Assess the usefulness of Postal Questionnaires
Assess the usefulness of Postal Questionnaires
Postal questionnaires are surveys sent out by post with a pre-paid envelope. A researcher will often use some form of incentive in order to encourage high response rate, this could be entry to some sort of competition or perhaps a small free gift if sent back before a certain date.
Postal questionnaires like all questionnaires are restricted to two basic types of question:
Closed-ended (or "closed question") is a question for which a researcher provides a suitable list of responses (e.g. Yes / No). This produces mainly quantitative data.
Open-ended (or "open question") is a question where the researcher doesn't provide the respondent with a set answer from which to choose. Rather, the respondent is asked to answer "in their own words". This produces mainly qualitative data.
Some advantages of using postal questionnaires as oppose to other forms of questionnaire are: The researcher is able to contact large numbers of people quickly, easily and efficiently using a postal questionnaire (since all he / she has to do is identify the group that will be targeted and post them the list of questions).Questionnaires are relatively quick and easy to create, code and interpret, especially if closed questions are used. In addition, the respondent, not the researcher does the time consuming part of completing the questionnaire. The researcher can be sure that everyone in the sample answers exactly the same questions, which makes this a very reliable method of research. Questionnaires can be used to explore potentially embarrassing areas (such as sexual and criminal matters) more easily than other methods. The postal questionnaire can be both anonymous and completed in privacy, increasing the chances of people answering questions honestly because they are not intimidated by the presence of a researcher.
However, although there are many good points about postal questionnaires, there are also some bad points for example, the format of questionnaire design makes it difficult for the researcher to examine complex issues and opinions. Even where open-ended questions are used, the depth of answers that the respondent can provide tend to be more-limited than with almost any other method of research. This makes it difficult for a researcher to gather information that is rich in depth and detail. With a postal questionnaire, the researcher can never be certain the person to whom the questionnaire is sent actually ...
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However, although there are many good points about postal questionnaires, there are also some bad points for example, the format of questionnaire design makes it difficult for the researcher to examine complex issues and opinions. Even where open-ended questions are used, the depth of answers that the respondent can provide tend to be more-limited than with almost any other method of research. This makes it difficult for a researcher to gather information that is rich in depth and detail. With a postal questionnaire, the researcher can never be certain the person to whom the questionnaire is sent actually fills it in. For example, if your research is concerned with finding-out the opinions of women on a range of issues, it would be less than useful if an unknown number of the questionnaires sent by the researcher were filled-in by men. Where the researcher is not present, it's always difficult to know whether or not a respondent has understood a question properly. The researcher has to hope the questions asked mean the same to all the respondents as they do to the researcher. This is a problem that can - to some extent - be avoided by conducting a Pilot Study before the real survey. Another big problem with postal questionnaires is that the response rate tends to be low as this method can often simply be seen as 'junk mail' to us, which is a great annoyance for the majority of households, this means that the researcher could go to the trouble of using this method, and end up with very little response, and therefore very little data to go by on their chosen topic.
Looking at the kinds of data most questionnaires produce it is safe to say that positivists prefer postal questionnaires as they like data that can be put into statistics and charts, in oppose to lengthy qualitative data which is more about people and their own feelings about things.
Postal questionnaires containing 'closed' questions are ideal for scientific purposes. They are quick and cheap. The sample can be controlled to achieve representation, the data is easy to use as it is generally very simple, and the findings can be analysed statistically and generalised. There is no possible confusion in the data and therefore it is more straightforward to draw conclusions.
Postal questionnaires are also seen to be very reliable as no matter how many times you repeat the survey the questions are all the same so you will generally receive the same data with only small differences depending on more personal factors. It is harder however to say that this form of survey is valid because although the questionnaire is being done away from a researcher, if a person if with friends, relatives or anything similar to that sort of situation, the respondent may answer untruthfully, or if they feel the question is too complicated they may simply give an answer just for the sake of giving one.
When compared to interviews it can be said that they are quite different methods of collecting data as interviews require the researcher to actually have contact with a respondent in order to gain their findings, which is generally time consuming and more costly when compared to postal questionnaires. Whilst postal questionnaires produce mostly reliable data interviews are more prone to getting valid data, as long as the interviewer is able to keep their own views to themselves and create a comfortable environment for the respondent in order for them to feel like they can tell the truth, it is also good if the respondent has not had to give personal information about themselves (meaning they could be interviewed anonymously) whereas for postal questionnaires to be sent to particular people to gain to correct sample group, it is likely that the researcher knows the names at least of the people he/she is sending the questionnaire out to.
PO and postal questionnaires are very different methods of research, it could even be said they are complete opposites of one another as PO is all about the researcher getting in with their research group whilst postal questionnaires require no relations between researcher and respondent at all. PO, like interviews if thought to give valid data (mostly in covert PO) as the group being researched are usually in an environment comfortable and known to them, meaning it is more likely they will be themselves, but this can also depend on the other people around them, also the group are allowed to speak for themselves in front of the participant observer, meaning the researcher can achieve verstehen.
Using official statistics may actually be a better way of researching when compared with postal questionnaires due to things like response rates and some lack of validity; if a researcher used official stats they would be gaining very valid data in an less time consuming way (if postal questionnaires can be called time consuming at all.). Also they would be saving the small amount of money spent on the pre-paid envelopes.
Based on this evidence, it can be concluded that whilst postal questionnaires have high reliability as well as being very popular with positivists for producing quantitative data when in closed question form, it can also be said that this method may not be for everyone, especially if a researcher wants proper in depth data, when most people filling in these questionnaires probably would not be bothered to write long answers, and much of them time they may not even bother to send back their response once they have filled the questionnaire in.
