Course Code: 8604

Unit 6

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES OF

RESEARCH

By
Muhammad Usman Rafique
(Gold Medalist)
PhD (Education) Scholar
Email ID: mrusman89@gmail.com
Contact no. 03007573057
Outlines
We will learn today about:
 Introduction
 Questionnaire
 Opinionnaire and attitude scale
 Interview
 Observation
 Tests and appraisal instruments
 Concluding remarks
 Questionnaire
A questionnaire is a set of carefully selected and
ordered questions prepared by an investigation to
seek factual information from respondents or to find
their opinion, attitude or interest.
Forms of Questionnaire

Closed Open
form form

Pictorial Scale
form items
Closed form
Closed form of questionnaire usually
consists of a prepared list of concrete
questions and a choice of possible
answers. For example

Yes
No
Do not know
 Open form
Rather than forcing respondents to choose
between rigidly limited responses, the open
form, or unrestricted type of questionnaire
calls for a free response in respondent's own
words. For Example

Why did you choose to do your M.A. in

EPM in this university?
Pictorial form
Some questionnaires present respondent
with drawings and photographs rather
than written statement from which to
choose answers.
Scale items
A scale item is a question to which the
respondent expresses his agreement or
disagreement of various levels. For example

Strongly agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Construction of a Questionnaire

Following are some of the steps that you

should, take while constructing
questionnaires.

• Framing of questions
• Ordering of questions
• Designing the directions and format
• Eliciting honest replies
 Criteria of Question-Writing
 Is the question related to the research problem and
the research objectives?
 Is the question right and appropriate?
 Is the question clear and unambiguous?
 Is the question suggestive?
 Does the question demand knowledge and
information that the respondent does not have?
 Does the question demand personal or delicate
material that the respondent may not like to divulge?
 Is the question loaded with social desirability?
Administration of the Questionnaire

Mailed
Direct contact
questionnaires
Limitations of Questionnaire
 The responses may not be truthful or accurate.
 A respondent may make are less errors (e.g. writing
incorrect numbers, checking wrong responses
 The mailed questionnaires give low rate of
responses. It may be due to postal wastage ranging
from 20% to 40% or due to non- responses. In
Pakistan this low rate may be 40% to 60%.
 The respondents answer questionnaires at their
leisure which implies that they will answer at
different times, on different days and in different
circumstances.
OPINIONNAIRE AND ATTITUDE SCALE

A set of questions attempting to measure the

attitude or belief of an individual is called an
opinionnaire or an attitude scale.

For example Likert type scale

Strongly agree
Agree
Undecided
Disagree
Strongly disagree
 INTERVIEWS
 An interview is essentially a structured conversation
where one participant asks questions, and the other
provides answers. In common parlance, the word
"interview" refers to a one-on-one conversation between
an interviewer and an interviewee.
 Purpose of the Interview
• It can be used as an exploratory
device to help identify variables
and relations.
• It can be used as an instrument of
the research. It can be used to
supplement other method used in
a research study:.
• To follow up unexpected results.
• To validate other methods, and to
go deeper into the motivation of
respondents and their reasons for
responding as they do.
Types of Interview
Individual and group interviews
Structured 'or standardized interviews
Unstructured and unstandardized
interviews
Non-directive depth interview
Focussed interview
Conduct of an Interview

Preparing for
the interview

Recording Establishin
interviews g rapport
OBSERVATIONS
The action or process of closely
observing or monitoring something or
someone.
Observations may be direct or indirect,
scheduled or unscheduled, and known or
unknown.
Methods of Recording Observations

Check-list

Scaled Rating
specimen scale

Score card
Check List
Rating Scale
TESTS AND APPRAISAL
INSTRUMENTS
A test is standardized procedure to
measure behavior and describing it into
score and categories.
Classification of Tests

Achievement
tests

Personality
Aptitude tests
tests
Qualities of a good test

Standardization

Reliability

Validity
Steps in the construction of a standardized
test
Harris (1969) proposes seven
general steps in constructing a test.

(1) planning the test,

(2) preparing the test items and directions,
(3) reviewing the items,
(4) pretesting the materials,
(5) analyzing the pretest results,
(6) assembling the final form,
(7) reproducing the test.