Questionnaire-Based surveys Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Questionnaire-Based surveys - Research Paper Example One of the most effective and popular ways of collecting any important data are the surveys; the primary objective of a survey is to gather data about various aspects of the individuals such as their beliefs, ideas, attitudes and perceptions. The survey is mainly used in the fields of psychology, marketing research, public administration, public health and communication studiesto study the participants involved in the data collection process (Yaoxiang, &Lihai, 2008). The survey can either focus on some factual information about the individuals or might collect opinion of the respondents. The questionnaire-based surveys are used especially by Marketing and Human Resource Departments as they comprise of the experts who want to gather detailed information about the perceptions of their stakeholders so that they can meet their requirements (DeMooji & Hoftsedd, 2010; Ferguson & Rio, 2010). These surveys are frequently used by them to provide in-depth information about the areas that shoul d be focused on by a corporation so that it can implement appropriate procedures within the business operations for enhancing its productivity and performance. In questionnaire-based surveys, the candidates have to fill the questionnaire by themselves and have to interpret the questions’ meanings on their own. While, in interview based surveys, the researcher asks the questions to respondents so that more in-depth data can be collected. The data collected from the questionnaire-based surveys is quantitative that allows easy interpretation of information that is gathered. On the other hand, interview sessions are time-consuming and data collected will need more time for analysis; however, the information in interview surveys is of a higher quality (Brugger, 2010). Questionnaire-based surveys The questionnaire-based surveys involve the designing and development of a questionnaire that will ensure that assessment about the attitudes, opinions and perceptions of the respondents i s done in an effective manner. The main element in this research method is the questionnaire as it is the key instrument for gathering information about any particular issue or factual knowledge of the participants (Kalpana&Jeyakumar, 2011). According to Fanning (2005), the questionnaire development is a critical aspect in questionnaire-based survey as the researchers have to ensure that it has all those questions stated that will help them in retrieving the required information effectively. Since questionnaires are self-administered, the sequencing of questions along with their wordings is important determinants of the data quality; therefore, an adequate amount of time should be spent on developing the questionnaire so that real and factual results can be drawn from the research (Lee, Benoit-Bryan & Johnson, 2010). The questionnaire-based surveys can take place in three ways i.e. online surveys, direct mail surveys and face-to-face surveys. The latest trend is of online surveys as it allows data to be collected quickly and analysis of the data can be done with the