Tutorial Week 13(b)

FIC0154 Basic Communication Research (11^st December 2012)

Online Discussion Questions: Set 8

Reference materials: Lecture on Survey Method and relevant book chapters.

1.      Survey, content analysis and experiments are all ________?

Survey, content analysis and experiments are all research methods.

2.      2 types of survey are interview and questionnaire survey. What are the differences – explain?

(i)     The first difference between interview and questionnaires is the presence of

interviewer. Interviewer needs to be present during interview; while interviewer needs not to present during questionnaires survey as the questions in questionnaires are fixed.

(ii)   The second difference between interview and questionnaires is the structured

versus unstructured questions. The questions involved in interview are unstructured questions as the interviewer do not set the question and will change depends on individual; while the questions involved in questionnaire survey are structured questions as the questions are fixed before the questionnaire survey and do not change depends on individual.

3.      How many different types of QUESTIONNAIRE survey can you think of? Why are there different types and what issues do we have to consider when choosing each type of survey method? Briefly explain.

Questionnaire survey can be present in a form of open-ended questions or even close-ended questions by e-mail, telephone, personal, mail and so on.

(i)    The first issue that researchers have to consider when choosing each type of

survey method is population and sampling issues such as who is your population and what sort of survey methods would you choose for different populations. For example, if a researcher wants to conduct a questionnaire survey to the Orang Asli in Sabah, the researcher will not choose to  conduct this questionnaire by using e-mail as Orang Asli may not has access to internet, he or she will fly over to Sabah and conduct the questionnaire.

(ii)   The second issue is question issues. A researcher should identify what sort of

questions will he or she asking, do the questions need to be branch our into sub-questions or sections, will screening questions needed, can question sequence be controlled, and would a detailed background needed.

(iii)  The third issue is content issues. A researcher will need to make sure can the

particular respondents be expected to know about the issue, and will the respondents will have the information the researcher wants.

(iv) The forth issue is the bias issues. Bias issues raised due to social desirability, as

respondents generally want to ‘look good’ and they may avoid answering personal or embarrassing questions.

(v)   The fifth issue is administrative issues. The administrative issues involved time

(such as is the respondent doing a public opinion poll that requires immediate answers), cost (such as postage or training of interviewers), facilities (such as telephones, recording and transcribing equipment) and logistic consideration.

4.      Discuss the differences (including their respective advantages and disadvantages) between open-ended and close-ended survey.

(i)     The first deifference between open-ended and close-ended questions is open

ended questions are generally used to find out the ‘why’ and ‘how’; while the close-ended questions are never used to find ‘why’ and ‘what’.

(ii)   The second difference is open-ended questions require respondents to generate

their own answers; while close-ended questions require respondents to select an answer from a list which is pre-designed by the researchers.

(iii)  The advantage of open-ended questions is respondents are given freedom in

answering questions and thus, given an opportunity to provide in-depth responses. Besides that, as the respondents could answer as much as they want, the researchers could find some answers which did not foresee in designing the questionnaire. Open-ended questions are useful in pilot test which to determine variables of a phenomenon. However, the disadvantage of open-ended questions are hard to collect the data and time-consuming in analyzing the responses. For example, bad handwriting may also affect the research process.

(iv) The advantage of close-ended questions is it provides greater uniformity in

responses and the answers are easy to quantify which lead to easy to collect and easy to analyze. However, the disadvantage of close-ended questions is researchers often fail to include some important responses. The solution for this problem will be include an ‘other; response followed by a blank space or not followed by a blank space.

5.      List 4 types of close-ended survey questions and briefly explain what each type is like.

(i)    The first type of close-ended survey questions is dichotomous response questions

whereby the questions are divided into two opposite branches. For example, agree or disagree, yes or no.

(ii)   The second type of close-ended survey questions is multiple-choice questions.

Multiple-choice questions allow respondents to choose an answer from several options. Multiple-choice questions need to meet the criteria of exhaustive (need to include all the possible answers) and also mutually exclusive (there should be only one response option per question; the answers should not be overlapping each others). Multiple-choice questions can also use in rating scales, semantic differential scales and rank-ordering technique.

(iii) The third type of close-ended survey questions is checklist question. Checklist

question is often used in pilot studies to refine question for the final project.

(iv)  The forth type of close-ended survey questions is forced-choice question. Forced

choice question is usually used in media studies designed to gather information about lifestyles. The answers in forced-choice question is always listed in pairs and usually very long. Questions are repeated in different form on the same topic, and the answers for each topic are analyzed for patterns. The respondents are needed to choose one answer from the pair of statements or sentences. Respondents could not predict what the researchers want to find by using the forced-choice questions.

(v)  The fifth type of close-ended questions is fill-in-the-blank question. Fill-in-the

blank question is a close-ended question as the options are not a lot.

(vi) The sixth type of close-ended questions is filter questions. Filter questions are

used to determine if respondent is qualified or experienced enough to answer a subsequent question. Filter questions are similar with screening questions.

6.      Your study investigates “Teenagers in Malaysia and their attitude towards online piracy.” Give 3 examples of open-ended survey question.

(i)   What is your opinion towards online piracy?

(ii)  What actions should be taken to reduce the number of online piracy in Malaysia

that you can think of?

(iii) What are the steps that you are going to take if you are being caught by doing

online piracy?

7.      For the same study above, give 3 examples of close-ended survey questions, complete with their answer responses.

(i)  How often you use online to download movie last month?

A.    0-2 times

B.     3-5 times

C.     6-8 times

D.    9 times and above

(ii)  Do you use online to download anything before?

A.    Yes

B.     No

(iii) Which of the following files you have downloaded from internet before?

___ Music

___ Movie

___ Lecture note

___ Others

8.      For MCQ survey questions, responses should be “exhaustive” – what does this mean? Give 1 example with exhaustive responses and 1 example with non-exhaustive responses.

Exhaustive refers to the multiple-choice questions should include all the possible responses or answers.

(i)    Example of exhaustive responses.

How many television set(s) do you have in your house?

A.    0-2 televisions

B.     3-5 televisions

C.     6-8 televisions

D.    9 televisions and above

(ii)   Example of non-exhaustive responses.

How many television set(s) do you have in your house?

A.    1-2 televisions

B.     3-5 televisions

C.     6-8 televisions

D.    9 televisions and above

(This is an example of non-exhaustive responses as it do not include all the possible responses, what if a person do not own any television at home?).

9.      For MCQ survey questions, responses should also be “mutually exclusive” – what does this mean? Give 1 example with mutually exclusive responses and 1 example with non-mutually exclusive responses.

Mutually exclusive refers to there should be only one response option per question; the answers should not be overlapping each others.

(i)   Example of mutually exclusive responses.

How many television set(s) do you have in your house?

A.    0-2 televisions

B.     3-5 televisions

C.     6-8 televisions

D.    9 televisions and above

(ii)  Example of non-mutually exclusive responses.

How many television set(s) do you have in your house?

A.    0-2 televisions

B.     2-5 televisions

C.     6-8 televisions

D.    9 televisions and above

(This is an example of non-mutually exclusive responses as the option A and B is overlapping each others, if a respondent owns 2 televisions, should he or she choose the option A or B?).

10.  When phrasing your survey questions, how should you word them and what should you avoid?

When phrasing survey questions, researchers should:

(i)   Make the questions clear.

(ii)  Keep the questions short.

(iii) Remember the purpose of research (only include items that are related directly to
     what is being studied.

(iv) Do not ask double-barreled questions (asking two or more questions in the same
     sentences). For example, what do you think are the benefits and social values of alternative media.
     The respondent may answer the social values and forgot to answer the benefits. Thus, the researchers
     should split this kind of question.

(v)  Avoid biased words or terms. For example, in your free time, would you rather

read a book or just watch television? A researcher should ask this questions in the way of, what you
will do in your free time? A. Read book B. Watch television C. Sleep D. Others.

(vi)  Avoid leading question. Leading questions suggest a certain response or contain a

hidden premise. For example, Do you still smoke? A researcher should not assume the people have smoked before.

(vii) Do not use questions that ask for highly detailed information. For example, in the past 30 days, how
      many hours of television have you viewed with your family? The respondents may forgot, and just
      simply answer this question with an inaccurate answer.

(viii)Avoid potentially embarrassing questions unless they are absolutely necessary. For example,
       researchers should avoid asking information of respondent’s income, sex lives, drug use, religion,
       business practices and so on. Respondent may feels embarrass, and refuses to answer the survey
       anymore, thus the researcher may lose a respondent.

11.  Describe what design characteristics a good questionnaire should exhibit (layout, placement of questions, introduction etc.)

(i) The approach used in asking questions:

(a)    Introduction. A persuasive introduction can increase response rate. An introduction should be short, realistically worded, non-threatening, serious, neutral, and pleasant but firm.

(b)   Instructions. Instructions are very important when the questionnaire is answered only by the respondent alone. Mail surveys and self-administered questionnaires require specific instructions because respondents are not able to ask questions about the survey.

(c)    Question placement. Early questions should be simple and easy to answer as these preliminary questions can also serve as motivation to create interest in the questionnaire. Personal detail such as demographic data, personal questions, and other sensitive items should be placed at the end of the questionnaire to allow the interviewer to relieve any suspicious or to establish a rapport with respondents.

(ii) Physical appearance of survey

(a)    Layout. The layout of a questionnaire should be nicely typed, not cramped, and in a consistent format.

(b)   Questionnaire length. Shorter questionnaires will guarantee higher completion rates.

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Teh Woon Ya (0310182)