Reflections
In last week's lecture and seminar, we heard about the main character traits of the quantitative method in respect to the research paper Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality, as well as recapped the benefits and limitations of this type of research, which has been additionally covered in our pre theme.
One thing that stayed in my mind is that the lecturer stressed particularly the importance of the design process. Quantitative research is following a fixed design, which is already predetermined before the data collection starts. On the one hand, this enables a clear structure, which focuses on the research objectives; on the other hand, the flexibility and freedom during the measurements are very low. Since this type of research in particular depends on numerical measurements, questionnaires are often used.
When our lecturer mentioned that the procedure to the final questionnaire could actually take years, I got interested how a questionnaire is actually set-up. In the following, I will therefore reflect on the approach and line of action.
A questionnaire in a quantitative study is usually formally standardized to try to test explicit hypotheses that have been formerly generated. The questions are prescribed in their wording and order, their affiliated explanation, and their response format enabling an easy completion.
The starting point is to articulate which objectives you intend to meet with the questionnaire. Therefore, it has to be clear which information is actually required, which should be also comprised in the research proposal. Similar to marketing research, the next step is to decide which respondents are targeted. It must be taken into account that the samples of interviewees are reacting in terms of their age, education, etc.
Moreover, the method of questioning has to be established (personal singular/group interviews, via mail/telephone) since the construct of the questions has to change according to the medium.
On the one hand, the content has to comprise the most critically important questions concerning the research objectives. Therefore, the questions should be tested in their contribution factor or redundancy. On the other hand, some questions might specifically be neutral to distract the examinees from the study purpose.
The design of the questions can be formed in three different ways (closed, open-ended, open-response); the wording via the closed-form provides the most exact answer, and easy evaluation and specification afterwards. In order to keep the attention of the interviewees up, you have to guide them through your questionnaire with some opening questions, a natural question flow, a good variety also keeping the length and time in check. In the end of the progress, the appearance should be focussed on as well, since the layout has a significant effect on how much and what quality data is collected; there a pre-test could also help to improve the design.
Fao.org, 2015. Chapter 4: Questionnaire Design [online]. Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/w3241e/w3241e05.htm [Accessed 5 Oct. 2015].
One thing that stayed in my mind is that the lecturer stressed particularly the importance of the design process. Quantitative research is following a fixed design, which is already predetermined before the data collection starts. On the one hand, this enables a clear structure, which focuses on the research objectives; on the other hand, the flexibility and freedom during the measurements are very low. Since this type of research in particular depends on numerical measurements, questionnaires are often used.
When our lecturer mentioned that the procedure to the final questionnaire could actually take years, I got interested how a questionnaire is actually set-up. In the following, I will therefore reflect on the approach and line of action.
A questionnaire in a quantitative study is usually formally standardized to try to test explicit hypotheses that have been formerly generated. The questions are prescribed in their wording and order, their affiliated explanation, and their response format enabling an easy completion.
The starting point is to articulate which objectives you intend to meet with the questionnaire. Therefore, it has to be clear which information is actually required, which should be also comprised in the research proposal. Similar to marketing research, the next step is to decide which respondents are targeted. It must be taken into account that the samples of interviewees are reacting in terms of their age, education, etc.
Moreover, the method of questioning has to be established (personal singular/group interviews, via mail/telephone) since the construct of the questions has to change according to the medium.
On the one hand, the content has to comprise the most critically important questions concerning the research objectives. Therefore, the questions should be tested in their contribution factor or redundancy. On the other hand, some questions might specifically be neutral to distract the examinees from the study purpose.
The design of the questions can be formed in three different ways (closed, open-ended, open-response); the wording via the closed-form provides the most exact answer, and easy evaluation and specification afterwards. In order to keep the attention of the interviewees up, you have to guide them through your questionnaire with some opening questions, a natural question flow, a good variety also keeping the length and time in check. In the end of the progress, the appearance should be focussed on as well, since the layout has a significant effect on how much and what quality data is collected; there a pre-test could also help to improve the design.
Fao.org, 2015. Chapter 4: Questionnaire Design [online]. Available at: http://www.fao.org/docrep/w3241e/w3241e05.htm [Accessed 5 Oct. 2015].
You always write very well developed and interesting posts and this week was no difference. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts about this week’s theme, especially your detailed description of what is important to think about when creating and conducting a questionnaire. Something I thought was interesting that was discussed during our seminar was if qualitative and quantitative methods differ in objectivity/subjectivity. We talked about how researchers always influence the study with their preconceptions which means that neither method can be completely objective. Good job!
ReplyDeleteYou did a very good job summarizing what we did in last weeks theme and especially when it comes to your detailed explanation how questionnaires work. As you wrote in your reflection designing a questionnaire is a very difficult and complex process and it is important to rethink every step before starting the study. For me the most important part is to ask if your design intends to meet your objectives and to double check if the questions do not lead in the wrong direction. It is always a pleasure to read your well structured and detailed explanation in your reflection.
ReplyDeleteHi! I really like reading you blog. You demonstrate unusual approach and deep understanding of every topic. I like your explanation of questionnaire set up. If a study can be replicated, how do you think, if to replicate the same questionnaire with quite big sample, will the results be same? Of course considering history and time influence let's assume that we will repeat the questionnaire in 1 month.
ReplyDeleteHi, thank you so much for your comment! In regard to your question, I think a study can never be replicated in the same way, but since your suggested time slot is narrow and the sample is very big, the opinions or reaction of the study subjects might still draw near to the first results of the same questionnaire. What do you think?
DeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts! I especially enjoyed reading the importance of the design process. Since you are in a different seminar group, it is really interesting how you approach last week's theme. One of the most interesting parts of the lecture to me was the part about the body ownership illusions.According to my approach in the first blog post, full body ownership illusions can lead to substantial behavioural changes in the context of musical performativity, depending on the appearance of the body. What do you think about it? I would have been interested in your thoughts about qualitative and quantitative methods. Well done!
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for your thoughts about this! I agree with you in the research outcome proving that full body ownership illusion can lead to substantial behavioral changes. I think it is astonishing that the feeling of a different body proves to have an effect on the performance. If this really works in regard to musical performance, it might as well enhance your performance in other educational areas like mathematics or writing. That's why it's interesting what the progression of this kind of research will bring to us in the future, especially within the field of therapy or rehabilitation.
DeleteHi Marion.
ReplyDeleteonce again very nice writing of yours as it is well structured and hence covnices with a good readability. I especially like the explanation of your thoughts as it adds a strong personal note to the reflection of yours. Really good work of yours. Keep it up!
A great reflection that brought up points I hadn't thought about, such as the fixed design of quantitative research. I think all the specifics of quantitative research design is something this theme should have focused more on. Designing questionnaires was something I spent a lot of time doing in my bachelor's thesis and it's tricky since every little nuance in formulation can make a difference for the answers you receive. The theory of questionnaire design is its own important concept.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading you blogpost and it made my recall how important it is to design a questionnnare carefully. In my bachelor thesis we used questionnnararies which we tested in some pilotstudies before the actual study. I think this step was really important because we hadn't thought about many of the things you discussed in this blogpost. We actually had to go back and redo most of the question. I think the most important point in you text is to keep the research objective in mind when designing the questions and especially when you change them slightly to be easier to understand etcetera.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteGreat reflection! I like how you found something interesting during the lecture and the decided to learn even more about that subject! Reading your reflection taught me some new things on questionnaires and it was very interesting. It is thought provoking to see how people can take with them so differing experiences from the lectures, I did not find the focus on the design process as interesting as you did and did not give it much thought. It would be interesting to read a bit about your seminar experience as well, but overall a great reflection!
Hey!
ReplyDeleteVery nice and detailed description of constructing the questionnaire.
I also like how you in the beginning of your post point out to the difference in qualitative and quantitative methods of gathering the data. Usually it is thought that quantitative method does not influence the subjects feedback, that the data is more objective, but I think that by way of creating your questionnaire you influence the answers of participants in the study.
Thanks for an interesting blog post. I didn’t reflect much over the design process of questioners but now that you mention it I remember the lecture explicit talked about this process. Anyways, I find it obvious that you need to work a lot with your questioners in a research to get non-affected answers. It is so easy to misunderstand people in a face-to-face conversation but, most of the time, it’s easy to correct these misunderstandings on the fly. In a text based situation, as questioners you need to take into account that if the text is interpreted in a way you never intended you will get a fluctuation that could affect the end result. So one can understand that you need to keep an eye on the detail when designing questioners.
ReplyDelete