Investigation into Effectiveness of Questionnaire as a Method of Scientific Research

J T Oladeji

doi:10.5923/j.edu.20120201.03

Abstract

Questionnaires are often used as methods of scientific research and surveys, especially in education and social sciences. This study, therefore investigated the effectiveness of questionnaires as methods of scientific research and survey using the performance of male and female students in engineering drawing at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso as a case study.Two sets of data were obtained. The first was obtained through cross-sectional structured questionnaires, which were administered to 98 students that are made of 28.57% females and 71.43% males. The statistical methods used for data obtained consisted of descriptive statistics of frequency counts and chi-square tests. The second set are the secondary data in form of the results or scores for the past five years, which were collected from the examination officers of various departments, through the permission of their heads of departments. Cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of the students was used and the data obtained were analysed using means and standard deviations at 95 % confidence level. Data were further subjected to t-test analyses through the employment of Chi-square tests. Based on the questionnaire, the results of the study showed that hypothesis that says, there is no significant difference between the performance of male and female students in engineering drawing was rejected as X<SUB>2</SUB> calculated for the hypothesis was greater than X<SUB>2</SUB> critical at 95% confident level, while for the second data, statistics revealed that, there was no significant difference in the overall performance between the male and female students in engineering drawing. Since the second set of data was the actual performance of the students, the study concluded that, questionnaires as methods of scientific research and survey, sometimes, may not reflect the true position of things and results from such method should not be absolutely relied upon.

Highlights

There are many methods of scientific research and investigations
The results of response from administration of questionnaire are presented in Tables 1 and 2, while Table 3 represented results of extracts of chi-square test on the postulated hypothesis
This study was conducted among the engineering students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (LAUTECH)

Summary

Introduction

There are many methods of scientific research and investigations. There are many definitions of the world “Research”. Opinions seem to differ on the appropriate definition of research as there is no universal or generally accepted definition of the concept[1]. The definition of Research depends on the view and perspective of authors. Different authors define Research in different ways. Nzeribe and Ilogu[2] defined Research as any organized inquiry carried out to provide information for the solution of a problem. Common features of research are listed below:-

Objectives

Results

Conclusion