Using Questionnaires and Social Work to Address Neglect Faced by Disabled People in Nigeria

Introduction
According to World Health Organizations’ 2011, World Disability reports that about 15% of the
Nigerian populations have a disability. Grass Roots Researchers Association (GRA) produced a
report on examination of the condition, vulnerability and its rights to people with disability in
Nigeria using quantitative data collection method. The study examines the strengths and
weaknesses employed in using questionnaires in research on social work integrated to neglect
faced by people living with disability in Nigeria. (Lampard and Pole, 2015), questionnaires help
simplify and quantify people’s behavior and attitudes in various parts of the society. The internet
and social networking sites have filled the gap of geographical barriers and helped to connect
people across the globe. Questionnaires has made data collection process easy by sending a set
of questions to the respondents via mails or websites and then he or she fills the questions and
sends it back to the interviewer (Powney and Watts, 2018). This method depends on random
sampling, data collection, analysis of data, and representation of data (Alshenqeeti, 2014).The
research focuses on the use structured and unstructured questionnaires on social work integrated
to neglect faced by people with disability in Nigeria. Questionnaire is an effective method for
reducing biases and gaining of information from large population, hence reducing demarcation
between the social hierarchies.
The major challenges experienced when using questionnaires are language barriers, consumes
more time and are more costly hence slowing down the process of data collection. The study is
on social work and neglects faced by people with disability in Nigeria. The research conducted
by Grass Root Researchers association in North East Nigeria through use of questionnaires on
people with disability on the impact and the challenges they faced during the conflict period.
The research states that over 50% of 25 million disabled Nigerians are females and they are the

most affected. It also states that women and girls with disabilities are at a greater risk of suffering
from physical, sexual and economic abuse than those without disabilities. Questionnaires employ
the use of questions as a data collection tool. They can be administered to the respondents
through face to face interview, mail or online (Hunn et al., 2016).
Strengths
The first advantage of using questionnaires in quantitative data collection is that this method
allows respondents to answer the questions at his or her own speed (Alshengeeti, 2014). In
application of questionnaires to research work, researchers tend to give everyone sufficient time
to be able to answer the questions posed to them, while in community setting people with
disability are often excluded from public participation by the public. This leads to demoralization
as a result of cultural beliefs and discrimination against people with disability.
Questionnaires consist of close ended and open ended questions hence limiting destruction of the
respondents. These questions limits the respondents to a particular topic , so as not to upset or
affect those who were disabled as result of violence or those that face discrimination from the
public (Etieyibo and Omiegbe, 2016).
Social work helps in creation of a positive relationship. For example, in Nigeria disabled persons
are always referred to as beggars and are known to leave in the street, so the interviewer and the
interviewee need to be in a good relation for easy communication (Rugoho and Siziba, 2014).
This will help them to get more information from the respondents. For example a case of North
east Nigeria were research was conducted and results were that the physically challenged