The questionnaire is a very interesting method for academic research. Indeed, it is one of the most widely used tools for collecting data from various audiences. It comes in various forms and is designed to obtain accurate information on a subject. Here, we will see what are the various types of questionnaires for academic research.
Close Ended Questionnaire
This first type of questionnaire is built in the form of multiple-choice questions. Here, the answer options are therefore predefined, which tends to facilitate quantitative analysis. In this form, the questionnaire is an excellent tool for collecting accurate data for already prepared responses.
These questions generally take several forms, whether it is that of Likert scales ranging from 1 to 5 to convey the feeling felt, boxes to check and the choice of a simple answer, or an answer to a question with "yes" or "no". Finally, we can admit that this type of closed questionnaire is a precious time saver and clarity, since by proposing multiple choices, the people questioned can easily and quickly ask questions. However, it also seems important to mention the possible disadvantages of this method: in fact, the closed questionnaire, by its often brief answers, does not really give people the opportunity to express themselves on their opinions and ideas, which directly leads to a limitation of the answers collected.
Then, one last small detail to be raised is that this type of questionnaire will tend to highlight answers that come from the researcher and that can sometimes be subjective, the formulation of the answers but also the questions can then bias the opinion of the people, and directly the data collected.
Open Ended Questionnaire
This type of questionnaire is the opposite of the first. Indeed, it is a question of offering the research participants free answers, not imposed or predefined. In this case, the respondents can answer as they wish, whether quantitatively or qualitatively. Since the questionnaire is open-ended, the responses can be open-ended. The advantage of this method is that it allows very different opinions to be heard and allows the people questioned to express themselves freely on a subject. Unlike the closed questions seen above, these can leave a wider range of answers.
Generally, this type of questionnaire will focus on questions starting with "What?", "How?", or "Why?", the objective being to open the subject to discussion and encourage people to develop their answer.
The Mixed Questionnaire
Here it is a mix between the first and second ways of interviewing people. This questionnaire, which makes it possible to collect particularly varied and complete data, provides many advantages due to the form of the questions asked, which can be open or closed. Indeed, this method of data collection offers a richness, as mixed questions make it possible to obtain complete and more nuanced answers, and open-ended questions can enrich closed-ended questions. In addition, flexibility is also to be noted in the advantages of this type of questionnaire. It allows you to see and understand different aspects of a subject. This aspect can sometimes lead to the discovery of new themes or new questions and ideas that may be interesting in the context of academic research.
However, while this method offers many advantages, there are also some disadvantages to using this questionnaire. Indeed, this type of questionnaire tends to lead to complex analyses because the answers collected may be too large and varied. This variability in responses can complicate the interpretation of the results. Faced with this, we understand that it is important to establish a research context and topics to avoid this type of inconvenience.
Evaluation Questionnaire
This is a questionnaire that aims to evaluate different media. This may include the evaluation of programs, services or interventions. This type of questionnaire is perfect for measuring the effectiveness and satisfaction of people who participate in and contribute to academic research. The objective is to be able to identify the positive and negative points of a service, a project, a product or an idea.
Different types of questions can be used to succeed in this type of questionnaire: first of all, questions on satisfaction are to be introduced, with of course answer options ranging from "very satisfied" to "very dissatisfied". Then, questions about effectiveness can be asked, the objective being to understand whether the research object has met the expectations of the person questioned. Finally, open-ended questions to gather suggestions or comments useful for research may be provided.
Finally, regarding the form of this type of questionnaire, we can see that it can be distributed in different forms, ranging from paper to interview. Online questionnaires are also often used.
Survey Questionnaire
This type of questionnaire is very common in the practice of academic research. Indeed, they provide information on the trends, opinions, or behaviors of a group of people studied. Widely used in various fields such as social studies, it allows you to evaluate satisfaction. This type of questionnaire can then itself have different types of questions. Indeed, both open and closed questions can come into play in this process. Open-ended questions initially make it possible to offer free answers to respondents, while closed-ended questions are used to give a limited choice of answers in order to facilitate the analysis of the data collected. Simple answers will therefore accompany this questionnaire, as simple as "yes" or "no". By definition, this questionnaire, which aims to take the form of a survey, will therefore be established on a sample chosen beforehand, and which will be crucial in academic research.
Indeed, the sample chosen for this questionnaire must represent the type of population of interest in order to have significant results that will be used for research.
So, we can see that there are many types of questionnaires that allow us to set up real tools par excellence for academic research. Indeed, through these 5 types of questionnaires that we have seen, we can see that researchers have a multitude of choices of methodology to succeed in collecting data.
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