ABSTRACT
The use of questionnaires and surveys is widespread in criminological research and, while the terms are often used interchangeably, there are some differences in meaning. Questionnaires are used at all levels of criminological research, from undergraduate research projects to national crime surveys such as the Crime Survey for England and Wales. However, some questionnaires include one or more open questions in addition to closed questions so that participants can provide some individual responses. Questionnaires are not only useful for such large-scale data collection but are often used for much smaller scale research. It is quite usual for questionnaires to be used by students in their research. Questionnaires conducted face to face allow the researcher to establish a rapport with respondents and to observe body language. An alternative is phone or video interviews. While it is more difficult to establish a rapport, both face-to-face and phone or video interview methods allow respondents to seek clarification on any questions they do not understand.
