QUESTIONNAIRES IN SECOND LANGUAGE RESEARCH: CONSTRUCTION,
ADMINISTRATION, AND PROCESSING. Zoltán Dörnyei.
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2003. Pp. viii + 156. $37.50 cloth, $22.50
paper.
In the introduction to this volume, Dörnyei suggests that,
although questionnaires are frequently employed by second language
researchers, “there does not seem to be sufficient awareness in
the profession about the theory of questionnaire design and
processing” (p. 1). Looking to the various branches of research
in the social sciences, such as psychometrics, social psychology, and
sociology, Dörnyei notes that many of the questionnaires in second
language research fail to meet the standards for reliability and
validity because the researchers are apparently unfamiliar with the
principles of questionnaire construction, administration, and
processing. This book is intended to be a practical, easily understood
guide for researchers to use when working with self-administered
pencil-and-paper questionnaires. It achieves this aim.