Page 243 - DCAP304_DCAP515_SOFTWARE_PROJECT_MANAGEMENT

Unit 12: Monitoring & Control

Document Schedule/Data Sheet Notes

This is a list of items of information to be obtained from documents, records and other materials.
In order to secure measurable data, the items included in the schedule are limited to those that
can be uniformly secured from a large number of case histories or other records.
Schedule for Institutions

This is used for survey of organisations like business enterprises, educational institutions, social
or cultural organisations and the like. It will include various categories of data relating to their
profile, functions and performance.

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Caution These data are gathered from their records, annual reports and financial statements.

12.2.2 Construction of Schedules and Questionnaires

Schedule v. Questionnaire

Schedules and questionnaires are the most common instruments of data collection. These
two types of tools have much in common. Both of them contain a set of questions logically
related to a problem under study; both aim at eliciting responses from the respondents; in
both cases the content, response structure, the wordings of questions, question sequence,
etc. are the same for all respondents. Then why should they be denoted by the different
terms: ‘schedule’ and ‘questionnaires’? This is because the methods for which they are used
are different. While a schedule is used as a tool for interviewing, a questionnaire is used for
mailing.
This difference in usage gives rise to a subtle difference between these two recording forms.
That is, the interviewer in a face-to-face interviewing fills a schedule, whereas the respondent
himself fills in a questionnaire. Hence the need for using two different terms.
The tool is referred to as a schedule when it is used for interviewing; and it is called a questionnaire
when it is sent to a respondent for completion and return.
The Process of Construction

The process of construction of a schedule and a questionnaire is almost same, except some minor
differences in mechanics. This process is not a matter of simply listing questions that comes to
researchers mind. It is a rational process involving much time, effort and thought. It consists of
the following major steps:
1. Data need determination: As an interview schedule or a mailed questionnaire is an
instrument for gathering data for a specific study, its construction should flow logically
from the data required for the given study.

2. Preparation of “Dummy” tables: The best way to ensure the requirements of information
is to develop “dummy” tables in which to display the data to be gathered.
3. Determination of the respondents’ level: Who are our respondents? Are they persons with
specialized knowledge relating to the problem under study? Or are they lay people? What
is their level of knowledge and understanding? The choice of words and concepts depends
upon the level of the respondents’ knowledge.

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