Electronic questionnaires (questionnaires that are
administered over the internet) are one of the best tools for social science reserachers
today. They have many strengths and only a very few
weaknesses.
The first potential weakness is the difficulty
of getting a random sample. Internet access (especially broadband) is still not a
universal thing. There are certain demographic groups who are less likely to have
internet access. Therefore, it may be difficult to get a good, random sampling using an
electronic questionnaire (because people from those groups with lower internet access
will be underrepresented in the sample).
Second, electronic
questionnaires (like paper surveys) do not allow for in-depth questions and answers as
well as personal interviews do. Electronic questionnaires are much better suited to
questions that can be answered "yes" or "no" or on a scale of 1 to 5. They are not
suited for research in which the researcher wants to be able to interact with the
respondent and probe his or her attitudes more
deeply.
Overall, though, these weaknesses are not generally
a big problem. Social science researchers make extensive use of such questionnaires
today.
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