Bad survey Questions and their Rewards Research use questions to conduct research. In addition some of these questions may be good bad at times bad depending on how they are formulated.They should not have vague words i.e.
Do you consider yourself liberal?, The questions should not use abbreviations e.g. which is the determining factor for GDP growth?, the questions should not use jargons or technical terms e.g. should a strict fertility policy be formulated?, the should not exhibit double negatives e.g. should Kenya not oppose the ICC? The language should not be slang e.g. how do maparoz view the youth? Lastly, there shouldn’t appear any ambiguous phrases i.e. the money laundering policy should not be legal at all(Zikmund 2010). Research questions should be rewarded in a way that they don’t directly lead the respondent to a defined answer.
They should give the respondent a clear way to respond very independently. To avoid these controversies the questions should be formed in such away that they start from the least sensitive to those that are most sensitive. They should also emanate from questions that are quite general but geared towards being more specific. The research questions are geared towards finding out about the reality hence there is need to formulate questions which tends to find out about facts to those which tend to seek opinions.
Moreover, the questions are again rewarded by placing them in the best sequence and alignment possible. Neutrality in the research questions is a virtue that has to be upheld in the research questions. This allows for independent thinking of the respondents (Zikmund 2010).
Rating vs. ranking comparison Words like rating and ranking are commonly used words; they are normally subject to confusion of the same meaning a notion which is never true. The areas of application of the two tools can be to conduct the evaluation on employees or assessing on the satisfaction of the consumers.
The difference now comes in a situation where ranking does the evaluation using a numbering scale. They compare one question to the other directly and in different ways to arrive at the conclusion. It is mostly used by those involved in the collection of data to analyze and tabulate results.
Rating on the other hand uses a comparison mode where they collect items and compares them using a common scale(Zikmund 2003). The scale to be used is graduated and the judgments are exact. Ranking is the best at measuring customer satisfaction due to the following reasons: – they are consistent in their modes of tabulation of the responses that they are striving to seek.
Consistency is an aspect that is brought about by the fact that there are set standards of comparison and therefore fairness in operations are achieved; ranking is highly objective in its efforts to measure consumer satisfaction. This is brought about by the mere fact that the scales are graduated in numbers and therefore the results are highly objective (Zikmund 2003).
The other advantage that ranking has is that it is highly flexible and allows for the use of a variety of methods to collect information by way of the ranking scales. The methods range from use of telephone surveys, face to face conversations or even through mail. The method of collection highly accepts the personal variations and vast integration of aspects. They use highly simplified means to analyze and do presentations on the aspects of investigation.
The ranking scale is of much importance to organizations since they are future oriented; they do investigation focusing their questions into thefuture. Like what is likely to take place in the future and how is it likely to impact on the organization in such times (Zikmund 2003).
How can a research project be reliable but invalid? Whether a research project is reliable and valid is a subject of a wider discussion. When conducting research it would be of no use if the terms reliability and validity are not mentioned. This is because these are the aspects of research that needs assurance for the outcome of the research to be generally accepted for consumption otherwise the research work would be rejected hence a waste of the constrained resources (Hair 2003).
Reliability is the measure of consistency of measurements so as to avoid the possibility of the respondents being confused. Research has the possibility of being valid without actually being reliable;the resultant effects of these may be the use of wrong tools and the making of wrong assumptions in making conclusions.
This may bring about poor administration whose outcome is wrong interpretation and presentation of inadequate results. Reliability is due to appropriateness and consistency in character and the analysis and information should be handled very comprehensively to attain reliability alongside validity (Hair 2003).
Summary 1- Questionnaires Well constructed questionnaire are a fundamental for obtaining perfect data for analysis to aid good research findings.
A well-constructed questionnaire must possess the following elements without which they may not be in the position of bringing positive outcomes; the questionnaires must be as short as possible, this is because most of the targeted respondents in a research exercise are busy, therefore to obtain comprehensive data for analysis within a short time short questionnaire are appropriate. This is obtained by being exact to what is required and avoiding wordiness.
The respondent should carefully be targeted for a questionnaire to be effective; this is because if a wrong target is approached then they may be discouraged once they can’t respond to the introductory questions. This is a waste of both valuable research time and limited resources. Confidentiality is paramount and the anonymity of the respondents needs to be upheld always. Questionnaires should also not be inducing and mouthwatering to the respondents since this would bring bias (Creswell & Creswell 2009).
Ranking rating and multiple choice attitudes are scales that are used in research for comparison purposes. A ranking scale uses comparison to define order among a variety of properties; it has a characteristic of highly constraining the participants. Rating scale on the other hand conducts the comparison without making a direct relationship among the participants (Creswell & Creswell 2009).
Multiple choice attitudesconduct an assessment on attitudes of the participants on issues such as dispositions which may be positive or negative. Attitude scales for a research project designed in such a way that they give exactness in numerals or a range of values.
The results from such scales are obtained by summing up all the responses realized for the grand statements. The range may be defined by words such as high or low, positive or negative and at other times they range between scales of one to ten. The research respondents are given the opportunity to choose a statement that they support most (Creswell & Creswell 2009).
Summary 2- Research Methods and Values Research methods are the various ways that are employed in conducting research to come up with data. The most common methods are direct observation, interviews, design and data analysis. My opinion recommends surveys for research application in the modern day research exercises.
Surveys are relevant since they can be applied in conducting research by both minimizing resources and providing both quantity and qualitative information. Arranging, summarizing, ordering and manipulation of data is conducted during the data analysis phase of research. This stage involves the application and methods to be used in the analysis and presentation of the required outcome of the data collected.
When the right methods and techniques are employed, such as collecting, categorization and sorting of the data, these done through surveys, questionnaires and observation. There is likelihood that the research outcome can be biased and unjust (Bryman & Bell 2003). Research has great value for the progress and pillar of most modern organizations.
It is due to research that organizations in the contemporary world are able to attain a competitive advantage in the highly competitive market place.Firms who have invested less in research or not invested at all face a variety of challenges such as reduced sales which results in the ultimate reduction in revenue. Research and development in organization is also a way in which the feasibility of a product is determined for consumption in the market place.
The feasibility is looked at through the thorough study of the product life cycle; the cycle is studied alongside the customer requirement assessment so that the customer gets what they want. Through all the above research and the value derived from it is much of a management tool (Bryman & Bell 2003).
References
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2003). Business research methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.
Hair, J. F. (2003). Essentials of business research methods. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Zikmund, W. G. (2003). Business research methods (7th ed.). Mason, OH: Thomson/South-Western.
Zikmund, W. G. (2010). Business research methods (8th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.