10 - Questionnaires to Elicit Qualitative Data

Summary

Following on from the previous chapter on questionnaire-based elicitation of quantitative data, this chapter outlines how open-ended questionnaire items can be used to elicit qualitative language attitudes data. These items invite the respondent to freely answer a question with a few words, sentences, or a paragraph of free writing, thereby eliciting idiosyncratic responses. Open-ended items provide complex and potentially unexpected information on the different attitude components and can thus play a complementary role to closed-ended items in the evaluation of attitudes. The chapter guides the reader through a wide range of ways to use open-ended items and discusses their strengths as well as weaknesses. Building on the preceding chapter, key issues of study design are added, including the choice of open-ended question types and factors that inform decisions of participant sampling. The chapter instructs the reader how to pilot a questionnaire and how to conduct (inductive or deductive) qualitative content analysis. Finally, it addresses ethical concerns of privacy and confidentiality. A case study on attitudes towards different varieties of English in Fiji serves as illustration of the main points made in the chapter.