7.2.7 Questionnaire Construction

Questionnaire Construction

• A questionnaire is a type of  self-report which involves participants answering a range of questions designed to collect their thoughts, feelings, attitudes, attributes and opinions
• Questionnaires may be used in psychological research in the following ways:
  • To understand how people feel about issues such as immigration, social media, the cost of living etc.
  • To measure psychometric properties such as IQ, depression, empathy, decision-making etc.
  • Conducting a large-scale survey to assess the extent to which people are, for example, likely to vote, consult a doctor about a specific issue, use green energy etc.
• Questionnaires can consist of either closed questions or open questions
• When designing a questionnaire, the researcher must consider the following points: 
  • • Aim: what is the questionnaire’s purpose, how will it aid the research process?
    • Length: ensure that the questionnaire is not too short (lack of data) or too long (participants will become bored and may answer without care or attention) 
    • Previous Questionnaires: The researcher should look at previous successful questionnaires and use the structure of these as the basis of their own questionnaire 
    • Pilot study: The questionnaire should be tested with a small group of people, who are able to answer the questions and give detailed feedback to the researcher to enable them to make modifications if needed 

Closed questions

• Questionnaires can consist of either closed questions or open questions
• A closed question is one which offers limited options for the participant’s response, for example:
  • ‘Do you agree that young people are more anxious than previous generations?’ - Yes/No
  • ‘Which of the following words best describes you?’
    • a) Sociable b)Shy c) Reclusive d) Hostile
    • A closed question may use a scale (e.g. the Likert scale) to offer participants more of a range of possible responses, for example:
    • ‘On a scale of 1-7 (7 being ‘strongly disagree’), how far do you agree with the idea that national service should be re-introduced to the UK?

• • • • 1     2     3     4     5     6     7

• Closed questions generate quantitative data, for example:
• the number of ‘yes’ responses are totalled
• the number of times a participant ticked b) is totalled
• the total score is calculated from the scaled questions e.g. 2 + 4 + 7

Open questions

• An open question is one which offers freedom of response for example:
  • ‘Tell me about one time when you felt anxious’
  • ‘How do you think other people would describe you?’  

• An open question may ask participants to expand on the answers they give, allowing both researcher and participant to clarify, explain and qualify their comments
• Open questions generate qualitative data, for example:
• the transcript of an interview
• the themes which have emerged during a conversation or interview
• the thoughts, ideas and feelings of the participant which cannot be ‘boiled down’ into neat numerical data and which relate only to that individual

• Questionnaires can consist of either closed questions or open questions

Lie Scales

• In some questionnaires (e.g., psychometric tests), researchers will add what is called a 'lie scale'
• These are statements that test the truth of the participant's responses
• They're not necessarily included to catch people out, but they are useful to spot where participants have fallen into the temptation of just ticking all the nth or random boxes
• How a researcher does this can vary, but one way to incorporate this would be to include similar statements that are re-worded versions of the original one
  • For example:
    • 'I never regret the life decisions I have made'
    • Lie scale: 'I have never done anything which I then later wish I could take back'
• Participants should answer these in the same way if they are answering the questionnaire properly sincerely

Design of Interviews

• More detail on each interview type and evaluation of these is covered in this revision note, as it appears elsewhere in the specification (as a self-report technique)
• Interviews require face to face communication, which is usually conducted by a researcher/interviewer 
• The interviewer will ask the participant questions and the participant will answer these
• There are 3 types of interviews used in psychological research 
  • Structured Interview: 
    • The interviewer has a series of closed questions which they read to the participant and either write down or record the participants answers
    • Structured interviews produce quantitative data and are easy to analyse 
  • Unstructured Interview: 
    • The interviewer has a topic of interest that they discuss with the participant, they are able to adapt questions and follow areas of interest that may arise in answers 
    • Unstructured interviews usually produce qualitative data and are more difficult to analyse  
  • Semi-Structured interviews: 
    • The interviewer combines both techniques, structured and unstructured, allowing them to have set questions to ask the participant but, are also able to follow areas of interest as they may arise 
    • Semi structured interviews produce both quantitative and qualitative data