LANGUAGE

RESEARCH
(ELT 210)
DATA
COLLECTIO
The questionnaire
▸ “a list of planned written questions related to a particular
topic” (Good, p.435)
▸ a set of questions which when answered properly by a
required number of properly selected respondents, will
supply necessary information to complete a study.

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Types of questions asked in a survey
questionnaires
▸ According to form:
▹ The Free-Answer Type
Example: Why do you use toothpaste in brushing your
teeth?
▹ The Guided Response
▹ Recall Type
Example: Pls. supply the information asked for:
Age:______ Sex:________ Date of Birth:_____ 4
Types of questions asked in a survey
questionnaires
▸ According to form:
▹ The Guided Response
▹ Recognition Type
● Dichotomous
Example: Are you married? Yes____ No_____
● Multiple Choice
Example: What is your highest educational attainment?
_____ Elementary Graduate
_____ High School Graduate
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_____ College Graduate
Types of questions asked in a survey
questionnaires
▸ According to form:
▹ The Guided Response
▹ Recognition Type
● Multiple Response
Example: Why do you use toothpaste in brushing your teeth?
Place check marks before your choices.
____ It prevents tooth decay.
____ It freshens the breath.
____ It is cheap.
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____ It is imported.
Types of questions asked in a survey
questionnaires
▸According to the kind of data asked for
● Descriptive (verbal) data
What kind of house do you live in?
___ Concrete ___ Semi-Concrete ___ Wooden ____ Bamboo
___ Others (Specify) _______
● Quantified (numerical) data
1. How old are you ________
2. What is your average monthly income P______
● Intensity of feeling, emotion or attitude
Do you agree to have only one day election, set for local and national elective officials?
___ Strongly Agree ___ Agree ___ Fairly Agree ___ Disagree
___ Strongly Disagree
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Types of questions asked in a survey
questionnaires
▸According to the kind of data asked for
● Degree of judgement
How serious is cheating among students?
___ Very Serious ___ Serious ___ Fairly Serious ___ Not Serious
___ Not a problem
How adequate are the facilities?
___ Very Adequate ___ Adequate ___ Fairly Adequate ___ Inadequate
___ Very Inadequate
● Understanding
Explain what democracy is. __________________________________
● Reasoning
Why do you prefer democracy to dictatorship? __________________ 8
Guidelines in formulation of questions for
questionnaire
1. Make all directions clear and unequivocal.
Example: Answer the following questions.
2. Use correct grammar.
3. Make all question unequivocal.
Example: Are you employed or not?
Are you a graduate?
4. Avoid asking biased questions.
Example: Do you use Colgate? If not, what brand do you
use?
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5. Objectify responses.
Guidelines in formulation of questions for
questionnaire
5. Objectify responses.
Example: Why do you use Camay soap?
___ It is fragrant.
___ It is cheap.
___ It lasts long.
___ It makes my skin smoother.
6. Relate all questions to topic under study.
7. Create categories or classes for approximate answer.
How efficient is your teacher? How many sticks of cigarettes do you consume a day?
___ Very efficient ___ 1-4
___ Efficient ___ 5-8
___ Fairly Efficient ___ 10-12 10
___ Inefficient ___ 13-16
___ Very inefficient ___ 17-20
Guidelines in formulation of questions for
questionnaire
8. Group the questions in logical sequence.
9. Create sufficient number of responses categories.
10. Word carefully or avoid questions that deal with confidential
or embarrassing information.
11. State all questions affirmatively.
12. Add a catch-all word or phrase to options of multiple
responses.
13. Place all spaces for replies on the left side.
14. Make the respondents anonymous.
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Guidelines in formulation of questions for
questionnaire
▸ Example:
“Suppose a woman becomes unfaithful to her husband and
you want to find the reasons why she became unfaithful to her
husband. This is in connection with your study in family
relations.”

Question: Why did you become unfaithful to your husband?

What, in your own opinion, are the reasons why wives sometimes
fall in love with men other than their own husbands? 12
Evidence of misleading questions
1. All-or-none responses
2. Considerable differences in responses when the order is
changed.
3. High proportion of omission or “no response”.
4. High proportion of “don’t know” or “don’t recall”.
5. High proportion of “other” answers.
6. Considerable number of added comments.

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The Interview
▸ A purposeful face-to-face relationship between two
persons, one of whom is the interviewer who asks
questions to gather information and the other called the
interviewee or respondents who supplies information
asked for.

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Types of interview (treece & treece jr.,
p.199-200)
▸ Standardized interview
▸ Non-standardized interview
▸ Semi-standardized interview
▸ Focused interview
▸ Nondirective interview

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Types of interview (good & scate, p. 640)
▸ According to function
▹ Diagnostic interview
▹ Treatment interview
▹ Research interview
▸ According to number of persons participating
▹ Individual
▹ Group
▸ According to length of contact
▹ Short-contact interview
▹ Long-contact interview 16
What to avoid during interview?
▸ Avoid exerting undue pressure upon a respondent to make him
participate in an interview.
▸ Avoid disagreeing or arguing with or contradicting the respondent.
▸ Avoid unduly pressing the respondent to make a reply.
▸ Avoid using a language well over and above the ability of the
respondent to respond.
▸ Avoid talking irrelevant matters.
▸ Avoid placing the interviewee in embarrassing situation.
▸ Avoid appearing too high above the respondent in education,
knowledge, and social status.
▸ Avoid interviewing the respondent in an unholy hour.
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observation
▸ A means of gathering information for research where data
is perceived through senses.
▸ The sense of sight is the most important and widely used
among all the senses.
▸ It is the most direct way and the most widely used in
studying behavior.

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