DATA COLLECTION INS TRUMENTS-1 QUESTIONNAIRES
DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS-1
QUESTIONNAIRES
QUESTIONNAIRES
What is a questionnaire? Advantages/Disadvantages of questionnaires Selecting Participants Steps in Designing Questionnaires Some tips and Suggestions Types of questions in questonnaires Providing Reliability Data Analysis- Summarising Findings A Sample Questionnaire
What is a questionnaire?
A questionnaire is a data collection instrument used to gather data on the characteristics and views of the participants about language teaching/learning.
Questionnaires provide three sorts of information
Factual information (Characteristics)(e.g., age, gender, level, language background etc.) Behavioral information: (Behaviours)(e.g., frequency of using a dictionary or teaching by visuals?
etc.) Attitudinal information:
(Attitudes/Opinions/beliefs/Interests)(e.g., What is your purpose in learning English?
etc.)
The advantages of questionnaires:
Practical (time)
Economical (cost)
The disadvantages of questionnaires:
Unreliable information (Partcipants’ tendency to give expected
responses)
Limited information (Not detailed)
Steps in Designing Questionnaires
1. The purpose of the questionnaire
2. Who it will be given to? (Participants)
Methods in selecting Participants
Random Sampling
Stratified Random Sampling
Sample of Convenience
Random Sampling
Everbody has an equal chance of being a participant.
1. Decide your probable population 2. Give a number to each individual in the population 3. Randomly select the numbers and decide your
participants.
Stratified Random Sampling
Preferred in heterogeneous groups in order to control some strata(salient characteristics)
such as age, gender, level etc.)
1. Decide your probable population2. Identify the salient characteristics of the population
3. Select members randomly from each strata4. Examine the proportions of each characteristics
Sample of Convenience
Using participants that you are able to get access to
Make sure that it is in some way representative of the larger population
Designing Questionnaires
1. Decide the list of topics you are planning to cover
2. Write individual queationnaire items.
Types of questions:
Open-ended:Participants write their own answers.
+ provide rich data, + easy to design
- extremely difficult to code and analyse Close-ended (Closed) Participants choose
one of several specified answers.+ uniformity of responses, + easy to answer, code, analyse- narrower data, - difficult to prepare
Open-ended Questions:
They take two forms:
Fill-in: Usually in demographic questions E.g., Age: _____
Grade: ______
Short answer: Participants might give detalied information
Describe the types of classroom activities that you find helpful.
Close-ended Questions-1:
They take four forms:
1. Alternative Answer: E.g., Do you keep a vocabulary log?
YES NO E.g., Years of studying English:
1-2 years 2-5 years 5 and more years
Close-ended Questions-2:
2. Likert-Scale:
E. g. Circle the response that best describes your interest in the following reading materials.
Very Somewhat Not Interesting Interesting Interesting
Interesting_____________________________________________Magazines 1 2 3 4Novels 1 2 3 4Comics 1 2 3 4Web Pages 1 2 3 4
Close-ended Questions-2:
The Controversy:Whether to include even(4, 6) or odd (3, 5)
numbers
The Danger in odd numbers is choosing the middle option (Neutral)
Close-ended Questions-3:
3. Checklist Format: Participants are asked to check all the answers that apply to their situation. E.g., Check all the kinds of materials you find
interesting to read:- Magazines- Novels- Comics- Web Pages:- Others:
Close-ended Questions-4: 4. Ranking Answers:
E.g., Rank which skill you feel most confident about from 1 (the best) to 4 (the worst):
_ Reading_ Writing_ Speaking_ Listening
Keep the number of ranked items limited (3 to 5) They are difficult to analyse
Tips in Wording Questions
Avoid Negative Questions• Spelling words correctly is not difficult for me. T F
Avoid Double-barreled Questions(Asking two or more things in a question)
* We should spend more time on reading and less time on speaking. AGREE DISAGREE
Tips in Wording Questions
“Avoid Leading Questions(Items that encourage participants to respond
in a certain way.)
* Do you use the effective learning strategy of keeping a vocabulary log? YES NO
Tips in Wording Questions
Avoid Embarrassing Questions(Social or cultural differences)
* Salary* The literacy level of your parents
Tips in Wording Questions
Avoid Biased Questions:(Favouring one race, gender, religion or
nationality)
* I like working in small groups with women because they are better language learners than men.
Ordering Questions
Three ways:
Topic-based Type of Question Function
Final Survey Form:Layout 1
Add a short statement describing the purpose of the research and who is conducting it.
This research is conducted to find more about your interests and needs in learning English.
Name
Final Survey Form:Layout 2
Add a statement clarifying the instructions and make sure participants realise that the results will be kept confidential.
There are no right or wrong answers. Please respond all the questions. The responses will be kept confidential and and used only for research purposes.
Final Survey Form:Layout 3
Organise the questions. Give instructions for each part of the
questions. Demographic questions are advised to put at
the end. Do not forget to say “thank you” to the
participants.
Additional SuggestionsDornyei. (2003)
The questionnaire should be no more than 4 pages.
It should take no more than 30 minutes to complete.
Decide the list of topics first- what to cover. Start with a brief introduction. Give clear instructions and exemplify where
necessary.
Additional SuggestionsDornyei. (2003)
Start with particularly involving opening questions.
Organise the questions well. Avoid questions with too lengthy responses MIf there are open-ended questions, put them at
the end. Create an attractive, well-designed
questionnaire format. Don’t forget to say thank you to the participants.
Piloting
Giving the questionnaire to a group of people who are similar to the actual participants.
Usually the 10 % (30-3)
Pilotting- Purpose
To find out problems that exist in the clarity of the instructions and to diognase any items that might be confusing of difficult.
Item Analysis
Check for common responses- leading ??? Check omissions- confusing/difficult ???
For Reliability
Try giving twice- for consistency
Prepare two forms and ask the participants to respond to the both forms.
Put control items- to check internal consistency, put several questions that are the same things with different forms
Data Analysis- Close-Ended Questions
A nominal Scale: For demographic informationMale:1 Female: 2
An Ordinal or Ranked Scale: For ranked scale
Interval Scales: For likert-type questions
Data Analysis- Forming Tables
Write the names of the participants to the left-hand column
Use the rows in the tabel to note down the participants’ responses for each question
When no response, leave a blank space
Data Analysis
Frequencies- HOW MANY ?
Percentages- To What Percent? (Page 124)
Graphics- Bar/ Pie/ Chart
For Likert-scale questions- decide the central tendency
Data Analysis- Open-ended Questions
Start by transcribing the answers
Be careful about variables such as gender, age, proficiency etc.
Try categorizing the data: Highlighting key ideas Reoccurring themes
Summarizing Findings
Do not overgeneralise your findings
Make conclusions specific to your population
E.g., The students / teachers in this study appear to ………..
Explore the Ideas, 2.3 Page: 125
Fukuda (2003) Purpose of the study: To get students’
opinions on the treatment of spoken errors in oral communicaion classes.
Participants: 1000 Japanese High-school students
Let’s evaluate the questionnaire in terms os sequencing of the items, the wording of questions, and the general layout.