TOPIC: Survey Questionnaire

A Reaction Paper

Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Republican College

Quezon City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements of Master of Science in Criminal Justice with Specialization in

Criminology

Submitted to:

DR. OSCAR SORIANO

Professor

Submitted by:

MS. MA. JAMIELLY A QUIRIMIT

August 2022
 INTRODUCTION:

One of the most important components of a research design is the tool for generating
data. Among these are:
1. Questionnaire
2. Interviews
3. Observation
4. documents/records

Questionnaire-the most commonly used tools to generate data. Sometimes it is called

survey form. It refers to paper and pencil data gathering method by letting the subject or
respondent complete the questionnaire before the researcher or his representatives or it
can be mailed. It is an inventory of pieces of information which the researcher
anticipates to gather from a respondent. It is a list of planned, written questions related
to a particular topic, with space provided for indicating the response to each question,
intended for submission to a number of persons for reply commonly used in normative
survey and in the measurement of attitudes and opinions.

 Personally-administered-confined to local area and the organization is willing

and able to assemble groups of employees to respond to the questionnaire at a
workplace.

Advantages:
1. It can easily collect completed responses in a short time.
2. Any doubts on the questionnaire can easily be clarified.
3. The researcher also has the opportunity to introduce the research topic and motivate
respondents to give honest answers.

Disadvantages:
1. Most often, organizations are not willing to allow company time for data collection.

 Mailed Questionnaires

Advantages:
1. A wide geographical area can be covered in the survey.
2. Respondents are given their own free time and convenience to complete the
questionnaire.

Disadvantages:
1. Return rates are not high.
2. Any doubt the respondent might have cannot be clarified.
3. With the low return rates, it is difficult to determine the representative-ness of the
sample because those who responded may be totally different from the population they
were intended to represent.
To combat this problem, the researcher must: a) send follow-up letter; b) enclosing
some monetary incentives; and c) providing self-addressed/ stamped return envelopes.

Advantages of a Questionnaire. Calderon, et.al. Cited the following advantages of a

questionnaire:

1. The questionnaire is easy to construct.

2. Distribution is easy and inexpensive. Many of the respondents can be reached by
copies of the questionnaire either by mail or personal distribution.
3. Responses are easy to tabulate.
4. The respondent's replies are free. The respondent's replies are of his own free will
because there is no interviewer to influence him.
5. Confidential information may be given freely. Confidential information which the
respondent may not reveal to an interviewer may be given freely if the respondent can
be made anonymous. Much as they like to reveal confidential information, respondents
are hesitant to tell the truth if they are not made anonymous because they also want to
save themselves from embarrassment, indictment, or trouble which may result from the
revelation of confidential data.
6. The respondent can fill out easily the questionnaire.
7. The respondent can give more accurate replies.

Disadvantages of a Questionnaire

1. The questionnaire cannot be used by those who cannot read nor write well,
especially those who are totally illiterate.
2. If many respondents do not return the filled up copies of the questionnaire purposely
or forgetfully, considerable follow-ups are necessary. This is true if the return is not
representative of the whole.
3. If the respondent gives wrong information, it cannot be corrected at once.
4. A respondent may leave some or many questions unanswered because nobody
urges him to do so or he may not understand the significance of the information he
gives.
5. Some questions may be vague and so the respondent may not answer them, or if he
does, he may give wrong replies.
6. The number of choices may be so limited that the respondent may be forced to select
responses that are not his actual choices. This is especially true with yes or no
questions.

Criteria of a Good Questionnaire

1. The language must be clear-it should be clear and appropriate and should lead the
respondent to give specific response. The language structure/vocabulary should suit the
level of the respondents. The questionnaire must generate the desired information
needed in the study.
2. The content of the question and time period involved must be specific.The item in the
questionnaire should elicit a single piece of information or a single response. Asking
respondents multiple responses discourages him because of complexity and this may
lead him to give inaccurate information.

Example:
What has been your most interesting experience in school?-The question is
clearly stated but the respondent will think of his elementary, high school etc.

It should be:
What was your most interesting experience in your fourth year schooling in high
school?

3. The question should show singleness of purpose-The questionnaire as a whole

should bring out pieces of information that are relevant to the purpose of the study.

4. The question must be free from assumptions-Sometimes in a question there can be

found an unasked question.

Example:
Do you think that the use of herbs is sufficient for your cough?

It should be:
Do you take herbs when you are sick with colds? Or... What herbs do you take
when you are sick with colds?

5. The question should be free from suggestions.

Example:
Many countries have been progressive due to industrialization. Do you agree that
the Phil. Can also be progressive if it becomes industrialized?

6. The question should have linguistic completeness and grammatical consistency-the

question should be formed according to the rules of correct grammar to avoid
embarrassment on the part of the researcher.

Kinds of Questionnaire

1. Open-ended questionnaire -one whose options of the items are not given or
are not arranged. This leaves the respondents to answer the question in his own
way. Answers are entirely left at the discretion of the respondent. In general,
respondents do not like to answer open-ended questions for aside from giving
multiple responses, they feel they are taking examinations. Multiple responses
make statistical analysis difficult.
 2. Closed-ended questionnaire-the options or answers are given or enumerated
and the respondents simply check or encircle his answers. It does not require
much effort on the part of the respondents to answer the questions.
Example:

Encircle the number with the best answer. The options are the following:

5-Strongly Agree 2-Disagree

4-Agree 1-Strongly disagree
3-Not sure

Construction of a Questionnaire. There are some steps in the preparation of a

questionnaire, some of which are the following (Calderon et.al.):

1. Doing library search. Do some library research among studies similar as yours.
There may be some questionnaires similar to what you want to use. They may be serve
as a guide in constructing you questionnaire.

2. Talking to knowledgeable people. Talk to people who have some knowledge about
the construction of questionnaires. You may be able to get some ideas from them.

3. Mastering the guidelines. There are guidelines in the construction of a

questionnaire. Master the guidelines.

4. Writing the questionnaire. Write the questionnaire following the guidelines as

closely as possible.

5. Editing the questionnaire. After the questionnaire has been finished, show it for
correction and suggestions for improvement to people who are known to possess
adequate knowledge in the construction of questionnaire especially to your adviser if
you have one.

6. Rewriting the questionnaire. Rewrite the questionnaire according to the

suggestions or corrections made.

7. Pre-testing the questionnaire. This is called a dry run. This is a process of

measuring the effectiveness, validity and reliability of the questionnaire and determining
the clarity of the items and others.

8. Writing the questionnaire in its final form.

Guidelines in the Formulation of Questions for a Questionnaire. Since a

questionnaire is a planned question, the items to be included therein should therefore
be reflective of the problems under study. A questionnaire thoroughly prepared would
supply the needed data for the research problem or topic. In other words, the
questionnaire should jibe with the problems identified in the statement of the problem (if
the answer to the problem is too gathered through a questionnaire).

The following are the useful guidelines in the construction of questions for a
questionnaire:

1. Make all directions clear and unequivocal. This means that you should make the
directions clear, definite or exact. Always see to it that the respondents will be able to
follow what is to done.

Example:

Directions: Below are statements that would determine teacher's level of competence.
Please encircle the number opposite each statement that best represent your
assessment of the competence of the teachers in your department. The numbers are
coded as follows:

1-Poor 4-Very Satisfactory

2-Fair 5-Excellent/Outstanding
3-Satisfactory

2. Use correct grammar. Punctuation marks should be placed properly to avoid

misinterpretation.

3. Make all questions unequivocal. As much as possible make all questions clear,
brief and unequivocal. Avoid making double-barreled questions.

Example: Are you employed or not? (This type of question cannot be answered by yes
or no without qualifying the answer). If the answer is in the affirmative, it should be: Yes,
I am employed. If the answer is in the negative, it should be: No, I am not employed.

Example of vague question. Are you a graduate?

4. Avoid asking biased questions. A biased question is one where there is a veiled
suggestion for an answer.

SHORT SUMMARY OF THE WORK

SUBJECTIVE ARGUMENTS

CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS