Questionnaire AND Schedule PDF

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An objective analysis of the subject is the primary criterion for any type of research. An objective analysis would entail researching a topic in such a way that it involves a rational approach and understanding, resulting in the most logical conclusion. While there are a variety of ways to conduct ...

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QUESTIONNAIRE AND SCHEDULE INTRODUCTION

An objective analysis of the subject is the primary criterion for any type of research. An objective analysis would entail researching a topic in such a way that it involves a rational approach and understanding, resulting in the most logical conclusion. While there are a variety of ways to conduct objective research, the most common tool used by researchers in the first phase of any project is a questionnaire. A questionnaire is essentially a collection of questions related to the research topic that are compiled and distributed to the respondent for completion. The respondent is expected to complete the questionnaire, which will be used as primary data in the study. In simple terms, a questionnaire is a research tool that consists of a set of pre-set questions that are framed in a specific way to collect objective data from respondents. It is the most common and widely used data collection technique in field surveys. We will learn about Questionnaire and Schedule as data collection tools in this unit.

A GOOD QUESTIONNAIRE: PREPARATION AND FEATURES

Creating a good questionnaire is a difficult task. It's a lengthy and difficult procedure. A good quality questionnaire is required for good quality data, so when creating one, keep the needs of the research in mind. Depending on the research needs, a questionnaire can be structured or semi-structured. Structured or closed questionnaires usually have pre-determined answers from which respondents must choose. Semistructured or open-ended questionnaires have pre-determined questions but give respondents room to respond in their own words. Due to the possibility of subjective responses to some questions, semi-structured questionnaires do not fully qualify as quantitative data. A structured or closed questionnaire yields more objective responses, which aid the researcher in quantifying and analysing the data.

Simple, short, and crisp questions that are easily understood by respondents are expected in a good questionnaire. The more understandable the questionnaire, the more likely the data obtained will be objective and rational. The respondents should be able to understand the questionnaire. It may focus on the most important or significant aspects of the research, but the questions should be framed in such a way that respondents are not hesitant to share their responses or opinions. A good questionnaire's responsibility in research is for respondents to understand the importance of the questions asked and not dismiss them as unimportant or insignificant. A good questionnaire should be made up of logical questions with logical responses. The questions should be written in such a way that the researcher can express herself in the simplest possible language with the fewest possible sentences. Question length that is excessively long tends to confuse respondents and increases the risk of misinterpretation. A good questionnaire should avoid questions that are potentially humiliating or irritating to the respondents. Although questionnaires as a data collection tool leave little room for respondents to express themselves subjectively and, in most cases, guarantee anonymity, questions involving face-to-face interaction with respondents should be framed with greater sensitivity and care so as not to make the respondent uncomfortable. This is critical for obtaining data that is not tainted by anxiety. A good questionnaire should, above all, be appealing. It should be created in such a way that it piques the respondents' interest. The most important thing to do when preparing a research questionnaire is to do a good job designing it, because no matter how important the questionnaires are, if they don't engage the respondents, they won't be able to collect enough data. TYPES OF QUESTIONNAIRES

The degree of structure and the number of response options are the two most important dimensions along which questionaires commonly differ.

The degree of structure is referred to as the degree of structure. In terms of structure, there are two types of questionaires: ic structured and instructured. Structured questionaires are those in which the questions to be asked of respondents and the instructions for interviewers to follow are stated very precisely and concisely in advance. Unstructured questionaires, on the other hand, are those in which only the broad areas of a subject are specified rather than the form or sequence of questions. In this case, question formulation is left to the interviewers, who are free to ask respondents whatever questions they want. Number of response options: Questionaires differ in this regard in terms of the number of response options available to the subject. A dichotomous question is one in which the subject is given only two options for responding.

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF QUESTIONNAIRE

As previously stated, a good questionnaire is essential for a successful quantitative study. However, using a questionnaire as a research tool has its own set of benefits and drawbacks, so it should only be used if the research requires it. Some studies, for example, may require respondents to provide detailed subjective opinions. In that case, a questionnaire would be useless in terms of gathering information. A welldesigned, good, and crisp questionnaire, on the other hand, would greatly benefit a study that requires objective responses from respondents. As a result, a questionnaire can be divided into closed and open ended questionnaires, depending on the needs of the research. To go into more detail, we'll go over a few of the benefits and drawbacks of questionnaires in general that fall into both of these categories. MERITS OF A QUESTIONNAIRE :

Cost-effective: The best thing about a questionnaire is how inexpensive it is. It is, to say the least, cost-effective in terms of both time and money because it does not always require the researcher to interact with the respondents on a personal level. It

thus saves time, which is valuable, as well as money, because there isn't much travel involved. Furthermore, a large amount of data from a large population can be collected in a short amount of time, making it one of the most practical tools for conducting objective research. Facts must be uniformed: A questionnaire makes data analysis simple as a research tool. The information gathered through a questionnaire can thus be used to make a broad generalisation about a specific research finding. The simplest way to derive patterns of social realities from data is to use a questionnaire. It also aids in the researcher's codification of patterns, making it more useful as quantitative data. Comparability is one of the most important advantages of using a questionnaire as a research tool. Data collected from different respondents via multiple questionnaires on the same topic can be compared to arrive at generalisations or patterns of social reality. A skilled researcher can ask the same set of questions in a variety of ways, eliciting potentially disparate responses from the same respondents. Despite the fact that a questionnaire does not provide much room for the researcher to delve into the subjectivities of the respondents' responses, the technique has proven to be useful in the majority of cases. Anonymity: Most respondents feel more at ease answering questions they believe are controversial or uncomfortable because they are anonymous. A questionnaire also ensures a degree of detachment from the response given, allowing respondents to be more flexible with their responses. Without the need to write one's name on it, one is free of the fear of unintended associations, allowing one to contribute to objective data. Quantifiable: A questionnaire can assist in the collection of quantifiable data, which can then be standardised and used for further research in related and expanded areas. In order to obtain quantified data, a closed questionnaire is preferable.

DEMERITS OF A QUESTIONNAIRE :

Lack of Personal Contact with Respondents: One of the major drawbacks of questionnaires as a data collection tool is that they do not allow for personal

interaction or contact between the researcher and the respondents. This disadvantage leads to additional disadvantages throughout the research process, such as a lack of subjective and diverse perspectives in the research, as well as a lack of empathy, validation issues, and so on. The lack of personal contact between the researcher and the respondents also creates a sense of detachment on both sides, putting the research at risk of being dismissed. Poor response: This comes right after the disadvantage mentioned above. A questionnaire is always at risk of receiving a low response rate from respondents. This could be due to a variety of factors, including the respondent's laziness, unwillingness, busyness, and other personal factors, but the primary reason is a lack of personal contact between the researcher and the respondent. This could result in issues such as incomplete questionnaires or half-hearted responses. Validation problem: When used as a research tool, questionnaires can have serious validation problems. Because not all respondents are well-versed in the language used, there is a risk of misinterpretation of the questions asked. As a result, the data will be of poor quality or incorrect, hampereding the research findings. Furthermore, the researcher may not be physically present during the completion of the questionnaire (in terms of online questionnaire or postal questionnaire). As a result, the researcher has no way of explaining or rephrasing a difficult question so that it is understandable to the respondent. This also implies that the researcher would be completely unaware of any data manipulation by the respondents. Misinterpretation: In the case of a questionnaire, the issue of misinterpretation can affect both respondents and the researcher, because the researcher is often not present while the respondent fills out the questionnaire, and the respondents are also likely to be absent while the researcher interprets the responses. Due to poor handwriting or unclear responses, the researcher may encounter a problem with legibility in responses filled out by respondents (in case of open ended questionnaires). As previously stated, the quality of the data collected is directly related to the quality of the questionnaire. A good questionnaire will most likely lead to high-quality data for the researcher. Despite its limitations, the questionnaire is a widely used tool for data collection in both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

SCHEDULE: MEANING AND CHARACTERISTICS

Creating a good interview schedule is akin to creating a work of art. It necessitates a high level of skill, prior experience, and knowledge of the research topic. A schedule, according to K.D. Gangrade, is a form filled out during a personal interview in which both the interviewer and the respondent are present, and it contains a set of questions that an interviewer asks and fills out in a face-to-face situation. A schedule functions as a tool in which all respondents are expected to respond to the same questions in the same language. This is done in order to achieve consistency in the responses received. The most important requirement of the schedule is that the questions to be asked must be written down before the interview begins, rather than during it. However, the researcher has the flexibility to reframe questions during the interview if the respondents have trouble understanding them.

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF A SCHEDULE

MERITS OF A SCHEDULE :

The respondents do not have to write down their opinions or answers, which is a major advantage of using an interview schedule as a data collection tool. They can simply express their opinions to the researcher by speaking with him or her, and the researcher will take down the responses. Because speaking is more comfortable than writing, this technique has a better chance of extracting a lot of information in a short amount of time. Flexibility of questions: A clever researcher can use impromptu framing and reframing of questions from the schedule to extract more reliable data from respondents. The validity of data can be cross-checked by taking advantage of flexibility, as well as

allowing the researcher to explain to the respondents the questions that they find difficult or complicated. Making a smooth transition for an interview: Using a schedule simplifies the course of an interview because the researcher already has a set of questions in hand, the flow of which further determines the interview's course. Personal interaction allows the researcher to add certain additional or special information while noting down responses that may be revealed while the respondents vocally express their responses.

DEMERITS OF SCHEDULE :

Costly and time-consuming: Using an enumerator can be costly in terms of both time and money (training, salary and travel cost). Even if the researcher completes the schedule on her own, it will take time and money because she will have to travel to different locations and interact with the respondents. Personal bias: While personally explaining the pre-set questions to respondents reduces the risk of misinterpretation, it also exposes the researcher to personal bias in interpreting the responses given by respondents. As a result, the researcher's honesty and competence are crucial in this situation. Because of the flexible nature of the schedule, which allows interviewers to interpret the responses from informants, uniformity of data may not be achieved if a single interview schedule is followed by more than one interviewer in a particular research. The less uniform the data collected, the more interviewers there are. Schedule as a data collection tool faces certain physical limitations as a result of involving face-to-face interaction, the most important of which is the size of the research sample. Schedule involves a smaller population, consisting only of areas that are physically or manually accessible to the interviewer, complicating social patterns formation. Despite its drawbacks, an interview schedule is a highly recommended tool for conducting social science research, particularly when personal interviews are

involved. Following a schedule helps an interview run more smoothly by allowing the researcher to prepare a list of questions to ask or stress points to be stressed on.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUESTIONNAIRE AND SCHEDULE

It is common for researchers to interchange the terms questionnaire and schedule, and they do appear to be similar in some cases. There are, however, a number of distinctions between the two. The fundamental difference between a questionnaire and a schedule is that a questionnaire must be filled out by the respondents, whereas a schedule must be filled out by the enumerator or the researcher on behalf of the respondents. A questionnaire is designed to collect data from large, diverse, and widely dispersed groups of people, whereas a schedule is usually tailored to a smaller population with whom the researcher interacts personally. A questionnaire may or may not involve personal interaction (it can be mailed to the respondent and filled out online or by post), whereas a schedule does. To ensure data reliability, both have the same pre-set questions for all respondents. A questionnaire, on the other hand, is typically more rigid, employing standardised words and phrases to produce consistent results. A schedule, on the other hand, is more adaptable, allowing the interviewer to change the questions to fit the situation. The quality of the questions asked determines the success of a questionnaire, whereas the honesty and competence of the interviewer determine the success of a schedule. However, as primary data collection tools, both the questionnaire and the schedule must be clear and comprehensible while also being sensible to the respondents, and they must both be prepared responsibly in order to produce high-quality data. LET US SUM UP

A questionnaire is a research tool that consists of a series of pre-set questions that are framed in a specific way in order to obtain objective information from respondents.

One of the most common tools used by researchers in the early stages of research is the questionnaire. A questionnaire is essentially a collection of questions related to the research topic that are compiled and distributed to the respondent. Closed questionnaires and open ended questionnaires are the two types of questionnaires. Depending on the research needs, a questionnaire can be structured or semi-structured. Structured or closed questionnaires usually have pre-determined answers from which respondents must choose. Semi-structured or open-ended questionnaires have pre-determined questions but give respondents room to respond in their own words. The respondents should be able to understand a good questionnaire. A good questionnaire should be made up of logical questions with logical responses. A good questionnaire should avoid questions that are potentially humiliating or annoying to the respondents. A good questionnaire should be created in such a way that it piques the respondents' interest. Failure to do so may result in the questionnaire not collecting enough data. Questionnaires are a cost-effective data collection tool. It is cost-effective in terms of both time and money. The data is easy to analyse thanks to the questionnaire. The information gathered through the questionnaire can be used to make broad generalisations about a specific research finding and to derive patterns of social realities. The use of a questionnaire allows data to be easily compared and quantified. One of the major disadvantages of using a questionnaire as a data collection tool is that it prevents the researcher from having personal interaction or contact with the respondents, which is followed by a low response rate, validation issues, and misinterpretation. A schedule is a form filled out during a face-to-face interview in which both the interviewer and the respondent are present, and it contains a set of questions that an interviewer asks and fills out.

The most important requirement of a schedule is that the questions to be asked must be written down before the interview begins, rather than during it. The researcher can reframe questions during the interview if the schedule allows it. A questionnaire must be completed by the respondents, whereas a schedule must be completed on behalf of the respondents by the enumerator or the researcher herself. A questionnaire gathers data from a large, diverse, and widely dispersed group of people, whereas a schedule is usually tailored to a smaller population with whom the researcher interacts directly....