Questionnaire and Schedule

Questionnaire and Schedule both are tools for collecting data in the form of questions, but both the tools are different from each other under several aspects (e.g., interviewer selection, data collection process, etc.).

Questionnaires 

A questionnaire is a list of questions that ask respondents about themselves or others. For example, if you were conducting market research to see how college students felt about their campus dining hall, you would use a questionnaire to gauge their responses. The names for this type of survey may vary, but they often include words like: survey, study, poll, interview schedules:  A schedule is an organized list of events or activities in chronological order which typically includes start times and duration for each one.

Uses of Questionnaires

A questionnaire is an instrument for collecting information about the attitudes or knowledge of a person or group.

Common purposes for the use of questionnaires are:

1. Asking people their voting preference in an upcoming election.
2. Asking employees their opinions on a new company policy.
3. Asking students their opinions on some aspect of school life, such as whether they are satisfied with the quality of food in the cafeteria or the amount they pay to attend the university.
4. To learn how people respond to some product being introduced into the market, such as a new type of soap that is rich in vitamin E and moisturizes skin better than ordinary soaps.
5. Using questionnaires people’ opinions of a product they are already familiar with.
6. Using questionnaires to test the effectiveness of a new product in the marketplace.
7. Asking questions about political candidates or how people feel about social issues such as abortion, capital punishment and prayer in schools.
8. Asking people to indicate their feelings about some event that has happened in the past, such as how they felt after getting married, having a baby or when they lost their job.

Schedules

A schedule is an organized list of events or activities in chronological order which typically includes start times and duration for each one, such as:

1. The schedule for a day at the beach, which may include taking a walk on the beach, going swimming, having lunch and then playing Frisbee or volleyball with friends.
2. The schedule for a yoga class might include 15 minutes of deep breathing exercises, 30 minutes of gentle stretching exercises and 20 minutes of relaxation time.
3. A schedule for Monday morning may include setting the alarm clock to wake you at 7:00 am., eating breakfast and driving to work by 8:00 am., going to work from 8:00 am.-5:00 pm.

Use of Schedules

A schedule is an organized list of events or activities over a period of time arranged in order of the occurrence of each activity (e.g., not necessarily starting at the beginning and ending at the end).

A schedule is usually written on an ordinary piece of paper by a person who is responsible for keeping track of his or her own actions.

Common uses of schedules are:

1. A schedule to keep track of important dates like birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and school events.
2. A schedule to keep track of our daily activities like the calendar for the week or making a shopping list for the grocery store.
3. A schedule to designate how much time we can spend each day on activities such as homework, chores and reading required books or playing with the kids at home.

Difference between Questionnaire and Schedule

Questionnaire and Schedule are both tools meant to collect data. They were designed with two different purposes in mind. Questionnaires are used to obtain information from individuals; schedules are used to record activities or events.

1. Questionnaires vary immensely in length, format, and content depending on the type of data being collected (e.g., information about demographics, attitudes, opinions) and the goal of the surveyor (e.g., marketing research, opinion polling).
2. Schedules usually consist of short phrases (e.g., ‘wake up’, ‘take shower’, ‘brush teeth’ etc.) that may be randomly located within a day’s time frame or according to a specific order (e.g. ‘take shower’ before ‘brush teeth’).
3. Common schedules might include a day’s schedule with the time of each activity (e.g., get up, take shower, breakfast, commute to work) and a list of specific activities associated with each time.
4. Schedules are usually written by a person who is responsible for keeping track of his or her own actions; therefore they are often referred to as ‘personal’ schedules.
5. While questionnaires can be used in many different ways depending on the situation, schedules are not so flexible.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Questionnaires and Schedule are both designed to collect data in a structured manner; however, there are several factors that make them different. Questionnaires usually ask individuals, while schedules usually record activities or events. Common uses of questionnaires can be used as surveys and polls (i.e., a researcher would ask individual questions like “what is your favourite sport?”, “which sport do you watch on television?” etc.) but common uses of schedules are for recording our daily routine (i.e. wake up at 7 am., have breakfast at 8 am., commute to work from 8:45 am.-5 pm.).