you have your own

hypothesis about the situation which you are trying to prove in the research.

For example, say you believe that women are not given the same

opportunities in the workplace as men and you are asking respondents about

this – you could ask the question in two ways as follows:

1. Tell me about the roles of women and men in your organisation.

2. Women don’t seem to do very well round here, do they?

The first question just asks the respondent to discuss the situation in an

open way, whereas the second question asks them to confirm your view,

which they are likely to do. You should adopt the first approach to avoid

leading the respondent on. We can now consider common errors that occur

in interviewing in more depth.