QUANTITATIVE & QUALITATIVE INSTRUMENTATION

8/12/2019 QUANTITATIVE & QUALITATIVE INSTRUMENTATION

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Types of Observation

According to Nworgu (19 91) , there are two major types of observation: Participant

observation and Non-participant observation. In participant observation, the observer is a

member of the setting in which observation is taking place. In the non-participant observation,

the observer is not a member of the setting in which the observation is taking place. He observes

the behavior of others and he is not involved in the behavior being observed.

Advantages

1. It helps to watch and describe behavior the way it occurs in

the natural setting.

2. First-hand information are obtained.

3. It helps to obtain information on situation-based behavior. Such

information cannot be obtained through any other procedure.

Disadvantages

1. Observation cannot be used for behaviors that cannot be seen.

2. Information collected through observation may have problem

of meaningful organization.

3. It is time consuming and may be costly if large size of sample is

involved.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire is the most frequently used instrument in educational research. It is

particularly advantageous whenever the sample is large enough to make it uneconomical to

interview every subject. Questionnaire could be used to obtain information on a number of issues.

It could be used to provide information for assessing certain situations like the extent of

availability of resources for teaching Social Studies in the Nigerian Senior Secondary

Schools. Questionnaires can be used to obtain data on the feelings and perceptions of

secondary school teachers to boarding system.

Questionnaire usually contains either open-ended or closed questions. The former

provide options or predetermined alternative responses from which respondents should choose,

while the latter allows the respondents to freely decide on the level of detail and content of

response.

Types of Questionnaire

There are two major types of questionnaires and these are the structured or fixed response

questionnaire and the unstructured or open-ended questionnaireThe Structured or Fixed Response Questionnaire

This type of questionnaire restricts the respondent to some response options. A question

is asked or a statement is made and a number of responses given from where the respondent is

expected to pick anyone that best suits his response e.g.


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Instruction: Tick right (\/) in the box appropriate to your response to the following statements:

1. Qualification

T.C.II

N.C.E.

B.Sc./B.A/ B.Ed

M.Sc. /M.A/ M.Ed

Ph. D.

2. Years of Experience as Social Studies teacher:

0 - 1 year

2 - 5 years

6 - 9 years

Above 9 years

3. Area of Specialization:

History

Geography

Government

Social Studies

The structured or fixed response questionnaire limits options but this can be overcome by including

an option of "others (please specify)". This will allow the respondent to freely decide on a response

other than ones provided by the researcher. The fixed response questionnaire is easier and demands

less time to complete.

The Open-ended or Unstructured Questionnaire

This type of questionnaire does not provide any response options for the respondent. The

main business of the researcher is to ask pertinent questions to the problems and the

respondents are free to supply answers in their own words and in any manner they deem fit.

Below are some sample items of open-ended questionnaire:


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1. What is your qualification? __________________

2. For how many years have you been teaching Social Studies -------?

3. What is your area of specialization? _____________________

4. What problems are militating against effective teaching of

Social Studies in Senior Secondary Schools? _______________

In this type of questionnaire, the respondent could provide some information, which the

researcher may not have thought of but which can sharpen the researchers

understanding of the area under study. The shortcomings of the open-ended

questionnaire are that it is difficult to complete and time consuming. There may

also be problem of communication.

Construction of Questionnaire

In constructing a questionnaire, the researcher should:

1. be as specific as possible;

2.Use simple and clear language;.3. be polite

4. Keep questionnaire as short as possible. Avoid asking about

"Everything";

5. Avoid a double barrel question;

6. Question should not be ambiguous. It should be capable of only

one interpretation;

7. Avoid technical questions;

8. Avoid Leading questions i.e. "Do you like Social Studies best"?

This may be asked in a different way e.g. which subject do you

like best;

9. Avoid vague words, which may mean different things;10. Let questionnaire cover the object of the inquiry;

11. Avoid presuming questions; and

12. Keep the number of questions at a minimum. Do not include a question if it has no

significant value to the study. Too many questions will reduce the respondent's

enthusiasm to answer them.

Characteristics of a Good Questionnaire

The following are the characteristics of a good questionnaire:

1. A good questionnaire should he relevant to the purpose of the

research. It should cover the exact objective of the inquiry. It should

be capable of answering the research questions and testing thehypotheses.

2. A good questionnaire should not be ambiguous. It should be of

only one interpretation.

3. A good questionnaire should not be too bulky for the conditions for

its administration and method for scoring and interpreting it

should be fairly simple and easy.


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4. The instructions accompanying the questionnaire as well as the

items should be clear enough to avoid misinterpretation.

5. A good questionnaire should be in a form that the answers should not

be biased.

6. A good questionnaire should be such that responses from it are

easy to quantify. It should be in a way that numerical valuescan be assigned to the responses.

7. A good questionnaire should be easily understood. Technical

terms should be avoided.

8. A good questionnaire should be legible. It should be printed in

big characters with good spacing.

Validation of a Questionnaire:

The validation of a questionnaire uses the same method and procedures as the

validation of any instrument of tests and measurement. Validity refers to whether or not

the questionnaire items or any other test instrument measures what it purports to measure. It is

extremely an important exercise that cannot be looked down upon or skipped in the

development of any instrument.

There are different forms of validating research questionnaire. At the beginning level, it is

necessary for the questionnaire to have face validity. This is to ensure that each question is related

to the topic under investigation. There must be an adequate coverage of the overall topic. The

questionnaire should be given to a panel of experts to validate. The purpose of study as well as

the research questions to be answered and hypotheses to be tested should be included to help the

experts determine which items can actually e l i c i t the needed information. Some space

should be provided for comments from the experts regarding the overall adequacy of the

instrument. The recommendations and comment of the experts should be used in modifyingthe questionnaire and if that is done, it will ensure the face and the content validity of the

instrument or questionnaire.

Reliability of Questionnaire Data

Reliability according to Koul (2001) Rose (2001) is the stability, dependability and

predictability of the tests or of the method being used. The reliability of the questionnaire can be

established using 3 techniques.

1. Test-re-test This is a practical approach to the establishment ofthe r e l i a b i l i t y of the questionnaire. This is done by

administering the test after an interval of time to the samesubjects of the study who will not be part of the selected sample

to be used for the research. Then, the researcher can correlate

the two results. The higher the correlation, the more reliable

the instrument.

2. Split-half Technique: This is a technique whereby the items onthe questionnaire are split into two groups for half and the

researcher correlates the obtained scores. The researcher can


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make it odd numbers versus even numbers e.g. 1. 3. 5, 7, 9, 11

versus 2. 4, 6. 8, 10 etc. Some authors prefer correlating the

scores of first half of the questionnaire with the second half.

However, the odd versus even approach is much more reliable

and it is highly recommended (Awoyemi. 2002).

3. Alternative Form Technique: This is done by giving an equivalent version of the same

items to the subjects and the obtained scores are then correlated.

Pilot Test Questionnaire

Having validated the questionnaire, the researcher is always advised to carry out a

pilot test on a sample of those on whom it would be used in the main study. The sample to be used

should be on much smaller scale of the main study, but under similar condition. The purpose

of pilot testing is to see how the subjects w i l l react to the quest ionna ire, whether the

items ar e cl ear enough and easily understood; whether there is the need to include more items

in certain areas, or whether there are some items which are not popular which they would notlike to respond to. Provision should be made for comments by the respondents used for the pilot

testing. The data from

the pilot testing are analyzed and this will help the researcher to determine whether or not

the method of data analysis proposed for the study are workable.

Advantages of Questionnaire

It is often less expensive than interview or observation

It requires less skill to administer

Simultaneously, it can be administered to a large number of

people

It can obtain information from a larger group of audience.

Respondents do have greater confidence in their secrecy and

anonymity, which the questioner provides.

Disadvantages of Questionnaire

i. The major weakness of questionnaire is the problem of non-return.

ii. It can possibly be misinterpreted if the questions are ambiguous or if some

words used have different meanings.

ii i The respondents may not be willing to provide the information

requested.

iv. It does not provide the researcher with sufficient opportunity

for developing interest or rapport for personal interaction.

Interviews

This is a method mostly sued in social survey. It is a method by which the researcher

personally contacts the members of the sample for questioning. A great deal of skill in

communication is necessary in using this kind of techniques. Interview is very similar in nature

and purpose as the questionnaire, except for certain relative advantages, the two techniques are

interchangeable. As a research instrument, the interview is a conversation carried out with


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the definite aim of obtaining certain information. It is designed to gather valid and

reliable information through the responses of the interviewee to planned sequence of

questions.

Types of Interview

There are two types of interview, namely: structured are unstructured interview.Structured Interview is used to derive more precise generalization the research stages. In the

structured interview, the interviewer operates using an interview schedule which is essentially

an abbreviate quest ionnaire. The structured interview requires a thorough knowledge

of the problem.

Unstructured Interview. This consists of various assortment interview that are developed

in such a way that neither the exact question the interviewer asks nor the responses of the

subjects are predetermined.

They are often used for a more intensive study of perception, attitude and motion. It is

more flexible than open questionnaire. It is better suited to getting varied responses and it is

more capable of following through the tangential ideas.

According to Osua (2001) the task of the interviewers are:1 to locate or select his sample members

2. to obtain interviews with them

3. to ask the questions, and

4. to record answers as instructed.

Guidelines for Conducting a Good Interview

1 There should be a good rapport between the interviewer and the interviewee. This can be

done by using the first few minutes for a short conversation, which will enable the interviewee to

feel related and free. The cooperation of the interviewer can only be assured if there is a good

rapport between him and the interviewee.

2. The interviewer should avoid technical jargons.

3. To avoid wrong interpretation of responses, some content has to be provided to each

question. For example, if the interviewer had asked the interviewee what he felt about the

lecturer, he should ask a question like this "What do you feel about your lecturer in

terms of histeaching and competence?

4. It is advisable to ask probing quest ions for more detailed response.

5. Leading questions should be-avoided like: Don't you think that nomadic education

should be free in Nigeria?. The question can be better framed as:

What is your view on the idea that nomadic education should be free in Nigeria?

Advantages of Interview1 It is better used where the literacy level of the respondents is low.

2. It can almost be used for all segments of the population

3. It usually yields a much more better sample of the population

(Adebayo and Nwosu, 1996).

4: It is flexible and this makes it a very useful, powerful and dependable technique for

data collection.

It is the most appropriate method for revealing information about emotional laden issues.


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5. It promotes frank discussions on controversial issues and allows for the collection of in-

depth information from the respondents to any issues.

Disadvantages of Interview

1 It is time consuming: Obtaining information from one person alone could take as much

as an hour, so, to obtain information from a large number of respondents will consume a lot of time.2. The velocity of verbal responses collected in an interview may

be doubtful. One cannot be sure whether what the interviewee

says is correct or not.

3. It demands a lot of skill by the interviewer.

4. Intra and interviewer variables may affect the result of the interview e.g. the mood of the

interviewer may vary from time to time due to fatigue, hunger or some other pressures and

this can affect what he records.

5. Variables across different situations can affect the responses obtained. Measuring Scales

There are three major scales for the measurement of social and psychological variables.

These are:

1. The summated rating scale or the Likert-type scale.

2. The equal-appealing interval scale or the Thunshane scale.

3. The calculative scale or Guttman scale.

The Summative

This is the most widely used scale in which the respondent is asked to rate himself by checking

the point at which he would fall in a scale running from one extreme of the attitude in question to the

other. In this type of scale, according to Nwosu (2001) a list of statement about what is being

measured are generated. The researcher will also provide a set of graduated response options intowhich an individual is expected to indicate his degree of agreement or disagreement with

the statement. These response options are weighted by assigning numerical values and by summing

up an individual response to all statements, a total score is obtained which will determine that

person's standing on the variable or attitude being measured. This is why the scale is called

summated rating scale. For example, in a study to determine the attitude of students towards Social

Studies, the researcher can prepare Likert-type items as follows:

I like studying Social Studies

SA A U D SD

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SA = Strongly Agree

A = Agree

U = Undecided

D = Disagree

SD = Strongly Disagree

A higher value indicates a more positive response than a lower

value. A person who agrees with the above statement for instance has

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3. Distinguish between structured and unstructured questionnaires.

4. Explain the steps you would take to ensure the construction of a good questionnaire.

5. Describe the procedure involved in the validation and pilot testing of questionnaire.

6. State the advantages of using interview as a data collection technique.

REFERENCES

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Shebiolimo Press

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Adeniyi,A.A(1985): O level Statistics. Onibonoje Press Nigeria Ltd.

Araoye. M.O.(2003):Research Methodology with Statistics for health and social sciences.

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Academic Press: Nsukka. Nigeria.

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Daramola. S.O. (1995): Research Methodology in education An Interdisciplinary

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Fajemidagba. M.O. ( 1995): Research Methodology in Education: An

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Herbert M. (l995). Planning a Research: A Guide for Practitioners and 'trainees in the

helping professional. L o n d o n: C h a s se 11 educational Limited.

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QUANTITATIVE & QUALITATIVE INSTRUMENTATION