Defination of schedule purpose and kinds of schedule.

Schedules and questioner.

A schedule is a form containing a set of question pertaining (related) to a field of inquiry. The questions may be in a direct form or in a tabular form. The order of questions is always in a sequential order.

The information sought in the survey is collected through schedules/ questioner. Schedules and questioner are more or less synonymous in format but differ in the mode of contracting the respondents and filled with the format.

While the schedules have to be used in the direct interview and are to be filled by the field worker/enumerator himself, the questioner is generally mailed to the respondents, who fill it up and return it to the sender.

In schedules , there is a person to person relationship between the enumerator and the respondents. Any confusion about the content of the form may be clarified at the spot by the enumerator. Besides, it is only, a method, the non-response rate is very low because the respondents generally do not disappoint the enumerators after having the direct interview with them.

However, there is two danger

1. The respondents may be embarrassed to give verbal information on sensitive topics such as income, sex life etc.
2. The interviewer may not exactly fill up the form as stated by the respondents because of his personal biases or misunderstanding of the responses.

On the other hand, the questioners sent to the respondents, though mailed, may not reach the destination. And even if reached, the majority of respondents may not reply. So, in this method, the non-response is always high. 6Also it cannot be administered to illiterate respondents. Since there is no direct person to person contact between respondents and the enumerators. Respondents are bound to state their respondents as they understood the meaning of the inquiry or avoid giving the responses. However, the greater advantage of the method is that respondents are free from enumerators biases and even the sensitive questions are removed freely.

Schedules

A schedule is a form of containing a set of questions pertaining to the field of inquiry. The question may be in a direct form or in a tabular form. The order of questioner is always in sequential order.

While the schedules have to be used in the direct interview and it to be filled up by the field worker /enumerators who are specially appointed for the purpose. These enumerators along with the schedule, go to respondents, put to them questions in a pre-structured manner and record the replies. Enumerators explain the and objects of the investigation and also removes the difficulties which any respondents may feel in understanding the implications of a particular question. In schedules, there is a person to person relationship between the enumerator and the respondents. Population census all over the world is conducted through this method.

1. In this method, a non-response rate is very low because the respondents generally do not disappoint the enumerators after having the direct interview with them.
2. The field worker or enumerator may not exactly fill up the form as stated by the respondents because of his personal biases.
3. The field worker is usually high in schedule administration.
4. In schedules, any confusion about the content of the form may be clarified at the spot by enumerators.
5. The respondents may be embarrassed to give verbal information on sensitive topics such as income, Sex life.
6. It is the method of eliciting information from illiterate respondents.
7. However, in schedules, there are some problems.

However, in developing countries, because of the high percentage of illiterate respondents , instead of a mailed questioner, schedules are used as main modes of collecting survey information.

The purpose of the schedule.

1. The proposed of schedule is to provide the standardised tool for the observation or interview in order to attain objectivity.
2. The objectivity is attained because respondents have to reply the same questions framed in the same language and also in the same or sequential order.
3. The purpose of the schedule is to act as memory tickler for an interview.
4. The purpose of the schedule is to facilitate the work of tabulation.
5. When information is collected by means of free story method, there would be a great difficulty in arranging them in proper order and in most case, analysis becomes impossible.
6. The schedules put the whole things in a structural form so the tabulation and analysis become straight forward.
7. In the absence of any schedule, the field worker puts all the things in a haphazard way to different respondents.

Kinds of schedule.

There are different types of schedules, used in social researchers. Some of them are.

1. Observation schedule.

Observation schedule contains specific topics upon which the observation have to be concerned.

2. Document schedule.

The type of schedule that is used for recording data from written documents like Autography case study, Diary or official records.

3. Rating schedule.

This type of schedule used in those case where the attitudes or opinions are to be measured. The item of the scale is so formed that the response for them give the degree of attitudes or opinions.

4. Interview schedule.

The interview schedule is used to interview the respondents. They contain standard questions that the interviewer has to ask and blank table that he has to fill up after information from the respondents.

Contents of the schedules.

A schedule contains following parts.

1. General part.
2. Main part.
3. Instruction part.

General part.

The general part of the schedule is also called as introduction part. This part contains introductory information about the schedule, investigation and the respondents. It is more or less common to all the schedules and is presented in the same format.

The general part contains the following information.

1. Heading of the survey.
2. Name of the conducting Agencies/Organisation.
3. General information about the respondents. a. Name b.Sex c.occupation, d.education level.
4. Place, date and time of interview.
5. Interviewer’s name and signature.

Main part.

The main part is the most important part of the schedule and has to be prepared with the great care. It consists of the question as well as blank tables where the information relevant to the study as supplied by the respondents has to be filled up.

Instruction part.

This part contains exhaustive instructions for the interviewers in collecting information from the respondents. The interviewers often need clear-cut documentary instructions for their field operations.

This part contains instruction about minor things such as meaning and the scope of the words used in the question, the sequence of the questions to be asked are often given in the schedule itself. But detail instruction for whole operations is given separate booklets called field manual. The manual should be clear, exhaustive and free from any ambiguity.

Reference.

Kerlinger, F.N. Foundation of Behavioural Research. New Delhi: Surjeet Publication, 2000.

Kothari, C.R. Research Methodology. India: Vishwa Prakashan, 1990.

Singh, M.L. and J.M Singh. Understanding Research Methodology. 1998.

Singh, Mrigendra Lal. Understanding Research Methodology. Nepal: National Book centre, 2013.