Informalidad y género en Centroamérica

The process for designing the questionnaire that will be used in this research is adopted from Sekena and Bougie, (2013 p 149); and modified by the researcher to reflect critical interpretive perspective. According to (Oates 2006, p.298; Pozzebon, 2004 p 283; Kline and Myers, 2011; Guba and Lincoln, 1989 p 245-251) instead of speaking of research validity as in the positivist research, could be based on the ideas ‘fairness’ and ‘authenticity’. Therefore, it is worth noting that the researcher did not depend on validity; the process consists of three steps as shown in figure below Figure 4. 2: Questionnaire design process

Source: (Sekeran and Bougie, 2013 p 149) modified by the researcher according to (Oates, 2006, p.294)

Step 1: principles of wording

The principles guiding the wording in a questionnaire are an important step in conducting a questionnaire design, in that the wording determines the receipt of the required information. Five factors/principles needs to be considered

• Content and purpose of questions

The content and purpose of questions should serve the purpose of the study. According to Sekeran and Bougie, (2013 p 150) the nature of the question should made clear either subjective or objective facts. The questions asked in this questionnaire are subjective in nature (e.g., satisfaction, and involvement), drawn from the research sub questions and the literature to measure belief, perception and attitudes concerning the use of ICT and digital media. Remanyi, (2012 p 102) noted that breaking down research sub question is most suitable for a questionnaire design that yields a valuable outcome.

• Wording and Language

Question wording is important in questionnaire design and has an influence on the response rate (Remanyi, 2012). The questions asked, the language used, and the wording should be appropriate to tap respondents attitudes, perceptions, and feelings. The supervisor reviewed the question wording. Suggestions were made about the questionnaire’s wording, as it was found that the questions were structured in a very “positive” way towards the use of digital media. Therefore, it was suggested that it would be worth asking some leading questions – i.e. instead of “internet use

helps reduce incidence of corruption in public sector”. It should be “CITIZEN’s use of the internet is a useful weapon to fight corruption” Leading questions signal and pressurise respondents to say “yes”

• Types of Questions

Close-ended questions: The questionnaire includes close-ended questions or pre- coded questions which ask the respondents to make choices among a set of alternatives given by the researcher (Sekaran and Bougie, 2013). Such questions usually have lots of tick boxes for respondents to fill in. The closed-ended questions force the respondent to choose from a range of answers that have been pre-defined (Oates, 2006, p.222).

• Multiple-choice questions give the respondent a choice of answer, to which the most closely suited answer should be ticked (Anderson, 1998; Oppenheim, 1992).

• Example of multiple-choice questions

Figure 4. 3: Multiple-choice questions

Scale question

Scale questions involve the researcher offering an informant a scale of feelings against a statement (Anderson, 1998). Likert questions are a commonly used scale in survey research and many researchers agree that the five point “Likert scale” is the most effective, although seven, nine and eleven point scales are possible (Remanyi, 2012). The five point scale was chosen because this gives a smaller distribution of responses, given the relatively small sample of respond ents; participants could also make a “neutral” choice – unlike in 4 or 6 scales in which the informant is not able to do so. Example of questions measure whose answers are given on a indicated scale.

1 (a) (b)

What is your level of education? Undergraduate

Postgraduate (Masters) (c) Postgraduate (PhD)

Table 6: Scale questions measure No Opinions Strongly Agree 1 Slightly Agree 2 Neutral 3 Slightly Disagree 4 Strongly Disagree 5

1 I hardly notice censorship on Nigeria’s internet

2 I am able to be openly critical of local and national figures. I can say what I want to say on internet

3 Social media helps to keep Nigeria’s election process transparent

4 The use of the internet help citizens to challenge Government and political leaders

Open-ended questions are questions that allow the respondent to answer in their own words (Sekaran, and Bougie, 2013). According to Oates (2006), open questions give the respondent the liberty to answer in their own style .Example of Open-ended questions

Figure 4. 4: Open-ended questions

 Sequencing

The order of the questions is important because it helps respondents to progress through the questionnaire with ease and comfort (Sekaran and Bougie, 2013 p153). This is taken into consideration to avoid negative attitudes towards the questionnaire and that is why the personal

Q28

What do you think is the main challenge facing your community in Nigeria in regards to the use of

ICTs……… ……… ……… Q29

Is there ‘informal censorship ‘on the Nigerian internet? Are there topics that cannot be openly discussed? What topic if any would you feel uncomfortable discussing on sites such as Facebook or

Twitter……… ……… ……….

questions and open-ended questions were left to the end. The structure and layout of the questionnaire is designed to be simple to encourage respondents to complete it.

 Classification of data or personal information

Classification of data in questionnaire is of considerable importance. It is advisable to gather certain demographic data such as age, sex, and educational level, and the number of years in an institution. Some commentators suggested that even if the theoretical framework does not include these variables it is worth asking because such data help describe and enhance the sample characteristics after analysis (Sekeran and Bougie, 2013 p 154; Remanyi, 2012 p 118). Considering the survey was conducted with Nigerian students at the University of Salford, this questionnaire includes these details to quantify how long the participants have been away from Nigeria, their level of education, geographical location in Nigeria, and their gender and age.

Step 2: Planning

The second principle pertains to the general appearance of the questionnaire. This include  Appearance of the questionnaire

The layout and order of the questions enables the informants to answer the questions in an easy to read and easy to reply manner (Remanyi, 2012 p 120). This has been considerably taken into account to avoid negative attitudes questionnaire, hence a good introduction, well organised instructions and neat alignment of the questions was designed in an attractive manner. Demographic questions and open ended questions were left to the end.

 Length of the questionnaire

There is a wide range of options available when developing a questionnaire; such options include personally administered questionnaires, mail questionnaires, and telephone or interview questionnaires. Software is available on the web for the development of questionnaires (Remanyi, 2012 p 128). The questionnaire in this study was administered through Survey Monkey and was distributed to participants through email. This was achieved by providing the respondents an introductory note on the first page of the questionnaire setting out the research aims and confidentiality. A questionnaire should contain simple, short questions, as a rule of thumb a question or statement should not exceed 20 words, and the questionnaire should not exceed more than ten computer screens (Sekeran and Bougies, 2013 p 152; Remanyi, 2012). In addition to the number of questions the way the questionnaire is structured is also an important issue. This

research’s questionnaire was designed to reduce the time required to complete it to avoid loss of interest . The questionnaire contained 3 sections including 35 questions (6 multiple-choice questions, 16 scale questions and 3 open ended questions).