Questionnaires: Use, value and limitations

To some people, they are a necessary nuisance; to others, they are simply a nuisance. Opinion pollsters swear by them, while 'qualitative researchers' swear at them. Except for a lucky few, we all have been subjected to them. Millions of pounds are spent on them annually. For those who use them, they provide the quickest way to collect large amounts of data from large samples of population, often scattered over wide geographical areas, comparatively cheaply. They are called questionnaires, and are the most common form of data collection tool.