Chapter Ten

Designing the Questionnaire

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Designing the Questionnaire
Logical Steps to Develop a Good
Questionnaire
• Plan what to measure
• Formulate questions
• Order and wording of questions and the layout of
the questionnaire
• Test for omissions and ambiguity
• Correct the problems (pretest again, if
necessary)

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Planning what to measure
• What was the objective of the research
study again?
• Exploratory research will suggest more
variables
• Pre-testing with a small sample
• Ask yourself the question: “How will this
information be used”

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Designing the Questionnaire
Formulating the Question
• Degree of freedom of response to be given to respondents
Alternatives
– Open ended with no classification
• E.g. Tell us what you know about mutual funds?
– Open ended with pre-coded classifications used to record the
response
• E.g. Do you think mutual funds are a worthwhile investment?
– Close ended or structured format with responses to be
considered
• E.g. I think mutual funds are worthwhile investments
• Strongly Agree…1…2…3…4…5…Strongly Disagree

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Questions must meet 4
requirements
 You must ask the right questions

 Respondents must understand the questions

 Respondents must know the answers

 Respondents must be willing to tell you those

answers.

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Types of Questions
1. Open-response question:
People look for different things in a job. What
would you prefer most in a job?
2. Closed-response question:
People look for different things in a job. What
would you prefer most in a job?
– Work that pays well
– Work that gives a sense of accomplishment
– Work where you make most decisions by yourself
– Work that is steady with little chance of being laid off.

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Open Ended Questions
• Advantages
– Gain insight into the problem
– Too many options to list
– When verbatim responses are desired to give the flavor of the problem
– When behavior to be measured is sensitive or disapproved
– Interviewer / questionnaire structure influence can be minimal
• Diasdvantages
– Inarticulate respondents
– Interviewer’s skill in recording quickly and summarizing accurately
– Time consuming, subjective judgments while tabulating, adds to cost

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Closed-response Questions
Two Basic Formats for Closed Ended or
Structured Questions

• Choice from a list of responses

• Appropriate single-choice rating on a scale

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Closed-response Questions
What type of fast-food restaurant do you visit most
often?

Burger Mexican
Chicken Pizza
Seafood Chinese
Don’t know Other (please specify)

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Closed-response Questions
What is your overall satisfaction with McDonalds
Hamburgers?
Very satisfied Quite Satisfied Somewhat satisfied Not at all satisfied
   

Very satisfied 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Not at all satisfied

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Closed-response Questions
• Advantages
– Easy to understand, quick responses possible
– Micro-differences in responses can be captured
– Easier tabulation and analysis
– Answers are directly comparable from respondent to respondent
• Disadvantages
– Neutral category may attract more responses than warranted
– Information between categories may be lost (extreme case –
dichotomous categories)

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Mutually exclusive choices
How many long-distance calls do you make in a week?
 less than 5
 5-10
 More than 10.
• Number of response categories – 5 to 7 is
ideal

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Order of response categories

What factor influences your fast-food restaurant choice most ?

 Convenient location
 Quality of food
 Menu selection
 Fast service
 Reasonable prices
 Brand name
 Cleanliness

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Range of response categories

How many long-distance calls do you make in a week?

 less than 5  less than 10
 5-10 or  10-20
 More than 10.  More than 20.

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Respondent uncertainty

– Should respondents be provided with a

Don’t know or No opinion option?
– When it is important to differentiate between
ambivalence and ignorance, both options
should be provided

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Question Wording - Vocabulary
– Simple, easy to understand, commonly
used language
– Avoid technical words and jargon
(unless sample is technically qualified)
– Words meaning something else in
different languages and cultures (e.g.
Nova meaning “no go” in Spanish; “mist
stick’ meaning manure in German, etc.)
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Question Wording
• Ambiguity
How many times per month do you visit a fast-
food restaurant?
 Never
 Occasionally
 Sometimes
 Often

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Question Wording
• Are any questions "double-barreled”?

Are you satisfied with the price and the service of Taco
Bell?

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Question Wording
• Are any questions loaded or leading?
1) Don’t you think, because its so greasy, fast-food is
one of the worst types of food? …leading question
2) Do you prefer a hamburger that is grilled on a hot
stainless-steel grill or cooked by passing the raw meat
through an open gas flame?...loaded question
• Both skew responses in the desired direction
• Questions which threaten respondent self-esteem e.g.
occupation question produces more “executives”

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
Issues in Questionnaire Design
• Question Wording
– vocabulary
– “double-barreled” questions
– leading or loaded questions
– Instructions
• Complicated or lengthy instructions confuse
and bias respondents

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Question Wording
• Is the question applicable to all
respondents?

Why do you like fast-food?

Assumes respondents like fast foods

Better strategy would be to ask a filter question first.

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Question Wording
• Question length
– Should be short
– Longer questions confuse and fatigue respondents
• Sensitive questions
– Questions on information perceived to be
embarrassing, like personal income, criminal activities,
alcoholism, smoking, drugs habits, social desirability
issues, etc.
– Creativity rules (assurances of confidentiality,
anonymity, slipping it in sideways, open-ended
questions, asking in third person, etc.)
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Sequence And Layout
Decisions
• Opening questions – easy and non-threatening
• Flow – smooth and logical – avoid jumps
• Broad to specific
• Critical questions – placed in the middle
• Appealing and interesting
• Order bias – the possibility that subsequent responses are
influenced by preceding responses e.g. fewer people will
say that their taxes are too high after being asked whether
govt. spending should be increased in certain areas.
• Quality of paper

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
Organization of a Typical Questionnaire
Location Type Function Example

Starting questions Broad, general To break the ice and Do you own a
questions establish a report with personal computer?
the respondent
Next few questions Simple and direct To reassure the What brands of
questions respondent that the personal computers
survey is simple and did you consider when
easy to answer you bought it?
Questions up to a Focused questions Relate more to the What attributes did
third of the research objectives you consider when
questionnaire and convey to the you purchased you
respondent the area of personal computer?
research
Major portion of the Focused questions; To obtain most of the Rank the following
questionnaire some may be difficult information required attributes of a
and complicated for the research personal computer
based on their
importance to you
Last few questions Personal questions To get classification What is the highest
that may be perceived and demographic level of education you
by the respondent as information about the have attained?
sensitive respondent
 Pretesting and Correcting
Problems
• Pretesting Specific Questions For
• Meaning
• Task difficulty
• Respondent interest and attention
• Pretesting the overall Questionnaire
• Flow of the questionnaire
• Skip patterns
• Length
• Put yourself in the respondent’s shoes and answer
the questionnaire.

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Examples – spot the problems in
the questions
Why did you purchase a Sony Walkman?
 Great self-expressive benefits
 High quality
 Good service
 Great bass to treble ratio
 Better warranty
 Looks good

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Examples – spot the problems in
the questions
Don’t you think Budweiser makes the best commercials
Yes No
Which of the following restaurants do you visit
frequently?
 Burger King
 Pizza Hut
 Subway
 KFC
 McDonalds
Essentials of Marketing Research
Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Examples
Do you agree that, since fast-food restaurants produce a
disproportionate amount of waste, they should be
subject to an additional environmental tax?

 Yes
No

What is your annual income

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day
 Examples
How often do you eat fast food?

 Daily
 Every second day
 Once a week
 Every two weeks

Essentials of Marketing Research

Kumar, Aaker
, Day