Collecting survey information

Questionnaire is one of the most efficient tools of research which are being used by many companies. The reason of this method choice in the research of leisure activities in the UK and China can be explained through the advantages of questionnaire use. “The questionnaire is a widely used and useful instrument for collecting survey information, providing structured, often numerical data, being able to be administered without the presence of the researcher, and often being comparatively straightforward to analyze. ” (Cohen, Manion, 2000, p. 245). Questionnaire is able to provide answers of many respondents on the hypothesis question.

The analysis of this data will give a relatively adequate vision of the question by the respondents. “The design of surveys must balance many competing goals. Due to the financial burden of recruiting or selecting individuals for studies, many survey questionnaires are formed by pooling questions from existing survey instruments in an attempt to obtain information that can be used for a variety of purposes. ” (Grizzle, 1995, p. 54). For maximum efficiency of survey, different methods ought to be applied: “To ensure an objective evaluation, the group conducting the survey should have expertise in a wide range of disciplines.

Their varied backgrounds will allow them to see potential security vulnerabilities from many different perspectives. ” (Roll, 1994, p. 65). However, there are some disadvantages of questionnaire, which were taken into consideration. First of all, it was necessary to realize that the results could be not accurate due to the sensitive of some questions to the respondents: “The questionnaire will always be an intrusion into the life of the respondent, be it in terms of time taken to complete the questionnaire, the level of threat or sensitivity of the questions, or the possible invasion of privacy.

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” (Cohen, Manion, 2000, p. 245). It has also been noted by authors, including Cohen (2000) and Patzer (1996) that the perception of the interviewer in many ways influences the results obtained: “the heart of the problem of questionnaires- that different respondents interpret the same words differently. The questionnaires both in the UK and China were given on the street, in public, on a randomly selected hundred respondents, equally divided between men and women.

The reason why such a relatively small sample was used was because the standard deviation (or statistical error) of the results based on a random sampling would decrease only marginally with the use of a larger sampling – i. e. , the accuracy of the results would not be enhanced by a large sample size. In addition, the sample size was limited due to considerations of added cost and reduced feasibility of conducting the primary research, and more time could be spent on data analysis. However, there have been differences between the designs of questionnaires in different countries due to the differences in culture.

First, it is necessary to stop on the survey in the UK. The questionnaire consisted of 20 questions each of which was connected with the role of leisure activities in their lives and the level of satisfaction which they were getting from all of the activities which they were engaged in. The questions used in the questionnaire, included the following sample ones: In the questionnaire which is offered in China, some questions were added and some paraphrased because the goal of this questionnaire was to learn all of the possible aspects of Chinese attitude to leisure.

Therefore, in the questions about the list of leisure activities (#4 and #10), the following items were added: festivals, casino, and slot-machines. There should also be included the following questions in the questionnaire for China: This questionnaire is very well-structured and offered interesting questions in order to obtain the best results: “The appearance of the questionnaire is vitally important. It must look easy, attractive and interesting rather than complicated, unclear, forbidding and boring. ” (Cohen, 2000, p. 257).

The rule of questionnaire creation was also applied for maximum efficiency, as the small size of the questionnaire was followed by open-ended questions which allowed respondents give full and more extended answers: “Though there is a large range of types of questionnaire, there is a simple rule of thumb: the larger the size of the sample, the more structured, closed and numerical the questionnaire may have to be, and the smaller the size of the sample, the less structured, more open and word-based the questionnaire may be.

” (Cohen, 2000, p. 251). The advantages of short questionnaires have also been highlighted by other authors. “Pooling questions to make a long questionnaire, although cost-effective, increases the response burden on the individuals sampled and may result in a large no response rate. Several studies show empirical evidence that surveys with long questionnaires tend to have high non-response rates. ” (Grizzle, 1995, p. 54).

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