Impact of foreign aid on rwanda's socio-economic development as guided by Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1 “Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger”:case of Gasabo District

3.2.3 The Questionnaire method

Questionnaires are used to investigate attitudes, beliefs, feelings, opinions, knowledge and some aspects of behaviour (British Educational Research Association, 2006 - 2009 http://www.bera.ac.uk/questionnaire/#use). This method, if expertly designed, can give the researcher reliable data. Denscombe (1998: 88) argues that the questionnaire works on the premise that if you want to find out something about people and their attitudes you simply go and ask them what you want to know, and get the information straight from the horse?s mouth?. Using questionnaires to collect data is a relatively quick way of gathering such information with relatively good response rates, in addition to preserving respondent confidentiality. It consists of open-ended and closed-questions. According to Harzadon (1981) open-ended questions are advantageous because they give the respondents the opportunity to answer adequately applying the detail they like to qualify and clarify issues as well as giving them an opportunity for self-expression.

Labovitz and Hargedon (1988) highlight that the serves time and financial resources since it can be locally administered. Frankel and Wallen (1996) maintain that the questionnaire can cover a large sample and also ensures anonymity and greater detail in as far as the handling sensitive issues is concerned. In view of the delicate nature and controversy of the subject, the questionnaire is deemed to be an effective instrument. In this context, objective responses will be obtained through closed questions while subjective responses will be obtained through open-ended questions. The attempt by the instrument to combine some aspects of quantitative and qualitative data makes it an effective instrument (Sheila and Mwiria 1996). However, the research takes note of some of the limitations of the questionnaire. For instance according to Frankel and Wallen (1996) the distance between the researcher and the respondents\researched leads to lack of rapport. Probing is not possible with closed questions hence there is no room to attach meanings in such questions (Dooley 1995).

The questionnaire is a rigid form hence rephrasing questions may not be possible (Haralambos and Holborn 1995). In this respect the questionnaire only relies on intellectual and literacy competence of the respondents as opposed to the interview method. The researcher will not post any questions but will physically be distributed them with the help of research assistants. A total of forty (40) questionnaires were administered to various categories of respondents.

3.2.4 Focussed Group Discussions

According to Shumba and Kaziboni (2005), the Focused Group Discussion (FGD) is a new
approach / technique in which some discussion schedules are used to interview 5 to 10
respondents simultaneously. It is an effective tool for gathering public opinion. Against this

background issues that are considered sensitive, controversial and delicate can be effectively debated. In applying this technique, the researcher categorically placed respondents into groups. Any four (4) communities were selected randomly for the aid impact assessment debate. The focused group discussion falls in the realm of qualitative research paradigm (Lincoln and Guba 1985). This method is credited with the principal advantage of saving time as well as the ability to discuss issues democratically on an open debate forum (Shumba and Kaziboni 2005). It allows the in-depth-study of issues and enhances cross-pollination of ideas and views (Ngoepe, 2006). Focused group discussions usually stimulate interest among respondents through debates (Ngulube, 2006). For it to yield valid results, the following limitations need to be guarded against: Such discussions only generate qualitative data hence there is over reliance on subjective rather than objective conclusions. As observed by AVERT (2007) that other respondents may be dominated by others in the debate and if not guided and controlled, the focus and objective may be defeated.