6.0　Introduction

6.0　Introduction

Research methods involve specific instruments that help the researcher in their research (Blaxter et al.,1996),which can take various forms.Examples include the self-completion questionnaire,the structured interview,the in-depth interview,focus groups,participant observation,etc.(Bryman,2008).Researchers,according to their specific study aims and overall methodology,will choose different instruments for their research.For my own research,I have chosen to use a self-completion questionnaire and an in-depth interview.These allow me to compare the advantages of both quantitative and qualitative approaches,since the former is linked to the quantitative approach,while the latter is linked to the qualitative approach.This chapter will mainly discuss the self-completion questionnaire,while the in-depth interview will be discussed in Chapter 7.

In this chapter,I will consider:

　• What is a questionnaire,

　• Why did I choose to use a questionnaire,and

　• How did I use it in my fieldwork?