The question of
questionnaires
Duncan Grant
Off Campus Division
d.grant@bolton.ac.uk
Ways to answer the question:
1. Ask a sample of customers
what they do (or would do)
when interest rates change
Preliminary study
•
Is there a problem?
•
Does it matter?
•
Why has it happened?
Is there a problem?
•
Around 90% of MBA students use questionnaire as the main (often
the only) data gathering tool. (Kangis & Carman, 2004)
•
Review of all 2015 dissertations from UoB’s Zambian partner
•
32 submitted
How would you rate your current strategies to reduce costs in your department?
Do you have any procurement policy in
your organization? How long have you worked for the company?
Types of question / data
How much do you agree with the statement that the innovative use oftransportation can be used to improve performance?
Do you have any procurement policy in
Example questionnaire issues
Q: Do you agree that inventory records in the organization are not accurate and reliable
A: Y 55%, N 30% Not sure 15%
"confirmation by the majority of the respondents that inventory records were inaccurate and unreliable"
Q: Does structure affect department performance?
A: “Seventy-six percent of the
respondents indicated that the current structure has an effect on performance… From the findings above it is evident that structure plays a critical role in the
performance of department/directorate”
Does it matter?
•
Nearly half the sample generated poor / misleading information from
surveys
Impact of outsourcing
•
Model answer:
•
What were the aims and expected outcomes of outsourcing?
•
How was the process managed and the results measured?
•
What were the actual outcomes?
•
Were the aims achieved?
•
Assessment based on:
Impact of outsourcing
•
Scope
•
Results
Objective Coverage Reasons 2 Control 2 Outcome 5Achievement v aims 0
Objective Coverage
Reasons 1
Control 2
Outcome 5 partially
Achievement v aims 1 partially
Five Published papers
Based on
Hard data – 3
Surveys – 2
Why is there a problem?
Secondary data not taught
“A main disadvantage is that because the data is already collected, the researcher
has no say in shaping the types of variables included or the specific sample
used”
“Based on this information, Sun concludes that there is little insight that can be gained from analysing the data as
it is very unlikely to provide an accurate and representative evaluation of the managers. She does not analyse the
Research
What we think they do What they actually do
Find a problem at work
Decide what the cause is
Knock up some objectives to confirm that is the cause
Summarise a few articles about the subject
Summarise research philosophy slides and/or the relevant chapters from Collis &
Hussey or Saunders
Decide to do a questionnaire
Apply the questionnaire and do descriptive “analysis” of results
Make recommendations that could have been written before the research started
What can we do about it?
•
Continue existing research
•
Extend research to talk to academics, students & employers
•
Investigate barriers
Thank you for listening – do you
have any feedback, comments or
questions?
