Questionnaires and Social Surveys
A questionnaire is a written set of questions, either self-completed by the respondent or read out and completed by an interviewer, and a social survey is the wider process of collecting standardised data from a large sample, often using questionnaires, most closely associated with positivist sociology.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Identify whether the question is about questionnaires specifically, the tool, or surveys, the wider process using them.
- Know the difference between open and closed questions and how each affects the type of data produced: closed questions produce quantitative data, open questions produce qualitative data.
- When asked for a strength, link it explicitly to reliability, representativeness or practicality, for example a large sample reached cheaply with standardised, repeatable questions.
- When asked for a limitation, link it explicitly to validity, closed questions may not capture a respondent's true meaning, or to sample bias, a low response rate can skew who actually answers.
- Remember questionnaires are the tool most associated with positivists, since they produce standardised, quantitative data suited to testing a hypothesis and identifying correlations.
- For evaluation answers, always ask whether a different mix of open and closed questions, or a different method entirely, would have produced more valid data on this topic.
Worked example
A sociologist sends a postal questionnaire to 500 households to investigate attitudes to online learning. Only 90 questionnaires are returned. Calculate the response rate, and explain one problem this response rate creates for the study.
- Divide the number of questionnaires returned by the number originally sent: 90 / 500.
- Calculate: 90 / 500 x 100 = 18%.
- State the response rate: 18%.
- Explain the problem: with such a low response rate, the 90 respondents who replied may not be representative of the original 500 households, since people with stronger views, more free time or higher literacy may have been more likely to respond, producing a biased sample.
Practice questions
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Q1What is the difference between an open and a closed question?Show answer
Answer: An open question lets the respondent answer in their own words; a closed question gives a fixed set of answers to choose from, such as yes/no or a Likert scale.
Q2What type of data, quantitative or qualitative, do closed questions usually produce?Show answer
Answer: Quantitative data.
Q3Give one reason questionnaires are popular with positivist sociologists.Show answer
Answer: They produce standardised, quantitative data that can be used to identify correlations and test a hypothesis.
Q4What is meant by a 'response rate'?Show answer
Answer: The proportion, usually a percentage, of a sample who complete and return the questionnaire out of the total number sent out.
Q5Give one reason a respondent might give an untruthful answer to a sensitive questionnaire item.Show answer
Answer: Social desirability bias, wanting to appear a certain way to the researcher even when answers are anonymous.
Q6State one advantage of a postal questionnaire over a face-to-face interview.Show answer
Answer: It can reach a large, geographically spread sample relatively cheaply and quickly, and it removes interviewer effect since no interviewer is present.
Q7State one disadvantage of using only closed questions in a questionnaire.Show answer
Answer: Closed questions restrict respondents to pre-set answers, which may not reflect their true, more complex views, reducing validity.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Sociology exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain two limitations of using questionnaires with closed questions to research attitudes to school uniform.
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A researcher uses a questionnaire with the closed question 'Do you enjoy school? Yes/No' to measure pupils' attitudes to school. Evaluate the validity of this question as a measure of pupils' attitudes to school.
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Discuss the strengths and limitations of using questionnaires to research family life.
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See real GCSE Sociology past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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