Questionnaire and Questionnaire design

Process
Questionnaire meaning

Questionnaire is a systematic, data collection technique consists of

a series of questions required to be answered by the
respondents to identify their attitude, experience, and
behavior towards the subject of research.
Steps in Questionnaire development

• 1. Decide the information required.

• 2. Define the target respondents.
• 3. Choose the method(s) of reaching your target respondents.
• 4. Decide on question content.
• 5. Develop the question wording.
• 6. Put questions into a meaningful order and format.
• 7. Check the length of the questionnaire.
• 8. Pre-test the questionnaire.
• 9. Develop the final survey form.
1. Decide the information required
• Decide 'what are the things one needs to know from the
respondent in order to meet the survey's objectives?‘
• Additional help from secondary data and exploratory
research.
• Get aware of what work has been done on the same or similar
problems in the past.
• Factors not yet been examined,
• How the present survey questionnaire can build on what has
already been discovered.
• Preliminary informal interviews
2. Define the target respondents
• population about which he/she wishes to generalise from the
sample data to be collected.
• Draw up a sampling frame.
• Take into account factors such as the age, education, etc. of the
target respondents
 3. Choose the method(s) of reaching
target respondents
The method of reaching the intended respondents will influence not
only the questions the researcher is able to ask, but the phrasing of
those questions.

The main methods available in survey research are:

• personal interviews
• group or focus interviews
• mailed questionnaires
• telephone interviews.

“A general rule is that the more sensitive or personal the information, the
more personal the form of data collection should be.”
 4. Decide on question
content
• "Is this question really needed?"
• Resist the temptation to include questions without critically evaluating their contribution towards
the achievement of the research objectives.
• No question should be included unless the data it gives rise to is directly of use in testing one or
more of the hypotheses established during the research design.

• “Redundant" questions might be included:

1. When opening questions are easy to answer and which are not perceived as being "threatening",
or
2. When questions are perceived as being interesting, can greatly assist in gaining the respondent's
involvement in the survey and help to establish a rapport.
3. "Dummy" questions can disguise the purpose of the survey and/or the sponsorship of a study.
5. Develop the question
wording
• Simple wordings, common understanding
• Watch for “and” alert
• Vary wording to produce variation in replies
• Avoid difficult tasks
• Use existing wording if comparative study
• Take edge off sensitive questions
• No speculation on hypothesis

Survey questions can be classified into three forms, i.E. Closed, open-
ended and open response-option questions.
Multiple choice questionnaire
• The respondent selects one of the alternative possible answers put to him,
whereas in the latter he has to supply the answer in his own words.
• Advantages:
1. Ease of handling, simple to answer, quick and relatively inexpensive to
analyse.
2. They are most amenable to statistical analysis.
3. helps to make clear the meaning of the question.

Disadvantage:
1. it requires the researcher to have a good prior knowledge of the subject in
order to generate realistic/likely response options
Closed questions
• Respondent selects one of the two alternative possible
answers put to him- either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.

• Advantages:
1. It provides the respondent with an easy method of
indicating his answer
2. Therespondents does not have to think about how
to articulate his answer.
3. Rely less on memory in answering a question.
4. Responses can be easily classified, making analysis
very straightforward.

Disadvantages:
• They do not allow the respondent the opportunity to give a different response
Q. Have you ever had contact with handicapped in any of these
groups? (Circle to indicate "yes" or "no" for each group.)
Yes No
Community 1 0
Family 1 0
Relatives 1 0
Elementary school class 1 0
Junior high school class 1 0
Senior high school class 1 0
University class 1 0
As co-worker 1 0
Open-ended questions
• Open-ended questions which are designed to permit a free response from the
respondent rather than one limited to certain stated alternatives are considered
appropriate.
• Advantages:
1. Such questions give the respondent considerable latitude in phrasing a reply.
2. Complete picture of the respondent’s feelings and attitudes.

Disadvantages:
3. Difficult from an analytical point of view
4. Issue in raising problems of interpretation, comparability and interviewer
bias.
5. may not give a full answer simply because they may forget to mention important
points.
Open-ended Questions
20.Approximately, what was your average in your final year of
high school?
%

21.What is (or was) your father's occupation? (e.g., foreman,

railway machine shop...supervises work of about 25
people.)

Job -------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brief Job Description ---------------------------------------------------
Open-ended Questions
22. In what year were you born? 1 9 .

23. What is the one thing that you would like to see changed at the
university health and counseling center?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use open-ended when...
• Too many response categories (yr. of birth)
• you don’t wish to impose categories on respondent
• “really” consulting respondent
• qualitative--source of quotations
• determining appropriate categorization
• change-in-pace for respondent
Rank ordering questions
31. Rank order the three most important things you want in your nursing job? (Place a 1 beside the most
important one; a 2 beside the next important one; and a 3 beside the next most important one.)

High salary-------------------

Satisfaction------------------

Continued interest-----------

Power-------------------------

Prestige----------------------
Single Choice Question
Single choice questions provide only one possible entry type
E.g.
The population of the place I considered my
hometown when growing up was:

Rural area 1
town under 5,000 --------------2
5,000 to 19,999 ---------------3
20,000 to 99,999 --------------4
100,000 to 999,999 ------------5
1,000,000 or over -------------6
 • Drop box questions
• 5 point choice questions
• List radio questions
• List with comments

http://acps.aub.edu.lb/mod/book/view.php?id=667&chapterid=1049
Likert style questions
In the following items, circle a number to indicate the extent
to which you agree or disagree with each statement.

Q. I would quit my present job if I won $1,000,000 through

a lottery.
Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Strongly Agree

Q. I would be satisfied if my child followed the same type of career as I have.

Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Strongly Agree

Tips for Likert Style Questions
• “and” alert: avoid multidimentional
• “strongly agree” always on right side
• avoid double negatives--use direct negative statements
• vary “strength of wording” to produce variation in response
• make all respondents feel comfortable
Confusing questions
• "How many members are there in your family?“
• What did you dislike about the product you have just tried?“
• "How much does your husband earn?”
• What improvements would you want to see in food preparation
equipment?
• What is your income?'
Question yourself
• "Is this question sufficient to generate the required information?“
• "Can the respondent answer the question correctly?“
• "Are there any external events that might bias response to the
question?“
• "Do the words have the same meaning to all respondents?“
• "Are any of the words or phrases loaded or leading in any
way?“
• "Are there any implied alternatives within the question?“
• "Are any words or phrases vague?"
6. Putting in order
• Opening question – easy, simple to understand.
• Question flow - one leads easily and naturally to the next.
Group together questions on same topic
• Question variety – avoid respondent boredom
use images or graphs.
Sequence of the questions
• Questions that are of special importance should, if possible, be
included in the earlier part of the questionnaire.
• Respondent may lose patience/interest at the end of the
questionnaire.
• Pay particular attention to the presentation and layout of the
interview form itself.
• Prescribed definitions and explanations should be provided.
Good questionnaire design
7.Check length of Questionnaire: Physical
appearance
• Best for a questionnaire to be as short as possible.
• Ill-designed questionnaires – poor impression of complexity,
medium and too big a time commitment.
• Data quality can also be affected - unnecessarily confusing layouts
making it more difficult for interviewers, or respondents in the
case of self-completion questionnaires, to complete this task
accurately.
• Attention to just a few basic details can have a disproportionately
advantageous impact on the data obtained
Piloting the questionnaires
Even after the researcher has proceeded along the lines suggested, the draft questionnaire is a product
evolved by one or two minds only. Until it has actually been used in interviews and with respondents, it is
impossible to say whether it is going to achieve the desired results. For this reason it is necessary to pre-test
the questionnaire before it is used in a full-scale survey, to identify any mistakes that need correcting.
The purpose of pretesting the questionnaire is to determine:

• Whether the questions as they are worded will achieve the desired results
• Whether the questions have been placed in the best order
• Whether the questions are understood by all classes of respondent
• Whether additional or specifying questions are needed or whether some questions should be eliminated
• Whether the instructions to interviewers are adequate.
Usually a small number of respondents are selected for the pre-test. The respondents selected for the pilot
survey should be broadly representative of the type of respondent to be interviewed in the main survey.
Develop the final survey form

If the questionnaire has been subjected to a thorough pilot test, the

final form of the questions and questionnaire will have evolved into
its final form. All that remains to be done is the mechanical process of
laying out and setting up the questionnaire in its final form. This will
involve grouping and sequencing questions into an appropriate order,
numbering questions, and inserting interviewer instructions.
 Advantages

•Practical
• Large amounts of information can be collected from a large number of
people in a short period of time and in a relatively cost effective way
• Can be carried out by the researcher or by any number of people with
limited affect to its validity and reliability
• The results of the questionnaires can usually be quickly and easily
quantified by either a researcher or through the use of a software package
• Can be analyzed more 'scientifically' and objectively than other forms of
research
Disadvantages
•Is argued to be inadequate to understand some forms of information - i.e. changes of emotions,
behavior, feelings etc.
• There is no way to tell how truthful a respondent is being
• There is no way of telling how much thought a respondent has put in
• The respondent may be forgetful or not thinking within the full context of the situation
•People may read differently into each question and therefore reply based on their own
interpretation of the question - i.e. what is 'good' to someone may be 'poor' to someone else,
therefore there is a level of subjectivity that is not acknowledged
• There is a level of researcher imposition, meaning that when developing the questionnaire, the
researcher is making their own decisions and assumptions as to what is and is not
important...therefore they may be missing something that is of importance
Thank you