Examining attitude in teachers and students: the need to validate questionnaire data

Abstract

The focus of this article is on the importance of validating research data from questionnaires. This was impressed on us while we were attempting to investigate attitudes and beliefs of students and teachers toward various aspects of learning English in Japan. Our goal was to determine what teachers and students believe are critical factors or variables in achieving success in the teaching and learning of English. However, this goal could not be achieved: when we attempted to validate the questionnaire data, we found that the data from teachers fit the expected pattern, but the student data did not. We present speculations on why the student data could not be validated, but we feel that the more important conclusion is the view that questionnaire data should not blindly be accepted or considered meaningful unless they have been properly validated.