METRICALLY ADJUSTED QUESTIONNAIRES CAN PROVIDE MORE INFORMATION FOR SCIENTISTS- AN EXAMPLE FROM THE TOURISM

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of research methodology, illustrating the use of known research methods for new purposes. Questionnaires that originally do not have metric characteristics can be called “handy questionnaires”. In this article, the author is trying to consider the possibilities of their improved scientific usability, which can be primarily ensured by improving their metric characteristics, consequently using multivariate instead of univariate statistical methods. In order to establish the base for the application of multivariate statistical procedures, the main idea is to develop strategies to design measurement instruments from parts of the handy questionnaires. This can be accomplished in two ways: before deciding upon the methods for data collection (redesigning the handy questionnaires) and before the collection of the data (a priori) or after the data has been collected, without modifying the questionnaire (a posteriori). The basic principles of applying these two strategies of the metrical adaptation of handy questionnaires are described.