parents and principals as partners in creating a culture of learning

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In a mail questionnaire the respondent examines all the questions at the
same time before answering them and the answers to the different questions
can therefore not be treated as "independent".
The researcher is unable to control the context of question answering and
specifically, the presence ofother people. Respondents may ask friends or
family members to examine the questionnaire or comment on their answers,
causing bias if the respondent's own private opinions are desired.
Written questionnaires do not allow the researcher to correct
misunderstanding or answer questions that the respondents may have.
Respondents might answer questions incorrectly or not at all due to
confusion or misinterpretation.
5.4.5 Validity and reliability of the Questionnaire
There are two concepts that are of critical importance in understanding issues of
measurement in social science research, namely validity and reliability (Huysamen,
1989:1-3). All too rarely do questionnaire designers deal consciously with the
degree of validity and reliability of their instrument. This is one reason why so
many questionnaires are lacking in these two qualities. Questionnaires have a very
limited purpose. In fact, they are often one-time data gathering devices with a very
short life, administered to a limited population. There are ways to improve both
the validity and reliability of questionnaires. Basic to the validity of a
questionnaire is asking the right questions phrased in the least ambiguous way. In
other words, do the items sample a significant aspect of the purpose of the
investigation? Terms must be clearly defined so that they have the same meaning
to all respondents (Cohen & Manion, 1989:111-112).
Kidder & Judd (1986:53-54) mention the fact that although reliability and validity
are two different characteristics of measurement, they 'shade into each other".