Methods of social study / by Sidney and Beatrice Webb.

  • Sidney Webb
Date:
1932
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Methods of social study / by Sidney and Beatrice Webb. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    85/284 (page 73)
    will confine himself within the limits of these stale facts and assumptions.1 Under what conditions and with what limitations can a questionnaire be used with advantage? It is not an instrument for use at the beginning of an enquiry. But, assuming that a whole range of occur¬ rences have already been ascertained, and that what is needed is merely an enumeration of their location, either in space or in time, a precisely formulated questionnaire, confined to an enquiry as to where, when, and to what extent these facts prevail, and circulated broadcast among all concerned, may be the only practicable way of completing the in¬ vestigation. Even in this case it is essential to have in view the probability of a sufficient proportion of accurate answers being forthcoming. For these reasons it is nearly always indispensable to limit the questions to those that can be answered by plain statements of such universally recognised facts as dates, numbers, ages, places, etc. The simplest and most obviously useful instance of a questionnaire, and also the one most extensive in its range, is the population census; and it is instructive to notice the limitations which have been found, by a century of experience, to be the conditions of its success. The date and place of birth or death, together with the age, sex, and marital condition of each person, 1 This pitfall will not be entirely avoided by adding a general ques¬ tion to the specific ones. An enquiry as to which of two or three specified ways is taken will not be rendered harmless by merely adding a further question such as “What other ways, if any, are in use?” The very speci¬ fication of particular ways fastens these upon the mind of the answerer.