Questionnaire-Research Method in Business - Dissertation Example

 Questionnaire-Research Method in Business Questionnaire is a research method mainly used for carrying out the primary research. Questionnaire is mostly consisted of number of questions that are asked from respondents. In simple terms, questionnaire entails all those questions that have significance relating to research questions and it is the prime objective of the questionnaire to represent the research aims and objectives and enables the respondents to provide their feedback on research problem. In other words, the prime objective of questionnaire is to start the process, which brings answers given in the questionnaire. From the perspective of researcher, questionnaire is a research instrument that is used for conducting primary research; at the same time, questionnaire also works as a medium of communication between the researcher and participants as well. In this situation, the researcher mainly relies on the use of questionnaire as it would enable the participants to provide their feedback by selecting or providing their perspective relating to questions asked in the questionnaire. In the following parts of this paper, first questionnaire explanation has been provided. It is followed by the part detailing the difference between research methodology and research method. Subsequently, quantitative and qualitative research methods along have been discussed. It is followed by normative and ethical perspectives, validity and reliability, triangulation and methodological pluralism and conclusion part Research is defined as a systematic activity (Hitchcock and Hughes, 1995; Khanzode, 2007). And questionnaire remains an important research tool for collecting data. Questionnaire is mostly consisted of a number of questions that are asked from respondents. In simple terms, questionnaire entails all those questions that have significance relating to research questions and it is the prime objective of the questionnaire to represent the research aims and objectives and enable the respondents to provide their feedback on research problem. Both close-ended and open-ended questions are generally included in questionnaire. The close-ended questions are those questions which consist of choices or options and the respondent is required to select the most relevant option representing the perspective of the respondent. For example, in a typical questionnaire, if the question asks: what are the main causes of drug addiction? A-Family issues, B-Financial problems, C-Teenage norm. And the respondents select the option B. this small exercise represents the close-ended question. On other hand, open-ended question does not include any option or choice but the respondent is fully authorised to provide feedback that he or she considers appropriate to represent the respondent’s perspective. Both questions have some similarities and differences as well. For example, the objective of both types of questions is to conduct primary research and enable the respondent to share his or her view on the mentioned issue in the questionnaire. Additionally, both types of questions (close-ended and open-ended questions) are used to collect first hand information from the potential respondents. However, both have certain differences as well. For example, close-ended questions are mostly used in the quantitative research method. In other words in the close-ended questionnaire, the respondents are not allowed to provide their personal understanding or feedback that they consider necessary or appropriate to reflect their perspective but they are compelled to select any option from the provided choices. In contrast, the open-ended questionnaire encourages the respondents to provide their view, as they consider relevant and appropriate to reflect their point of view. In this regard, it is important to mention that selection of which questionnaire method is appropriate is determined by the research aims and objectives which are reflected through the research questions. In other words, the selection and inclusion of any questionnaire method is mainly and largely reliant on the use of overall research aim and objectives. Research methodology and research method separately form part of research activity. Research methodology is an overall research framework, which provides basic infrastructure to any research activity whereas the research method is an instrument that is used to collect data. For example, research methodology provides basic foundation, which represents the research approach for. For example, research methodology and research method are two important parts of a building in which foundation of the building is provided by the research methodology and the upper part of the building is constructed by the bricks representing the research method. More clearly, Positivism and Phenomenology are two main research approaches; the former uses scientific methods for carrying out research process whereas the latter is related to the study of science of phenomena. In the Positivism, natural laws and numerical methods are employed whereas non-numerical data and study of experiences are involved in the science of Phenomenology. Qualitative and quantitative research methods are two different ways to carry out research activity. The qualitative research method takes into account descriptive and subjective perspectives in research activity. This method enables the respondents to freely give their views, opinions, suggestions and perspectives on any issue involving the use of personal understanding. For example, this method does not require understanding natural sciences instead the respondents are allowed to use their personal judgement and understanding. More clearly, in the qualitative method, the respondents use their judgement for assessing and developing their perspective with regard to the issue. On the other hand, in the quantitative research, the respondents are not given an opportunity to provide their perspective in the form of opinions instead they are only required to select from the provided choices in the questionnaire. However, it is still pertinent to highlight that by selecting an option from the given choices in the questionnaire, respondents share their knowledge and understanding about the issue. Questionnaire has both strengths and weaknesses. First, questionnaire is considered to be less time consuming. For example, after satisfying other research requirements, researcher can forward an email to the potential respondents and they will be required to fill out the questionnaire requirements. When compared with other research methods, such as observation, questionnaire method proves its usefulness as it consumes less amount of time when time consumption of observation method is taken into account. Additionally, from the perspective of the respondent, particularly close-ended questionnaire takes comparatively less time to fill out the questionnaire as mostly one option is selected from the given choices. And the same is also applicable to the requirements of researcher. At the same time, questionnaire provides a large amount of data with minimum time consumption. For example, in the close-ended questionnaire, the respondents are given opportunity to provide their perspective relating to the questions mentioned in the questionnaire. And for the researcher, a filled out questionnaire includes all information, which is considerably sufficient to satisfy the research aims and objectives relating to the research activity. Moreover, questionnaire is a part of quantitative research and is used for collecting numerical information. The use of questionnaire is more applicable and relevant for collecting and analysing the numerical information as the respondents are mostly given choices to select their response from the provided options. However, questionnaire method has certain drawbacks. First, it is the discretionary right of the respondents to fill out the questionnaire with full concentration by giving appropriate answers or to tick the options randomly without giving required level of concentration to options. Under this situation, the subsequent draw of this approach is that it would directly affect the integrity of findings, which may not be helpful for obtaining the desired level of research objectives. Additionally, it is possible that a respondent fails to fully understand question given in the questionnaire and despite this the respondent fills out the form. Under this situation, it is possible that inaccurate feedback has been provided and received by the researcher which has wasted the whole research activity as the inaccurate information is of no use for the researcher. Reliability is concerned with confidence relating to quality of information obtained during the process of research (Woodside, 2010). Reliability is mostly related to the data collection method, which is used to collect data and that is subsequently processed and developed into findings. In other words, merits and strengths of different data collection methods and their usefulness and efficiency to collect data are those factors that directly represent reliability of the research instruments. For example, questionnaire is considered to be less reliable research method when it is compared with empirical research method as the latter gives an opportunity to directly access to secondary sources, such as books, journals, making it comparatively less reliable than the questionnaire method. More clearly, the quality of information, which is obtained through questionnaire, is comparatively more reliable than the quality of information, which is provided by the empirical research method because in the secondary research, the researcher does not directly access to the first hand information whereas in the questionnaire method, the researcher is a primary research method allowing researchers to obtain first hand information from respondents through using the framework of the questionnaire. However, it is still important to highlight that it is difficult to expect 100 percent confidence from data and sources but the degree of confidence that is normally provided to reflect the perspective of researchers. Generalisability is based on the notion that whether the findings of certain research can be applied generally. This concept of research mainly highlights that the efficacy of any research is largely reliant on the scope in which research findings are relevant to other situations or conditions. For example, generalisability theme can be understood through knowing that whether the findings of one research, which is conducted in the United States, are applicable to the United Kingdom. If they are useful and relevant in other situations, the findings satisfy the condition of generalisability. The above discussion raises certain questions. For example, how will it be possible to apply the findings of study of drug addiction in the United Kingdom to the United States? This becomes more challenging because every country, region and territory has different social, economic, personal, cultural and traditional reasons behind the problem of drug addiction. The findings generated through questionnaire are mainly generalisable. The questionnaire uses scientific method and quantitative research method in which less subjectivity is involved. For example, the findings related to stem cells in the United States are equally useful and applicable in the United Kingdom as the application of scientific and natural laws are not differently applicable in the United States and the United Kingdom. Validity is related to truthfulness of collected data (Pellgrini et al., 2004). This research aspect is highly significant for a research process and research activity as it reflects data integrity, which either provides confidence or shatters confidence in case data is untrue. In this regard, it is important to mention that validity of data especially in questionnaire is critical as the respondents are not mostly directly contacted instead electronic mails are used for sending and receiving questionnaire and their feedback as well. If the filled out questionnaire has untrue data, the chances of inaccurate findings cannot be ruled out. Ethics refers to a code consisted of moral values (Babu, 2007). Research ethics are a set of core principles which are ought to be followed by researchers while carrying out a research activity (Shrader-Frechette, 1994). More importantly, the normative ethics have been identified as perspective ethics as they are required to be followed in a research activity (Carroll and Buchholtz, 2015). Every research requires complying with certain ethical benchmarks. Ethics are highly related to questionnaire in various respects. Ethics require application of moral values while interacting with others; and to obtain information from respondents, a researcher is required to use questionnaire for this purpose. The researcher cannot use unethical manners to access information through the questionnaire but only through employing ethical manner, respondents provide their feedback in the questionnaire. In other words, it can be deduced that ethics provide basic ethical infrastructure, which is highly essential for the researcher for conducting research through using questionnaire. In this regard, it is important to mention that certain ethics are generally followed by all researchers whereas some ethics are voluntary. For example, obtaining consent before sending over the questionnaire is an ethical compulsion whereas collecting data through survey this may not be followed in the similar sense. In this regard, it is important to mention that while conducting research-using questionnaire, it is highly essential that some normative ethics are followed. First, it is highly recommended that obtaining free-consent of respondents is always required. If the respondent works in a particular organization and comes under the supervision of any authority, even in that case, it is also necessary to obtain consent from the authority of the respondent, as it would further solidify the research process. At the same time, it is the ethical duty of researcher to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of obtained data. For example, the researcher should assure the respondent that the provided data and perspective will not be shared or provided to any third party and the collected data will be safely protected as well. This type of assurance and compliance with the normative ethics is highly needed as they enable the respondents to trust on research and researcher as well. Similarly, it is also essential to note that if the collected data is accessed by any third and unauthorised party, this would bring serious ramifications not only for the respondent but also for the researcher as well. as a result, in the following section, triangulation has been detailed so as to increase the validity of data and its sources. Triangulation refers to using different sources for collecting data (Woodside, 2007; Browne, 2006). For example, the use of observations, questionnaires, and interviews for different types of data is a way to reflecting the inclusion of data triangulation. For ascertaining the data accuracy, multiple sources of data are used. And this accuracy largely relies on the sources rather than the individual strength of the data because integrity of data is largely reflected by the data source. For example, if findings from questionnaire and conversational interview bring similar results, this proves that the generated results are highly valid and reliable as two different sources have provided the similar results. Moreover, the main purpose of triangulation is to cross verify the data taken from different sources so that their validity is confirmed from different sources. In a nutshell, questionnaire remains the most important research method for carrying out a research activity. Before going to develop and implement any research strategy, it is highly essential that research aims and objectives are determined because every research starts to obtain certain objectives. After determining the research objectives, the next step is to determine research methodology. Subsequently, any research methodology is developed before going to finalise a research method. Questionnaire, interview and observation are some of the examples of the research method. Among them, questionnaire remains the most useful research tool for various reasons. First, it mainly consists of two types of questions: close-ended and open-ended questions. In the close-ended questions, the respondents are required to select any option mentioned from given choices whereas the no such choices are given in the open-ended questions as the respondents are required to use their own judgement or at their will to provide their perspective relating to questions asked in the open-ended questionnaire. From the perspective of researcher and respondent, the close-ended questions are more useful than the open-ended questions. First, in the close-ended questions, the respondent is not required to take much time for giving answer to the questions and it is comparatively easy to provide relevant answers. On the other hand, in the open-ended questions, the respondent is needed to concentrate before going to provide answer about questions mentioned in the questionnaire. In a summary, questionnaire can be a good research instrument for carrying out a research but it considerably relies on what is being researched. References Babu, D. (2007).Professional Ethics and Human Values. New Delhi: Laxmi Publication. Browne, K. (2006). Introducing Sociology for AS Level. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press. Carroll, A., &Buchholtz, A. (2015). Business & Society: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management. 9th ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Hitchcock, G. & Hughes, D. (1995). Research and the Teacher: A Qualitative Introduction to School-based Research. London: Routldege. Khanzode, V.V. (2007). Research Methodology: Techniques and Trends. New Delhi: A P H Publishing. Pellegrini, A.D., Symons, F.J. & Hoch, J. (2004). Observing Children in Their Natural Worlds: A Methodological Primer. 2nd ed. New York: Psychology Press. Shrader-Frechette, K. (1994).Ethics of Scientific Research. London: Rowman& Littlefield. Woodside, A.G. (Ed.) (2010). Organizational Culture, Business-to-Business Relationships, and Inter-firm Networks. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing. Read More