Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and

other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Although
they are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always
the case. The questionnaire was invented by Sir Francis Galton.

Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are
cheap, do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone
surveys, and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data.
However, such standardized answers may frustrate users. Questionnaires are also
sharply limited by the fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and
respond to them. Thus, for some demographic groups conducting a survey by
questionnaire may not be practical.

As a type of survey, questionnaires also have many of the same problems relating
to question construction and wording that exist in other types of opinion polls.

Types

A distinction can be made between questionnaires with questions that measure

separate variables, and questionnaires with questions that are aggregated into
either a scale or index[1]. Questionnaires within the former category are commonly
part of surveys, whereas questionnaires in the latter category are commonly part of
tests.

Questionnaires with questions that measure separate variables, could for instance
include questions on:

• preferences (e.g. political party)

• behaviors (e.g. food consumption)
• facts (e.g. gender)

Questionnaires with questions that are aggregated into either a scale or index,
include for instance questions that measure:

• latent traits (e.g. personality traits such as extroversion)

• attitudes (e.g. towards immigration)
• an index (e.g. Social Economic Status)

Questionnaire construction

Question types

Usually, a questionnaire consists of a number of questions that the respondent has

to answer in a set format. A distinction is made between open-ended and closed-
ended questions. An open-ended question asks the respondent to formulate his own
answer, whereas a closed-ended question has the respondent pick an answer from
a given number of options. The response options for a closed-ended question should
be exhaustive and mutually exclusive. Four types of response scales for closed-
ended questions are distinguished:

• Dichotomous, where the respondent has two options

• Nominal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two unordered
options
• Ordinal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two ordered
options
• (Bounded)Continuous, where the respondent is presented with a continuous
scale

A respondent's answer to an open-ended question is coded into a response scale

afterwards. An example of an open-ended question is a question where the testee
has to complete a sentence (sentence completion item).[1]

Question sequence

In general, questions should flow logically from one to the next. To achieve the best
response rates, questions should flow from the least sensitive to the most sensitive,
from the factual and behavioural to the attitudinal, and from the more general to
the more specific.

Basic rules for questionnaire item construction

• Use statements which are interpreted in the same way by members of

different subpopulations of the population of interest.
• Use statements where persons that have different opinions or traits will give
different answers.
• Think of having an "open" answer category after a list of possible answers.
• Use only one aspect of the construct you are interested in per item.
• Use positive statements and avoid negatives or double negatives.
• Do not make assumptions about the respondent.
• Use clear and comprehensible wording, easily understandable for all
educational levels
• Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• Avoid items that contain more than one question per item (e.g. Do you like
strawberries and potatoes?).

Questionnaire administration modes

Main modes of questionnaire administration are:[1]

• Face-to-face questionnaire administration, where an interviewer presents the

items orally.
• Paper-and-pencil questionnaire administration, where the items are
presented on paper.
• Computerized questionnaire administration, where the items are presented
on the computer.
 • Adaptive computerized questionnaire administration, where a selection of
items is presented on the computer, and based on the answers on those
items, the computer selects following items optimized for the testee's
estimated ability or trait.

Questionnaire construction

A questionnaire is a series of questions asked to individuals to obtain statistically

useful information about a given topic[1]. When properly constructed and responsibly
administered, questionnaires become a vital instrument by which statements can
be made about specific groups or people or entire populations.

Questionnaires are frequently used in quantitative marketing research and social

research. They are a valuable method of collecting a wide range of information from
a large number of individuals, often referred to as respondents. Adequate
questionnaire construction is critical to the success of a survey. Inappropriate
questions, incorrect ordering of questions, incorrect scaling, or bad questionnaire
format can make the survey valueless, as it may not accurately reflect the views
and opinions of the participants. A useful method for checking a questionnaire and
making sure it is accurately capturing the intended information is to pretest among
a smaller subset of target respondents.

Questionnaire construction issues

• Know how (and whether) you will use the results of your research before you
start. If, for example, the results won't influence your decision or you can't
afford to implement the findings or the cost of the research outweighs its
usefulness, then save your time and money; don't bother doing the research.
• The research objectives and frame of reference should be defined
beforehand, including the questionnaire's context of time, budget,
manpower, intrusion and privacy.
• How (randomly or not) and from where (your sampling frame) you select the
respondents will determine whether you will be able to generalize your
findings to the larger population.
• The nature of the expected responses should be defined and retained for
interpretation of the responses, be it preferences (of products or services),
facts, beliefs, feelings, descriptions of past behavior, or standards of action.
• Unneeded questions are an expense to the researcher and an unwelcome
imposition on the respondents. All questions should contribute to the
objective(s) of the research.
• If you "research backwards" and determine what you want to say in the
report (i.e., Package A is more/less preferred by X% of the sample vs.
Package B, and y% compared to Package C) then even though you don't
know the exact answers yet, you will be certain to ask all the questions you
need - and only the ones you need - in such a way (metrics) to write your
report.
• The topics should fit the respondents’ frame of reference. Their background
may affect their interpretation of the questions. Respondents should have
enough information or expertise to answer the questions truthfully.
• The type of scale, index, or typology to be used shall be determined.
• The level of measurement you use will determine what you can do with and
conclude from the data. If the response option is yes/no then you will only
know how many or what percent of your sample answered yes/no. You
cannot, however, conclude what the average respondent answered.
• The types of questions (closed, multiple-choice, open) should fit the statistical
data analysis techniques available and your goals.

• Questions and prepared responses to choose from should be neutral as to

intended outcome. A biased question or questionnaire encourages
respondents to answer one way rather than another. Even questions without
bias may leave respondents with expectations.
• The order or “natural” grouping of questions is often relevant. Prior previous
questions may bias later questions.
• The wording should be kept simple: no technical or specialized words.
• The meaning should be clear. Ambiguous words, equivocal sentence
structures and negatives may cause misunderstanding, possibly invalidating
questionnaire results. Double negatives should be reworded as positives.

• If a survey question actually contains more than one issue, the researcher
will not know which one the respondent is answering. Care should be taken to
ask one question at a time.
• The list of possible responses should be collectively exhaustive. Respondents
should not find themselves with no category that fits their situation. One
solution is to use a final category for “other ________”.
• The possible responses should also be mutually exclusive. Categories should
not overlap. Respondents should not find themselves in more than one
category, for example in both the “married” category and the “single”
category - there may be need for separate questions on marital status and
living situation.

• Writing style should be conversational, yet concise and accurate and

appropriate to the target audience.
• Many people will not answer personal or intimate questions. For this reason,
questions about age, income, marital status, etc. are generally placed at the
end of the survey. This way, even if the respondent refuses to answer these
"personal" questions, he/she will have already answered the research
questions.
 • “Loaded” questions evoke emotional responses and may skew results.

• Presentation of the questions on the page (or computer screen) and use of
white space, colors, pictures, charts, or other graphics may affect
respondent's interest or distract from the questions.
• Numbering of questions may be helpful.
• Questionnaires can be administered by research staff, by volunteers or self-
administered by the respondents. Clear, detailed instructions are needed in
either case, matching the needs of each audience.

Methods of collection

Method Benefits/Cautions
• This method has a low cost.
• Survey participants can choose to remain anonymous.
Postal
• It is not labour intensive.
• Questionnaires can be conducted swiftly.
• Rapport with respondents
• High response rate

• Be careful that your sampling frame (i.e., where you get the
Telephone phone numbers from) doesn't skew your sample, For example,
if you select the phone numbers from a phone book, you are
necessarily excluding people who only have a mobile phone,
those who requested an unpublished phone number, and
individuals who have recently moved to the area because
none of these people will be in the book.
• This method has a low cost, and on most surveys costs
nothing for the participants and little for the surveyors.
• Questionnaires can be conducted swiftly.
• Survey participants can choose to remain anonymous.
• It is not labour intensive.
• Questions can be more detailed, as opposed to the limits of
Electronic
paper or telephones.
• This method works well if your survey contains several
branching questions.

• Sample may "self select" and thus not be representative of

the population.
• Questions can be more detailed, as opposed to the limits of
paper or telephones.
• Rapport with respondents
Personally
• High response rate
Administered
• Usually a convenience (vs. a statistical) sample so you cannot
generalize your results.
Types of questions

1. Contingency questions - A question that is answered only if the

respondent gives a particular response to a previous question. This avoids
asking questions of people that do not apply to them (for example, asking
men if they have ever been pregnant).
2. Matrix questions - Identical response categories are assigned to multiple
questions. The questions are placed one under the other, forming a matrix
with response categories along the top and a list of questions down the side.
This is an efficient use of page space and respondents’ time.
3. Closed ended questions - Respondents’ answers are limited to a fixed set
of responses. Most scales are closed ended. Other types of closed ended
questions include:
o Yes/no questions - The respondent answers with a “yes” or a “no”.
o Multiple choice - The respondent has several option from which to
choose.
o Scaled questions - Responses are graded on a continuum (example :
rate the appearance of the product on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10
being the most preferred appearance). Examples of types of scales
include the Likert scale, semantic differential scale, and rank-order
scale (See scale for a complete list of scaling techniques.).
4. Open ended questions - No options or predefined categories are
suggested. The respondent supplies their own answer without being
constrained by a fixed set of possible responses. Examples of types of open
ended questions include:
o Completely unstructured - For example, “What is your opinion of
questionnaires?”
o Word association - Words are presented and the respondent
mentions the first word that comes to mind.
o Sentence completion - Respondents complete an incomplete
sentence. For example, “The most important consideration in my
decision to buy a new house is . . .”
o Story completion - Respondents complete an incomplete story.
o Picture completion - Respondents fill in an empty conversation
balloon.
o Thematic apperception test - Respondents explain a picture or
make up a story about what they think is happening in the picture

Question sequence

• Questions should flow logically from one to the next.

• The researcher must ensure that the answer to a question is not influenced
by previous questions.
• Questions should flow from the more general to the more specific.
• Questions should flow from the least sensitive to the most sensitive.
• Questions should flow from factual and behavioural questions to attitudinal
and opinion questions.
• Questions should flow from unaided to aided questions.
• According to the three stage theory (also called the sandwich theory), initial
questions should be screening and rapport questions. Then in the second
stage you ask all the product specific questions. In the last stage you ask
demographic questions.