7 Questionnaires and interviews 7.1 Overview In this chapter I am going to discuss two research techniques which both involve asking questions of other people, namely questionnaires and interviews. These techniques are usually classified as ‘introspective’, since they involve respondents reporting on themselves, their Views, their beliefs, their interactions, and so on. They can also be used to elicit factual data (e.g. we can ask people what qualifications they have, which classes they teach). Also, if we have a big enough sample, responses can be statistically analysed. However, we have to remember that the only data we have is what the respondents choose to tell us. I will be looking at some of the advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires and interviews as well as characteristics they have in common, and how they differ from one another. Finally, I will examine in turn their design and implementation. 7.2 Uses of questionnaires and interviews We use questionnaires and interviews when we want to tap into the knowledge, opinions, ideas and experiences of our learners, fellow teachers, parents or whatever. We do this by asking questions. The answers are usually recorded in some way so that they become available for subsequent reflection and analysis. In questionnaires, the questions are usually set out in a very systematic way, and very often the questionnaire is answered by reading the questions, and then ticking responses, or writing in short answers. Interviews are by definition ofa, 5 often, though, in surveys (especially la ree asked orally are read aloud by the inter viewer from a questionnaire, Interviews that are not of the survey tyP® on the other hand, can b term ee can cover quite a wide range of interaction from Bicneshing like a spoken questionnaire at one end of the scale Something very like a conversation between professionals at the other 1247 Questionnaires and interviews Subject-matter of questionnai 2.3 ee naires and ‘As I have just indicated, not only can questionnaires and interviews take a wide variety of forms, they can also be used to elicit many different kinds of data. For example, you can ask your colleagues or students questions on these topics: Facts/personal perceptions - How many hours a week do your students spend on homework? - How long does it take them to do the tasks you set them compared with the tasks set by other teachers? - Ifa student chose, let us say, English as a foreign language rather than another subject, what led him or her to make that choice? - What are the main reference books (e.g. dictionaries, reference grammars) your colleagues use? - How do colleagues teach or exploit a given chapter in the coursebook that is used in your institute? Do they all teach it in the same way or do they do it differently? Have they any favourite exercises or routines? Experiences/anecdotes - What was a colleague’s most successful teaching experience? Worst experience? Funniest experience? - What was a student’s best/worst learning experience? ~- What lessons has a colleague learnt about good classroom teaching practice after (x) years of experience? Opinions/preferences ~ What is your students’ opinion/evaluation of their language course? ~ What is your colleagues’ opinion of the language teaching syllabus? ~ What do people think are the qualities of a good language teacher/ learner? Who was your favourite teacher and why? Ideas ~ What ideas do your colleagues/students have for making the language Course more stimulating/effective? i ~ What suggestions do colleagues have for successful ‘Friday afternoon’ activities when students are tired and motivation is low? ‘ : ~ What ideas do students have about activities they would like to do in the language class? These questions are not necessarily in the form that you would aor use ~ we will be looking at the possible formats of questions later. They are intended to show that questionnaires and interviews are capable . Benerating a wide range of data, and your choice of format really Pends on what you are interested in finding out. 1257 Questionnaires and interviews It is normal for us as teachers to try to be aware of our students’ feelings, and to try to tap into colleagues’ expertise. The point at issue here is whether there is some aspect of our professional interest which is roublesome to make us want to investigate it sufficiently important or t n ¢ in a more structured way through action research, using questionnaires and interviews. PERSONAL REVIEW 7.1: Topics for Questionnaires and Interviews In the previous section you have been given some examples of questions which you might want to ask colleagues or your students. See if you can think of similar questions. You don’t necessarily have to confine yourself to colleagues and/or students: you may want to extend your choice of informants to, for example, people with a management function, parents, or even ordinary people with no particular role in the language learning process. Try to characterise the response you want to elicit as either: fact/personal perception/experience/anecdote/ opinion/preference/idea. Use this layout. Respondent (i.c. colleague/student, etc.) .... Question ..... Category (i.e. fact/idea, etc.)... See if you can generate five topics in the form of questionnaire/ interview questions. Don’t worry about the format of the question at this stage: just decide on what you would like to know. 7.4 Problematic aspects of usi and interviews P using questionnaires pov we go on to consider how to implement questionnaires and : erviews, it might be useful to consider some of the potential draw- acks or limitations of these techniques. 126