Construction and Analysis of questionnaires
Lecture 1
• Organisation of the course
• Introduction to questionnaires
Organisation of the course
• Types of instruction methods
• Lectures
• Tutorials
• SPSS labs (practice for SPSS test)
Organisation of the course
• Types of instruction methods: LECTURES
• Who?
• Inga Schwabe (), course coordinator & teacher
• Questions about the course, on material or organizational things?
http://piazza.com/home/spring2022/424522424242 (Access code: 424522424242)
• What are the lectures for?
• Explain theory and introduce formulas, examples of previously used exam questions • Better
understanding + practicing with formulas => tutorials
Organisation of the course
• Tutorials
• What is the purpose of the tutorials?
• Make exercises to put theory into practice
• Calculate/Interpret statistics
• Learn to use the formulary
• Test understanding of theory
• Make exercises => understand the material! Plus some of the exercises are based on old exam
• Learning material
• Exercises can be found on canvas
• Some exercises are example exam questions (taken literally from old exams)!
• Formulary
Organisation of the course
• SPSS labs
• Practice for SPSS test
• 2 labs: reliability (item analysis in SPSS, lab 1) and validity (factor analyses in SPSS, lab 2)
• Presence is not mandatory
• Performing + interpreting analyses (and output) is central
• Material:
• Exercises can be found on CANVAS
• Book: SPSS survival manual (Julie Pallant) can be used as extra material and will be available
during the SPSS test
,Organizations of the course
• Passing the course
• Requirements
• To pass, you need 1) a final score ≥6 AND 2) to pass the SPSS test
• Final exam:
• 50 MC questions (2 answer alternatives, often true/not true)
• Example exams will be available on canvas during the last weeks
• SPSS test
• You don’t need to learn SPSS commands by heart
• Content test: reporting but not interpreting results -> I want to know if you are able to
• For example: “What is the value of Cronbach’s alpha?” rather than “Is this questionnaire reliable
the second factor?” rather than “What does it mean that the factor-loading of item 1 on factor 2 is
Organisation of the course
• Passing the course
• What if I passed the SPSS test, but not the exam (score of ≤5)?
• You only have to retake the final exam; no need to redo the spss labs
• What if I score ≥ 6 on the exam but did not pass for spss? • You only have to pass spss; no need to
redo the final exam
• What if I miss the SPSS test?
• There will be a resit (we will announce the details asap after the first test)
• What if I have done the SPSS test before, in lecture year XX/YY??
No need to do the test again, but make sure that this is registered well in OSIRIS after you have
passed the exam. If this is NOT the case (administration of grades is a disaster at Tilburg University),
then send me an e-mail with your name, SNR and the year in which you have passed the test.
,Introduction to questionnaires
• Why are questionnaires important?
• Questionnaire v.s. survey v.s. test
• Questionnaire construction and analysis
Examples of questionnaires
➢ The big five personality test: extraversion vs introversions, agreeability, openness,
neuroticism
➢ Personality is big aspects divided in 5 types
➢ Job satisfactions survey: for job satisfaction of employees.
➢ MMPI: developed for something else than what it is used for today. It is about mentally
illness, nowadays it is used to select good candidates for a job position
➢ Europeans values study: research that uses questionnaires every year and compares what
they are measuring.
, ➢ Questionnaire measures 6 dimensions of Hofstede
Questionnaires are used by..
• Governments:
• to measure the health of their nations or their economic wellbeing
• To inform policy decisions
• Organisations:
• To investigate the difference in salaries between women and men (SCP, “emancipation monitor
2018”)
• Work safety (TNO)
• Companies:
• To select suitable candidates for a job
• To test the “usability” of a product (e.g., Philips)
• To measure customers’ or members’ satisfaction
• for marketing or evaluation purposes
• Researchers social sciences
• Predict voting behaviors or measure political attitudes, measure quality of life, personality or
behavior..
We use questionnaires a lot in research, but also in actual life.
Lecture 1
• Organisation of the course
• Introduction to questionnaires
Organisation of the course
• Types of instruction methods
• Lectures
• Tutorials
• SPSS labs (practice for SPSS test)
Organisation of the course
• Types of instruction methods: LECTURES
• Who?
• Inga Schwabe (), course coordinator & teacher
• Questions about the course, on material or organizational things?
http://piazza.com/home/spring2022/424522424242 (Access code: 424522424242)
• What are the lectures for?
• Explain theory and introduce formulas, examples of previously used exam questions • Better
understanding + practicing with formulas => tutorials
Organisation of the course
• Tutorials
• What is the purpose of the tutorials?
• Make exercises to put theory into practice
• Calculate/Interpret statistics
• Learn to use the formulary
• Test understanding of theory
• Make exercises => understand the material! Plus some of the exercises are based on old exam
• Learning material
• Exercises can be found on canvas
• Some exercises are example exam questions (taken literally from old exams)!
• Formulary
Organisation of the course
• SPSS labs
• Practice for SPSS test
• 2 labs: reliability (item analysis in SPSS, lab 1) and validity (factor analyses in SPSS, lab 2)
• Presence is not mandatory
• Performing + interpreting analyses (and output) is central
• Material:
• Exercises can be found on CANVAS
• Book: SPSS survival manual (Julie Pallant) can be used as extra material and will be available
during the SPSS test
,Organizations of the course
• Passing the course
• Requirements
• To pass, you need 1) a final score ≥6 AND 2) to pass the SPSS test
• Final exam:
• 50 MC questions (2 answer alternatives, often true/not true)
• Example exams will be available on canvas during the last weeks
• SPSS test
• You don’t need to learn SPSS commands by heart
• Content test: reporting but not interpreting results -> I want to know if you are able to
• For example: “What is the value of Cronbach’s alpha?” rather than “Is this questionnaire reliable
the second factor?” rather than “What does it mean that the factor-loading of item 1 on factor 2 is
Organisation of the course
• Passing the course
• What if I passed the SPSS test, but not the exam (score of ≤5)?
• You only have to retake the final exam; no need to redo the spss labs
• What if I score ≥ 6 on the exam but did not pass for spss? • You only have to pass spss; no need to
redo the final exam
• What if I miss the SPSS test?
• There will be a resit (we will announce the details asap after the first test)
• What if I have done the SPSS test before, in lecture year XX/YY??
No need to do the test again, but make sure that this is registered well in OSIRIS after you have
passed the exam. If this is NOT the case (administration of grades is a disaster at Tilburg University),
then send me an e-mail with your name, SNR and the year in which you have passed the test.
,Introduction to questionnaires
• Why are questionnaires important?
• Questionnaire v.s. survey v.s. test
• Questionnaire construction and analysis
Examples of questionnaires
➢ The big five personality test: extraversion vs introversions, agreeability, openness,
neuroticism
➢ Personality is big aspects divided in 5 types
➢ Job satisfactions survey: for job satisfaction of employees.
➢ MMPI: developed for something else than what it is used for today. It is about mentally
illness, nowadays it is used to select good candidates for a job position
➢ Europeans values study: research that uses questionnaires every year and compares what
they are measuring.
, ➢ Questionnaire measures 6 dimensions of Hofstede
Questionnaires are used by..
• Governments:
• to measure the health of their nations or their economic wellbeing
• To inform policy decisions
• Organisations:
• To investigate the difference in salaries between women and men (SCP, “emancipation monitor
2018”)
• Work safety (TNO)
• Companies:
• To select suitable candidates for a job
• To test the “usability” of a product (e.g., Philips)
• To measure customers’ or members’ satisfaction
• for marketing or evaluation purposes
• Researchers social sciences
• Predict voting behaviors or measure political attitudes, measure quality of life, personality or
behavior..
We use questionnaires a lot in research, but also in actual life.
