V Sampling

V Question types
V Answer types
V Questionnaire design
V Coding
V o to ask: your target population
V How many people: 20
V Avoid a biased sample, e.g. if asking
about drinking be aviour in men and
women:
’ ©on͛t just ask women
’ ©on͛t just ask people in a bar
’ ©on͛t just ask tee-totallers
V
ou must ad ere to a strict code of et ics in your
researc : ttp://www.bps.org.uk/t e-society/code-
of-conduct/
V Participants must:
’ give consent to take part
’ not be coerced into participating
’ be free to wit draw at any time
V Administering your questionnaires as et ics
approval.
V Participants create t eir own answers
’ a at is your age?͟
’ aAre you a smoker?͟
’ a at are your favourite TV programmes?͟
’ aHow muc do you like biscuits?͟
V 3 perimenter provides participants wit options
’ C oice of category: Are you a smoker? Never smoked Current
smoker 3 -smoker
’ Likert scale: How strongly do you agree wit t e statement a
like
biscuits͟
Ô G Strongly disagree
Ô 2 ©isagree
Ô 3 Neutral
Ô 4 Agree
Ô 5 Strongly agree
’ C ecklists: Circle t e TV programmes t at you watc
’
ating scales: How muc do you like t is drink, on a scale of G-G0?
’
anking: Order t ese sports in terms of ow muc you like t em
º



V 3 ploratory
V Useful w en you can͛t cover all t e possible answers

a



V 3asy and quick to fill in
V ©oesn͛t matter ow literate or articulate you are
V 3asy to code, record, and analyse results quantitatively
V 3asy to report results
V
f t
e answer to t e question is a
number t at represents an amount, e.g.
’
Q score
’ Heig t
’ How long it takes to complete a jigsaw puzzle
’ Likert or rating scale responses
V
f t e answer to t e question is:
’ a word
Ô a
es͟
’ a sentence
Ô a
t ink t at biscuits are tasty͟
’ a description
Ô aP ysics student͟
’ a code t at represents a category
Ô G = undergraduate, 2 = postgraduate
V NB: numerical codes can be used to represent
qualitative responses BUT t is does not transform
qualitative data into quantitative data.
V ëeep it s ort and simple.
V Start wit an introduction/ welcome message
V Allow ÷




 


 responses to all possibly relevant
questions
V Say t ank you to your participants
V -o from general to particular
V -o from easy to difficult
V -o from factual to abstract
V Start wit closed format questions
V ©o not start wit demograp ic and personal
questions
V Start wit a title
V Tell your participant t
at t eir responses will
be anonymous: assign eac questionnaire a
number instead of asking for names
V Avoid personal and sensitive questions
V Be aware t at you may bias answers simply
by being t ere
V Try to avoid biased wording, e.g. aould you
agree t at t e deat penalty is a bad idea?͟
V -iving numbers to categories in qualitative
data is called coding
V 3.g. a
es͟ becomes G and aNo͟ becomes 2
V Codes can be allocated eit er before t e
question is answered (pre-coding) or
afterwards (post-coding)
V e will come back to t is ne t week
VT ink about your sample
V Create your questionnaire
V Pre-test t e questionnaire (if practical)
V Conduct interviews

V 3nter data
V Analyse t e data

V rite your report

V Put toget er your group questionnaire

V -et a tutor to c eck over your questionnaire

before you leave class

V Try to ave asked at least G0 people to fill out

your questionnaire

V Pro tip:
f psyc ology students are a suitable

sample, swap questionnaires wit eac ot er