Questionnaire, Piloting and Administration

This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of convenient sampling technique in survey research on Full Service and Low Cost Airlines. It also provides insights on how to design a questionnaire and administer it effectively. The article highlights the importance of selecting participants randomly to reduce sampling error and biasness. It also emphasizes the need for closed-ended questions and distinct language in the questionnaire.

Running Head: QUESTIONNAIRE, PILOTING AND ADMINISTRATION
Questionnaire, Piloting and Administration
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1QUESTIONNAIRE, PILOTING AND ADMINISTRATION
The main aim of this study is to perform a survey research on Full service and low cost
airlines. Each of the students were divided in to a group of two and asked to design a sample
questionnaire and conduct a study on their own. The subjects of the study can be members of our
family, friends or even work colleagues. We were asked to design a survey questionnaire and
conduct this pilot survey. The survey was to be conducted on 10 subjects. All the subjects had to
be more than 18 years old. The chosen respondents must have travelled with FSC, LCC or both
in the last year. The survey could be conducted on the phone or face to face or online. The
respondents had to sign a declaration that all the information recorded by them are true. This was
the fieldwork that was to be done for this assignment. Based on the results of this survey, the unit
coordinator will develop a final questionnaire and collect data to run he analysis.
The respondents that I chose were according to my convenience. Thus the sampling
technique that has been used here is known as a convenience sampling technique. I used this
sampling technique for the study because the pilot survey was to be conducted on only 10
respondents. It would have been very laborious to find out randomly 10 respondents from the
population sea of the country who have travelled with FCC, LCC or both within the last twelve
months. Thus, it was easier for me to select 10 respondents from the people I know who meet the
criteria. There are certain advantages and disadvantages that I faced during the process of
conducting the survey.
The advantages of using convenient sampling are discussed below:
 Ease of Availability: As I have discussed already, the study requires data from only 10
respondents. It would be very laborious to select 10 people randomly from the total
population of the country. Thus, it is better to select the people I know about and already

2QUESTIONNAIRE, PILOTING AND ADMINISTRATION
have prior information of whether they meet the criteria I require. Thus, the data that was
collected from the people I know was done because of my convenience and hence this is
one of the major advantages of convenient sampling. Thus the respondents were always
available to e and I did not have to go in search of the respondents and put in extra effort
for that.
 Time Saver: As I did the study by selecting the respondents from the people I know, it
saved me a lot of time. This extra time would have been used to select respondents and
collect data if some other techniques were used. With the saving of this time, the extra
time that has been saved can be used for the purpose of the study.
 Money Saver: Another that advantage of this method of sampling that faced is that the
cost that is involved for conducting a survey is a lot less. The respondents were always in
close vicinity with me. I never had to travel long distances to collect data from some
suitable respondent. The respondents chosen are all part of my daily routine.
 Can be used for pilot study: A pilot study is a prior study of the facts that has to be
analyzed in detail based on the results obtained from the pilot study. Thus, I felt it is not
that worthy to put a lot of effort for selecting the respondents randomly or spend a lot of
money for this pilot survey. Moreover, the time that can be saved from this can be used to
develop the final questionnaire based on this study. Thus, considering all the factors
discussed above, I felt that this is the best technique that can be used to conduct a pilot
survey for an original study.
There are certain disadvantages also for this sampling method. The disadvantages that I
felt about this method while conducting the pilot survey is discussed as follows:

3QUESTIONNAIRE, PILOTING AND ADMINISTRATION
 Biasness Error: There is a possibility that the data collected for this method is
completely biased. This is mainly because the data is collected from only the people I
know. But there are so many people that I do not know. And the people I know,
especially my friends and family members might have the same type of opinions on
several factors which might not actually be the case for the entire population. Thus, the
problem of biasness arises.
 Sampling Error: There is a high possibility of making sampling errors if this process of
sampling was used to conduct a survey. The respondents selected are already biased.
Thus, any responses given by them will be biases. Hence arises the problem of sampling
errors.
 Error in Generalization of the Results: Thus, due to the presence of biasness and a
large proportion of sampling errors, any result that we have obtained from this analysis
cannot be generalized. Generalization of the obtained results might give a distorted result
which might be a lot different from the original decision. Thus, this is one major
disadvantage of this convenient sampling method.
The survey data was collected by producing the questionnaire to 10 respondents and
getting answers from them. During the time the respondents were filling up the questionnaire,
there was no confusion between the respondents. We made the questionnaire in as much simple
language as possible so that the questions were easily understandable by the respondents. While
answering the questionnaire, there was no look of confusion in the respondents and they
answered the questions quite comfortable and without asking much questions to me. Thus, there
was no problem within the respondents in understanding the meaning of the questions. All the
questions were answered by the respondents and there was no missing data in the questionnaire.

4QUESTIONNAIRE, PILOTING AND ADMINISTRATION
None of the respondents skipped any question while answering. The respondents did not even
take much time to answer the questions. They took on an average 30 minutes to complete the
work. The total survey on these 10 respondents was conducted in 2 days. Thus, I can say that
process that I used to administer the pilot survey was more or less a success.
The administration procedure used here, that is the questionnaire, could be made in a
much simpler manner. There are too many questions asking about the experience of the flight in
various different ways. This can be avoided and one simple question can be made in that place.
For example, “enjoyed this flight experience”, “having exciting experience” kind of portray the
same meaning. This type of ambiguous questions must be avoided. Similarly, “Once in a lifetime
experience” and “unique experience” also portray a similar meaning. There are some vital
questions included in the questionnaires which are open questions and not closed end questions.
If vital facts such as peoples’ perceptions towards ‘Full Service Airlines’ or ‘Low Cost Airlines’
should be restricted to some options. Otherwise analysis done on the basis of these factors will
be a great problem as there can be innumerable responses to the questions and it is also quite
likely that all the participants will have a uniquely different answer. Hence, the factor cannot be
analyzed.
The questionnaire should thus be revised at the distinct places that have been highlighted
in the above discussions. The questions should be distinct and clear to understand. The language
used should also be simple so that it is easily understandable by everyone.
From this reflection, I understood that the best and most convenient method to gather
data for the purpose of a study is with the help of a questionnaire. The selection of participants to
answer the questionnaire is very vital. Participants can be selected randomly for the study as this

5QUESTIONNAIRE, PILOTING AND ADMINISTRATION
will reduce the sampling error and there will be no bias in selection of the sample. Thus the study
will be proper. In this pilot study, I collected data with the convenience sampling technique. This
technique might have reduced my time and cost of collection of data, but the data that has been
collected is full of biasness and sampling errors. Thus, this type of sample is not a proper
representation of the total population. Hence, any results that will be obtained from this research
will not be able to represent the population properly. That is why this method can be used for the
purpose of pilot survey but this type of sampling technique is not at all a good idea to implement
in the research study. Moreover, I also understood that the questionnaire that will be made for the
purpose of data collection has to be made in a simple language so that it can be easily understood
by everyone. The questions involved in a questionnaire should be closed ended and the
respondents must not be given the chance to give their opinions in some vital factors without any
option. This will make the analysis work much more laborious. The questions in the
questionnaire must be distinct and not overlapping. Overlapping questions will only create
confusion within the respondents.