Educational Research Methods
A site to support teaching and learning...
Questionnaires
“Questionnaires comprise sets of questions that are answered by an identified group of people (new first-year students; girls in the Year 9 class; my form group; pupils on the gifted register; anyone in school sports teams). Sometimes they are administered to a sample from such an identified group ...
Questionnaires are usually paper instruments that respondents complete in writing, although increasingly online questionnaires are being used. Questions may be of various types ...
However, questionnaires do not test learning, but provide questions that all respondents should be able to respond to. That is, we tend to use the term ‘questionnaire’ when we are exploring beliefs, values, opinions – where there are no right and wrong answers – rather than when we are testing knowledge and understanding. An examination paper asks questions, but would not be considered a questionnaire. …
There are advantages and disadvantages to different types of items and scales. Closed questions only find out which of the offered options respondents chose, but are simpler to analyse. Open questions provide the opportunity for respondents to give an answer that better matches their views, but need later to be categorised if they are to be reported in an economic way.” (Taber, 2013: 266-267.)
This is a personal site of Keith S. Taber to support teaching of educational research methods.
(Dr Keith Taber is Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.)
Taber, K. S. (2013). Classroom-based Research and Evidence-based Practice: An introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
