
The employment of online questionnaires within user studies research in school libraries.
Author(s) -
Andrew K. Shenton,
Andrew Johnson
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
library and information research/library and information research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2752-7336
pISSN - 1756-1086
DOI - 10.29173/lirg280
Subject(s) - hyperlink , handwriting , trustworthiness , quality (philosophy) , computer science , medical education , world wide web , psychology , mathematics education , internet privacy , web page , medicine , philosophy , epistemology , artificial intelligence
This paper considers the effectiveness of a research
method based on online questionnaires and employed
in a recent study of attitudes to books and school
libraries among pupils in an English high school. The
questionnaire was constructed in Microsoft SharePoint.
ln an e-mail, the youngsters were asked to complete
the questionnaire and were taken to it via a hyperlink.
The research strategy ensured that, in theory at least, a
wide range of pupils was reached. lt exploited their
familiarity with electronic surveys and eliminated the
problem of illegible handwriting often associated with
paper questionnaires. Nevertheless, the response rate
was poor and the quality of the data questionable
despite several provisions for ensuring trustworthiness.
The SharePoint system employed supported
quantitative data analysis to a much greater extent
than it did qualitative. The paper concludes by
identifying other forms of electronic questionnaire that
may be employed in schools that lack SharePoint
software.