Ankieta i jej rodzaje na tle podziału technik otrzymywania materiałów

Abstract

The first part of the paper presents an attempt at a classification of data collecting techniques in social research. The basic dichotomy introduces a distinction between techniques involving communication of a researcher (or his authorized agent) with respondents whose responses contain the data sought for, and those involving mere observation. Another dichotomy has been made within the techniques based upon reciprocal communication, as it can be either direct or indirect. The third distinction, cross-cutting the other two, is that between standardized and non-standardized techniques. In the standardized ones both the kinds of data and the ways of securing them are strictly defined in schedules of various types, e. g., in questionnaire forms. The proposed distinctions result from an analysis of the process of reciprocal communication and of the concept of standardization. The classification based on them may be presented in the following table: Techniques based on observation Techniques based on reciprocal communication direct indirect Non-standardized techniques Uncontrolled observation techniques Free interview techniques Methods of securing non-standardized written materials (such as personal documents delivered by contests participants etc.) Standardized techniques Controlled observation techniques Interview with a questionnaire Questionnaires filled in by respondents

The proposed classification does not cover other possible lines of division, as e.g. between projective and non-projective techniques. Besides, a category of mixed techniques must be admitted, too, such as techniques of focused interview and of participant observation, involving in general both observation proper and conversations. Comparisons are made in the paper with other classifications, e. g., by G. Lundberg, K. Dobrowolski, and others. In the second part of the paper the notion of questionnaire filled in by respondents and its place among other data collecting techniques is discussed. Subsequently there is presented an analysis of the several kinds of questionnaires, as an researcher’s message may be either submitted in writing or not, and as the process of responding may either be controlled by a researcher (questionnaires filled in under supervision), or not (as is the case with self-administered or mail questionnaires). Both methodological and technical import of those distinctions leading to the fourfold classification has been set forth. In the concluding remarks it is emphasized that rules of conduct entailed by data collecting techniques in social research are in general not based on any theories of the processes that are essential for them. It is particularly clear in case of the process of reciprocal communication. Theoretical inquiry into its varieties carried on by different branches of science should constitute the starting point for formulating the rules of research conduct as characteristic for the various techniques of data collecting.