Questionnaire Method

QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD, one of the methods for studying social masses. Where comprehensive investigation of all objects of a social mass is impractical or unnecessary, and the monographic method of studying individual objects is insufficient, the Q. m. is applied, which approaches the illumination of the structure or function of a social mass by studying a portion of that mass. According to modern scientific understanding, Q. research, while focusing on a particular social group, engages in detailed (according to the objectives of the research) qualitative description of the members of that group. This descriptive part of the questionnaire is constructed based on objective characteristics and, where possible, on numerical data, the composition of which is determined by the subject and objectives of the research. In this way, material is collected for an objective representation of the condition of the group being studied. Further, along with such material, typical Q. research also collects data of another order, namely: opinions, reviews, and conclusions of a certain circle of persons regarding the same phenomena or conditions of the mass being studied. And this material of subjective origin is also utilized by the researcher conducting the questionnaire, in order to formulate, so to speak, a general opinion and conclusion, or the opinion of the majority and minority of the respondents regarding the subject being investigated. This dual structure of Q. research can be explained by the following examples. The program for sanitary investigation of factory-plant adolescents in the RSFSR, applied in 1923-25, contained a number of points (concerning the environment, living conditions, physical condition of adolescents) that were illuminated by objective and partly numerical answers; the point on food supply contained the question: "Is the nutrition sufficient or insufficient?" This point was filled out according to the statements of the adolescents; in this way, the investigation determined, in addition to other data, the public opinion of adolescents regarding their nutrition in terms of its sufficiency or insufficiency. Then, in the conclusion of the questionnaire, the physician's opinion was presented regarding measures for improving the condition of the adolescent. The summary for this point formulated the needs of adolescents according to the physician's view. - Investigation of labor usually contains questions about working hours, wages, etc., receiving descriptive and numerical answers; alongside these are placed questions such as: "Do you consider your position satisfactory?", "What are your prospects for the future?", etc., which are sufficiently important for illuminating the question, but have a subjective character and do not permit exact-

of verification. The presence of this personal subjective element is precisely what constitutes the characteristic feature of the Q. M., distinguishing it from all other types of social research. Thus, Q. research leads to an understanding of the condition of social groups and masses, subjecting them to detailed factual description, while at the same time gathering opinions from competent persons and drawing general conclusions about their condition based on these opinions (G. Maier).-To a certain extent, the Q. M. approaches sampling research, which also deals, like the questionnaire, with partial, non-comprehensive observation. However, the material from sampling research is exclusively objective in nature; it is selected from a complete statistical mass in a specific part of it and according to a pre-established plan; its conclusions represent a definite approximation to the conclusions of comprehensive statistical research. The questionnaire does not provide this, and its significance is different; it does not belong to the strict, exhaustive statistical method that gives an exact objective accounting of phenomena; it is merely an 'approximation to statistics,' a 'surrogate for statistics,' insofar as phenomena are investigated by number, measure, and mass. For the firm establishment of laws of social life or for broad scientific generalizations, Q. material cannot serve without verifying conclusions by more precise (statistical) methods. For practical purposes of state and social life, the Q. M. of social observation has extremely wide application and dissemination. The state resorts to it mostly for practical tasks of its domestic policy. Well-known examples are numerous government questionnaires abroad and in our country, used in the preparation and development of legislative bills, to illuminate the existing situation in various areas of state and social life, and to gauge the opinion of competent circles of the population regarding these projects (on the condition of labor and wages, on the fight against alcoholism, on banking and stock exchange affairs, etc.). Furthermore, various organizations, for example, professional ones, very frequently use Q. surveys of their members to illuminate in various directions their life, living conditions, and labor, to clarify their needs and requirements (sanitary conditions, condition of labor and earnings, budgets, housing question, nutrition, etc.). In all these cases, the two-sided character of the Q. M., which collects both objective information and indications of public opinion, receives especially useful and positive significance in the interests of the investigation being undertaken. Finally, the same method is used by scientific orientation in the study of social phenomena (for example, an investigative orientation regarding the consequences of prohibiting or permitting the sale of alcoholic beverages). The usual way of conducting questionnaire research in practice is the mailing or distribution of printed or written 'questionnaires' to designated registrars or researchers, through whom the collection of information is to be carried out. The written material collected through these persons is subject to tabulation and analytical processing according to a specific program in institutions or through persons with sufficient statistical competence. In addition to this written or correspondence method, the collection of Q. material can also be carried out by means of 'oral proceedings,' with questioning of experts or knowledgeable persons. Usually, Q. investigations are single, episodic; however, they can be repeated periodically and take on the character of a kind of current periodic observation (example: questionnaire on the sanitary condition of factory-plant adolescents in the RSFSR for 1923-25). In psychology, the Q. M. is used to clarify those psychological questions whose resolution is inaccessible to precise methods of observation and experiment and requires mass material. With the help of the Q. M., such problems as the circle of interests and representations, properties necessary for this or that professional activity, etc., have been clarified. Questionnaire (from French enquete - investigation, inquiry), a form on the basis of which corresponding research of social masses is conducted. After the tasks have been clearly defined, the circle of research objects has been determined, and the composition of persons who will be involved in collecting objective descriptive material and in giving opinions or conclusions has been established, work begins on compiling the executive program, i.e., the questionnaire form itself. The latter is expressed in the form of a sequential series of question items arranged in a system that exhausts the research program, starting with information of a more general nature and gradually proceeding to particulars in an order that provides convenience for the collection of information. In this case, the following rules can be recommended: 1) the composition of the questionnaire questions should be reasonably complete in terms of illuminating the task set, however, without any clutter with excessively burdensome and secondary details; the briefest and at the same time most expressive program is preferable, which guides the work of the registrar to the goal by the most direct and simple path; 2) the question items are carefully edited in a clear, precise form that does not cause doubts and misunderstandings, with indication, where necessary, of units of measurement; 3) a necessary part of each questionnaire is a brief explanatory instruction familiarizing the executors with the tasks of the survey research, with the methods of the determinations to be made, with the conventionalities of terminology, groupings, etc. Sample questionnaire for investigating the living conditions of a worker. I. General information: 1) Last name, first name, patronymic of the person being surveyed. 2) Age. 3) Address. 4) How long has the person lived in this apartment. 5) Illiterate, literate, education: secondary, higher (underlined). 6) Occupation (profession), shop, department. 7) Average number of hours worked in production per day. Side occupation (what). Day shift, night shift (underlined). 8) Composition of family members living together with the person being surveyed. 9) Total family income per month.-II. Housing: 1) Dormitory, separate house, apartment, room, part of a room, corner, bunk. 2) Basement, semi-basement, floor. 3) Area occupied by the family. 4) Natural lighting: present, absent, satisfactory, unsatisfactory, poor. 5) Heating: central, portable iron stove, brick stove (Russian, Dutch). Usual temperature in the room in winter: moderate, high, low. 6) Ventilation: room is not ventilated, ventilated regularly, irregularly. 7) Dampness: present, absent. 8) What else is the housing used for (is there a workshop, what kind). 9) Laundry is done in the living room: yes, no. 10) Food is prepared in the living room: yes, no.II) Toilet (toilet): in the yard, in the apartment, warm, cold.- III. Nutrition: 1) Eats at home, in a cafeteria. 2) Predominant food: plant-based, meat-based. 3) How many times a day meals are taken. 4) Is hot food available daily: yes, no. 5) Nutrition: satisfactory, unsatisfactory, poor. - IV. Personal hygiene: 1) Goes to the bathhouse: yes, no; how many times a month. 2) Cleanliness of body (regular washing of hands, face): satisfactory, unsatisfactory, poor. 3) Brushes teeth: yes, no, irregularly. 4) Clothing is changed upon returning from work: yes, no. 5) Engages in physical culture: yes, no, irregularly. 6) How many hours a day on average sleeps.-V. Household labor: number of hours spent on average on housework, on additional side occupation.-VI. Cultural life: number of hours spent on average daily on public work (party, club, professional), on education and self-education (courses, rabfak, lectures, etc.).-VII. 1) Did the person consume alcoholic beverages during the last year-a) what: wine, beer, vodka, moonshine, other beverages, b) how many times consumed, c) under what circumstances. How much was spent on alcohol in the last month. 2) Does not use other narcotics (tobacco, morphine, cocaine, etc.).