Hue Level 4 2025 Business Research PDF

(11) Business Research Level 4 HUE Chapter 10: Questionnaire Design - Quantitative Data Analysis - Writing and Presenting your Project Report Questionnaire A questionnaire is a written list of...

(11) Business Research Level 4 HUE Chapter 10: Questionnaire Design - Quantitative Data Analysis - Writing and Presenting your Project Report Questionnaire A questionnaire is a written list of questions, the answers to which are recorded by respondents. ✓ In a questionnaire, respondents read the questions, interpret what is expected and then write down the answers. The design of a questionnaire differs according to how it is delivered, returned or collected and the amount of contact you have with the respondents. Self-completed questionnaires are usually completed by the respondents and are often referred to as surveys. ⎯ Such questionnaires can be distributed to respondents through the Internet (Internet questionnaire), respondents either accessing the questionnaire through their web browser using a hyperlink (Web questionnaire) or directly via a QR (quick response) code scanned into their mobile device (mobile questionnaire). ⎯ Alternatively, the questionnaire can be posted to respondents who return them by post after completion (postal or mail questionnaires) or delivered by hand to each respondent and collected later (delivery and collection questionnaires). Responses to interviewer-completed questionnaires are recorded by the interviewer on the basis of each respondent’s answers. ⎯ Questionnaires undertaken using the telephone are known as telephone questionnaires. ⎯ The final category, face-to-face questionnaires, refers to those questionnaires where interviewers physically meet respondents and ask the questions face-to-face. pg. 1 Business Research Level 4 HUE These are also known as structured interviews but differ from semi structured and unstructured (in-depth) interviews, as there is a defined schedule of questions from which interviewers should not deviate. Types of Questions Most types of questionnaires include a combination of open and closed questions. a. Open questions, sometimes referred to as open-ended questions, allow respondents to give answers in their own way. b. Closed questions, sometimes referred to as closed-ended questions or forced-choice questions. Open questions Open questions are used widely in in-depth and semi-structured interviews. ⎯ An example of an open question (from a self-completed questionnaire) is: List questions List questions offer the respondent a list of responses from which she or he can choose either one or more responses. ⎯ Such questions are useful when you need to be sure that the respondent has considered all possible responses. ⎯ However, the list of responses must be defined clearly and meaningfully to the respondent. The response categories you can use vary widely and include ✓ ‘yes/no’ , ✓ ‘agree/disagree’ ✓ ‘applies/does not apply’ ✓ ‘don’t know’ or ‘not sure’. ⎯ Example: The following question collects demographic data on religion, the respondent ticking (checking) the response that applies. pg. 2 Business Research Level 4 HUE Category Questions Category questions are designed so that each respondent’s answer can fit only one category. ⎯ Such questions are particularly useful if you need to collect data about behavior or attributes. ⎯ The number of categories that you can include without affecting the accuracy of responses is dependent on the type of questionnaire. ⎯ Example Ranking Questions A ranking question asks the respondent to place things in rank order. ⎯ This means that you can discover their relative importance to the respondent. ⎯ In the next example, taken from a Web questionnaire created in Qualtrics, the respondents are asked their opinions about the relative importance of a series of features when choosing a new car. Rating Questions Rating questions are often used to collect opinion data. Rating questions most frequently use the Likert-style rating in which the respondent is asked how strongly she or he agrees or disagrees with a statement or series of statements, usually on a four, five-, six- or seven- point rating scale. pg. 3 Business Research Level 4 HUE Quantity questions The response to a quantity question is a number, which gives a factual amount of a characteristic. ⎯ For this reason, such questions tend to be used to collect behavior or attribute data. ⎯ A common quantity question, which collects attribute data, is: Choosing Question Structure Unstructured Questions Unstructured questions are open-ended questions that respondents answer in their own words. They are also referred to as free-response or free-answer questions. ⎯ The following are some examples: - What is your occupation? - Who is your favorite political figure? Structured Questions Structured questions specify the set of response alternatives and the response format. ⎯ A structured question may be multiple choice, dichotomous, or a scale. Quantitative Data Analysis When you collect numbers (numeric data) in research, you can analyze them in two main ways: 1.Descriptive Analysis ⎯ This is about describing and summarizing your data. ⎯ You organize the data to make it easy to understand, like showing averages, percentages, or graphs. ⎯ Example: If you're studying test scores in a class, you might calculate the average score or show how many students got different grades. pg. 4 Business Research Level 4 HUE 2. Inferential Analysis ⎯ This goes a step further. It's about making predictions or testing ideas using the data. ⎯ You use statistical tests to check if your assumptions (called hypotheses) are correct. ⎯ Example: You might want to know if students who study more hours score higher on tests. ✓ You'd use inferential analysis to test if the data supports this idea. In short: 1. Descriptive = What the data looks like. 2. Inferential = What the data tells you about a bigger picture. pg. 5