RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

318 QUESTIONNAIRES
and when to withdraw from the research is entirely
theirs. Their involvement in the research is likely
to be a function of the following factors:
Their informed consent (see Chapter 2 on the
ethics of educational research).
Their rights to withdraw at any stage or not to
complete particular items in the questionnaire.
The potential of the research to improve their
situation (the issue of beneficence).
The guarantees that the research will not harm
them (the issue of non-maleficence).
The guarantees of confidentiality, anonymity and
non-traceability in the research.
The degree of threat or sensitivity of the
questions, which may lead to respondents’
over-reporting or under-reporting (Sudman
and Bradburn 1982: 32 and Chapter 3).
Factors in the questionnaire itself (e.g. its coverage
of issues, its ability to catch what respondents
want to say rather than to promote the
researcher’s agenda), i.e. the avoidance of bias
and the assurance of validity and reliability in
the questionnaire – the issues of methodological
rigour and fairness. Methodological rigour
is an ethical not simply a technical matter
(Morrison 1996c), and respondents have a
right to expect reliability and validity.
The reactions of the respondent, for example,
respondents will react if they consider an
item to be offensive, intrusive, misleading,
biased, misguided, irritating, inconsiderate,
impertinent or abstruse.
These factors impact on every stage of the use of a
questionnaire, to suggest that attention has to be
given to the questionnaire itself, the approaches
that are made to the respondents, the explanations
that are given to the respondents, the data analysis
and the data reporting.
of responses that their questions are likely to elicit.
In Box 15.1 we illustrate a flow chart employed in a
commercial survey based upon an interview schedule,
although the application of the method to a
self-completion questionnaire is self-evident.
On a more positive note, Sellitz and her associates
(1976) have provided a fairly exhaustive
guide to researchers in constructing their questionnaires
which we summarize in Box 15.2 (see http://
www.routledge.com/textbooks/9780415368780 –
Chapter 15, file 15.1. ppt).
These are introductory issues, and the remainder
of this chapter takes each of these and unpacks
them in greater detail. Additionally, one can set
out a staged sequence for planning a questionnaire,
thus:
1 Decide the purposes/objectives of the
questionnaire.
2 Decide the population and the sample (as
questions about their characteristics will need
to be included on the questionnaire under
‘personal details’).
3 Generate the topics/constructs/concepts/
issues to be addressed and data required
in order to meet the objectives of the research
(this can be done from literature, or
a pre-pilot, for example, focus groups and
semi-structured interviews).
4 Decidethekindsofmeasures/scales/questions
/responses required.
5 Write the questionnaire items.
6 Check that each issue from (3)has been
addressed, using several items for each issue.
7 Pilot the questionnaire and refine items as a
consequence.
8 Administer the finalquestionnaire.
Within these stages there are several subcomponents,
and this chapter addresses these.
Approaching the planning of a
questionnaire
At this preliminary stage of design, it can sometimes
be helpful to use a flow chart technique to
plan the sequencing of questions. In this way, researchers
are able to anticipate the type and range
Operationalizing the questionnaire
The process of operationalizing a questionnaire
is to take a general purpose or set of purposes
and turn these into concrete, researchable fields
about which actual data can be gathered. First, a
questionnaire’s general purposes must be clarified