Outline and explain 2 disadvantages of using Survey Questionnaires to
carry out sociological research
Survey Questionnaires are a primary way used to collect significant amounts of
data from a big number of individuals in a short amount of time. These can be
disseminated in a variety of methods, including via mail, hand, email, and social
media. Closed or open-ended questions can be used in questionnaires, although
most people use both as a fairer and accurate approach to collect data.
One disadvantage of using Survey Questionnaires is that they may not get as
many responses as they want or need to make a precise conclusion of the data
or research, especially if done via postal, which increases the risk of someone
else filling it out or misinterpreting the questions if they are not written well
enough to understand. Interpretivists rely on collecting qualitative methods
such as interviews and observations. Therefore favouring secondary data study.
They would reject this form of data collection since it is focused on quantity
rather than quality therefore being unreliable and unbalanced.
Another disadvantage of Survey Questionnaires is that they are theoretically
incorrect because the responses have the potential to be invalid if people
aren't telling the truth and are lying, or if the person fills it out with only
positive things to say about the research and no negatives in order to please
the researcher. Furthermore, the validity of Survey questionnaires is hampered
by the imposition problem. Respondents may not be able to communicate their
actual sentiments about the topic under inquiry because the researcher's pre-
selected questions and range of acceptable replies limit what they may say and
may not reflect the topics that respondents themselves consider essential,
which is usually from the use of closed questions.
carry out sociological research
Survey Questionnaires are a primary way used to collect significant amounts of
data from a big number of individuals in a short amount of time. These can be
disseminated in a variety of methods, including via mail, hand, email, and social
media. Closed or open-ended questions can be used in questionnaires, although
most people use both as a fairer and accurate approach to collect data.
One disadvantage of using Survey Questionnaires is that they may not get as
many responses as they want or need to make a precise conclusion of the data
or research, especially if done via postal, which increases the risk of someone
else filling it out or misinterpreting the questions if they are not written well
enough to understand. Interpretivists rely on collecting qualitative methods
such as interviews and observations. Therefore favouring secondary data study.
They would reject this form of data collection since it is focused on quantity
rather than quality therefore being unreliable and unbalanced.
Another disadvantage of Survey Questionnaires is that they are theoretically
incorrect because the responses have the potential to be invalid if people
aren't telling the truth and are lying, or if the person fills it out with only
positive things to say about the research and no negatives in order to please
the researcher. Furthermore, the validity of Survey questionnaires is hampered
by the imposition problem. Respondents may not be able to communicate their
actual sentiments about the topic under inquiry because the researcher's pre-
selected questions and range of acceptable replies limit what they may say and
may not reflect the topics that respondents themselves consider essential,
which is usually from the use of closed questions.
