Questionnaire Design

• Not easy
• Not just about correct grammar
• Use simple words not very difficult words (ambiguous, USP)
• What should be asked?
• How should the questions be phrased?
• In what sequence should they be arranged?
• Questionnaire layout?
• Questionnaire pretesting – needs to be revised?
Prerequisites to developing a questionnaire

Specific Research
Good Problem Clear Research Hypotheses
Definition Questions
 Questionnaire relevancy

- Asking a wrong question

- Asking Name of the respondent ( do you need it?)
- Asking contact details
- Asking sensitive questions like what is your income, age?
- Making the questionnaire very long ( Response percentage will be
low)
 Questionnaire Accuracy
• If questions are not difficult, ego-threatening or lengthy, then
probability of answering is high

• Simple, understandable, unambiguous words to be used

• Put yourself in their shoes

Wording of Questions
Open ended vs. Fixed Alternative questions

• Open ended questions (Qualitative Research)

• I like coffee because….
• What comes to mind when you look at this advertisement?
• How can we improve employee/student satisfaction?
• Useful when conducting exploratory research
• Smaller number of respondents
• Any language , record Audio
• Provides richness of data
• Respondent can express himself freely
• Depends on what he says, can further ask questions & elaborate
• Disadvantage – if respondent is not very expressive, difficulty in categorising & clubbing
responses, develop a classification scheme, costly to administer
 Fixed Alternative questions
• Fixed Alternative Questions(Quantitative Research)
• Do you use ready-to-heat foods?
• Yes No

• Age Category
• Less than 25 years 25-40 years Above 40 years
 Point out the errors
• Income Category per month
• 10,000 – 30,000
• 30,000 – 50,000
• 50,000 – 100,000
• 100,000 – 150,000
• 150,000- 200,000

• No one wants to be in the lowest category

 Corrections
• Income Category per month
• Less than 30,000
• 30,001 – 50,000
• 50,001 – 100,000
• 100,001 – 150,000
• Above 150,000
 Means of Data Collection
• Means of Data Collection – telephone interview, personal interview,
self-administered questionnaire (offline or online) – will affect the
kind of questions, wording, layout

• In Telephone survey, - easy to understand response categories

• In personal interview – use conversational style

• Layout is also affected by means of data collection

 Guidelines for constructing Questionnaire
Marital Status
• Married
• Single
• Widowed
• Separated
• Divorced

• Avoid sensitive questions

 Guidelines for constructing Questionnaire
• Use simple, conversational language

• Avoid using words like Brand image/ corporate image/market share/

employee engagement/ brand positioning/marginal analysis
 Guidelines for constructing Questionnaire
Organic foods are considered healthy. Do you use organic foods?

• Avoid leading questions

• A leading question suggests or implies certain answers
Guidelines for constructing Questionnaire
• Do you indulge in charity?
• Do you cheat in an exam?

• Avoid loaded questions

• Loaded questions prompt the respondent to give socially desirable
answers
• Do you know of anyone who cheats in an exam?
Guidelines for constructing Questionnaire
• How often do you eat out?

• eat out/takeaway/ order food from outside

• Avoid ambiguous questions
• Provide as much clarity as possible
Guidelines for constructing Questionnaire
• Do you think Coke is cool and refreshing?

• Do you think the hospital waiting area is clean & comfortable?

• Avoid double barreled questions

 Guidelines for constructing Questionnaire
• Do you think Reliance shares its profits with its shareholders?

• Avoid making assumptions

 Guidelines for constructing Questionnaire
• How many times do you order food in a month/year?
• What is your annual income?
• How many times have you gone out to watch a movie in a year?
• What percentage of times do you go to a gym to exercise in a year?

Avoid questions that may burden respondent’s memory

Telescoping error occurs when respondents believe that events happened more recently
than they actually did.
Squishing error when respondents believe that the events occurred longer ago than they
actually did.
 Guidelines for constructing Questionnaire
• Make questions generate Variance

• Positively & Negatively worded statements

• Likert scaled questions
• Bajaj Capital provides excellent service to customers instead of Bajaj
Capital provides good service to customers. (use superlative degree
of adjectives)
 Sequence of Questions
• Opening questions – interesting, engaging
• Build rapport, allow them to warm up
• Demographic questions
• Funnel technique. Broader questions first, then specific questions
• Flowchart & Branching
eg – 1. Do you use paid mobile apps?
2. If not, skip to Question 3. If yes, on an average how much do you spend
per month on these? (Google Form)
• Sections (Which ones do you use, why do you use)(Attitude, Perceived ease
of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Trust)(Demographics)
 Internet Questionnaire
• Which newspapers do you read? (Use checkboxes, multiple options)
HT
TOI
Indian Express
Economic Times
Others
• Which is your most preferred newspaper? (Use Radio button, single
option)
 Pretesting the Questionnaire

• Send it to yourself
• Pilot test among your friends
 Unaided Recall
• Unaided Recall/Top of the Mind Recall

Can you tell me the names of sports brands/insurance products for

which you have seen or heard any advertising recently?

Did you watch the India – Australia Test series?

If yes, which brands of sports/insurance products were advertised?
Examples Attitude, Interests, Perceptions– page 369 onwards
 Aided Recall
• I am reading out a few brand names. Some of them were advertised
during the Test series/TV program. Please tell me which ones you
remembered seeing

• Brand A
• Brand B
• Brand C
 Recognition
• Show Ad

• Do you recall seeing this ad?

 Feelings/Emotions/
Perceptions
• Show Ad

• What do you feel when you see this ad?

(You could use words or sentences to describe your feelings)
 Class Discussion
• Case 15.2 – Canterbury Travels

• Sample Questionnaires at end of Chapter 15

 Group Projects
• Study of what customer finds appealing in retail environment &evaluation
of a particular retail outlet on these parameters
• Perception & Intention to buy Electric Car
• Satisfaction survey of Restaurant/ Service/ Hospital/Flipkart/Amazon
• Effectiveness of a Website
• Satisfaction survey about DSB
• Students perception and research before finalising specialisation in 2nd year
of post graduation programme
• What do students look for when choosing B-school
• Comparative Survey of Starbucks & CCD, Flipkart & Amazon
 Group Projects
• Reasons for buying & Intention to buy Smart Speaker device – Alexa,
Google Echo Dot
• Effect of celebrity branding on customer intention to purchase
products
• Following celebrities on Twitter & credibility of their opinion
• TV/newspaper journalism & its credibility – Fake news
• Effect of children in influencing Buying Behaviour of the Family
• Impulsive Buying Behaviour of Individuals
• Intention of Buying medicines from the Net