Research Skills Week 3 Questionnaire Design Last Week
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Research Skills Week 3: Questionnaire Design
Last Week � We went through the research process ◦ Original Article vs. Secondary source ◦ How to find and read a paper ◦ Scientific writing style ◦ Research Treasure Hunt ◦ Maths questionnaire � This week: Issues with questionnaire design
Today � Sampling � Consent � Question � Answer types � Questionnaire design � Coding � Issues � Fast with questionnaires handout food questionnaire
Sampling � Who to ask: your target population � How many people � Avoid a biased sample, e. g. if asking about drinking behaviour in men and women: ◦ Don’t just ask women ◦ Don’t just ask people in a bar ◦ Don’t just ask tee-totallers
Consent � You must adhere to a strict code of ethics in your research: http: //www. bps. org. uk/sites/default/files/doc uments/code_of_ethics_and_conduct. pdf � Participants must: ◦ give consent to take part ◦ not be coerced into participating ◦ be free to withdraw at any time
Question Types: Open-Ended � Participants create their own answers ◦ “What is your age? ” ◦ “Are you a smoker? ” ◦ “What are your favourite TV programmes? ” ◦ “How much do you like biscuits? ”
Question Types: Closed-Format � Experimenter provides participants with options ◦ Choice of category: Are you a smoker? Never smoked / Current smoker / Ex-smoker ◦ Likert scale: - How strongly do you agree with the statement “I like biscuits” 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree ◦ Checklists: Circle the TV programmes that you watch ◦ Rating scales: How much do you like this drink, on a scale of 110?
Advantages and Disadvantages � Open-Ended ◦ Exploratory ◦ Useful when you can’t cover all the possible answers ◦ Impractical in terms of analysis � Closed-Format ◦ Easy and quick to fill in ◦ Doesn’t matter how literate or articulate you are ◦ Easy to code, record, and analyse results quantitatively ◦ Easy to report results
Answer Types: Continuous Data � If the answer to the question is a number that represents an amount, e. g. ◦ ◦ IQ score Height How long it takes to complete a jigsaw puzzle Likert scale responses � Top tip: Calculating a mean makes sense with continuous data (but not with categorical data)
Examples of Continuous Data � Please give an approximation of the number of alcoholic drinks you normally consume on a Saturday night: … Drinks � Please indicate your agreement with the following statement: ◦ I feel that I should drink less on a Saturday night □ □ □ 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Answer Types: Categorical Data � If the answer to the question is: ◦ a word �“Yes” ◦ a description �“Physics student” ◦ a code that represents a category � 1 = undergraduate, 2 = postgraduate � NB: Numerical codes can be used to represent categorical responses BUT this does not transform categorical data into continuous data
Examples Categorical Data � In which town were you born? ……. � Please indicate your gender: � Which actor is the hunkiest? □ Male □ Female □ Brad Pitt □ Johnny Depp □ Orlando Bloom
Examples of Tricky Bits of Data � “Please indicate your age: ” ◦ Continuous: … Years ◦ Categorical : □ 18 -25 □ 26 -30 □ 31– 35 □ 36– 40 etc. ◦ Categorical : . . . Years □ Older than 60 Years � “How many days a week do you usually exercise? ” ◦ Continuous : … days ◦ Continuous : □ 1 day □ 2 days □ 3 days □ 4 days □ 5 days □ 6 days □ 7 days ◦ Categorical : □ 1 day □ 2 days □ 3 days □ 4 days □ 5 days or more � This can be applied to a number of data
A questionnaire should… � Be short and simple � Start with an introduction/ welcome message � Allow not applicable responses to all possibly relevant questions � Say thank you to participants
A questionnaire should… � Go from general to particular � Go from easy to difficult � Go from factual to abstract � Not start with demographic and personal questions (put these at the end)
A questionnaire should… � Assure anonymity ◦ Assign each questionnaire a number instead of asking for names � Avoid personal and sensitive questions � Be aware that you may bias answers simply by being there � Avoid biased wording ◦ e. g. “Would you agree that the death penalty is a bad idea? ”
Coding numbers to categories in categorical data is called coding � Giving ◦ e. g. “Yes” becomes 1 and “No” becomes 2 � Codes can be allocated either before the question is answered (pre-coding) or afterwards (post-coding)
The Handout � Work through the ‘Issues with questionnaire design’ handout ◦ Decide whether the questions are categorical or continuous ◦ Code categorical questions ◦ Decide whether or not the questions are problematic ◦ Suggest how you would rectify any problems � Top tip: Not all the questions are problematic!
Fast Food Questionnaire � Open � Read “Fast food study” on Graham’s website the introduction and survey
Fast Food Questionnaire � 2 Continuous Hypotheses: - ◦ Should be tested with a categorical question and the continuous question (Purchases). ◦ e. g. “Males consume a larger quantity of fast food per month than females”
Fast Food Questionnaire In groups: � Discuss what categorical questions might affect fast food purchases (based on last week’s research) � Come � Next SPSS up with two hypotheses week: entering and analysing data in
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