Understanding &

Designing Questionnaire
Lecture 2
Research Methods

Department of Business Administration

IQRA University (Gulshan Campus)

24/09/2014
What is A Questionnaire?

A questionnaire is a set of questions for gathering

information from individuals. You can administer
questionnaires by mail, telephone, using face-to-face
interviews, as handouts, or electronically (i.e. by e- mail or
through web-based questionnaires).

A questionnaire is a series of questions asked to individuals

to obtain statistically useful information about a given topic.
When properly constructed and responsibly administered,
questionnaires become a vital instrument by which
statements can be made about specific groups, people or
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entire populations.
Something To Think

“Writing questions for a particular questionnaire

means not only constructing them for a
particular population and particular purpose but
placement next to another particular question as
well.”

3
Objectives Designing
Questionnaires

• To maximise response rates

• Every potential respondent will be willing to answer

• To obtain accurate relevant information

• Every potential respondent will interpret in the same
way
• Be able to respond accurately

4
Deciding What To Ask
• Information we are primarily interested in (i.e.
dependent variables)

• Information which might explain the dependent

variables (i.e. independent variables)

• Other factors related to both dependent and

independent factors which may distort the results
and have to be adjusted for (i.e. confounding
variables) 5
Question Content

Types of question content

• Behaviour (what people DO)

• Beliefs (what people believe is TRUE or FALSE)
• Attitudes (what people think is DESIRABLE)
• Attributes (respondent’s CHARACTERISTICS)

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Questionnaire Overview
• Question structure
• Wording of individual questions
• Criteria for assessing questions
• Questionnaire layout
• Pilot testing

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Question Structure
Three main types

• Un-structured

• Structured

• Semi-structured

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Types of Questions – Un-structured
Un-structured questionnaires (Open-ended)

Un-structured questions, or open-ended questions are

the questions where there is no list of answer choices
from which to choose. Respondents are simply asked to
write their response to a question.

• Used in exploratory research

• Disadvantage: inability to get adequate answers,

time-consuming coding
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Types of Questions – Un-structured
(cont.)
An open question is likely to receive a long answer

Example of un-structured Questions

What are the facilities and services do you expect from your library?
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________

What are the benefits for automating a library housekeeping functions?

_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________

It is best to use un-structured questions when you are exploring new 10

ideas and you don't really know what to expect from the respondents.
Types of Questions - Structured
Structured questionnaires (Closed Ended Questions)

Structured questions are based predominantly on closed

questions which produce data that can be analyzed quantitatively
for patterns and trends. The agenda is entirely predetermined by
the evaluator and provides little flexibility for respondents to
qualify their answers.

A closed question can be answered with either 'yes' or 'no‘, e.g.

Do you have a library membership card?

Yes ( )
No ( )
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Types of Questions – Structured
(cont.)
• Also called forced choice-format

• Easy and quick to fill in

• Minimize discrimination against the less literate / less

articulate

• Easy to code, record and analyze results quantitatively

• Easy to report results

• Disadvantage: can create false opinions due to insufficient 12

range of alternatives
Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)

Multiple Choice Questions

What purpose do you visit the library? (Multiple choices)

( ) To read news papers
( ) To refer books
( ) To borrow and return books
( ) To brows Internet

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Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)

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

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Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Scalar options
• Very favourable to very unfavourable
• Excellent to poor
• Extremely satisfied to extremely dissatisfied
• High priority goal to low priority goal
• A complete success to a complete failure
• A scale of 1-10 where 1 means lowest possible quality and 10
means highest possible quality
• Strongly agree to strongly disagree
• A scale of -3 to +3 where -3 means completely lacks this
characteristic and +3 means completely exhibits this
characteristic 15
Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Likert Scale
Likert scale is commonly used in survey research it is often used to
measure respondents attitudes by asking the extent to which they
agree or disagree with a particular question or statement.

Example – Mobile phone use in on-campus computer labs should be

prohibited.

Strongly Agree Neither Agree Disagree Strongly

Agree Nor Disagree Disagree
(Neutral) 16
Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Semantic Differential Scale

Semantic differential is a type of a rating scale designed to

measure the connotative meaning of objects, events and
concepts.

Example - “How would you rate the presentation?”

Extremely interesting 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely dull

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Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Semantic Differential Scale

Another example: To what extent the information obtained

from the web based resources are useful to you?

Position Extent Response

-2 Unsatisfied
-1 Somewhat satisfied
0 Neutral
+1 Satisfied
+2 Extremely satisfied 18
Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Rank-Order Scale
Rank order scale gives the respondent a set of items and asks them to put
the items in some form of order. The measure of 'order' can include such
as preference, importance, liking, effectiveness and so on.

Ordered Response Categories

Example - Please rank the following web based resource usefulness in order of
preference (starting from 1 is least preferred and 10 is most preferred).

S No. Web Based Resources Ranking (1 – 10)

1 eBooks
2 eJournals
3 Discussion forums 19

4 Database
Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Rank-Order Scale
Un-ordered response categories

Checklists
“What qualities are important in a supervisor? Circle as many
options as apply”

Patience
Intelligence
Research experience
Teaching ability
Good looks 20
Good personal hygiene
Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Rank-Order Scale
Un-ordered response categories
Ranking
“Please rank the importance of the following qualities in a supervisor
from most to least important by placing a 1 next to the most
important, a 2 next to the second most important and so forth”

2 Patience
5 Intelligence
4 Research experience
3 Teaching ability
1 Good looks
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6 Good personal hygiene
Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Wording Negative Questions

Questions using ‘not’ can be difficult to understand especially when

asking respondents if they agree or disagree

Problem question

“Marijuana should not be decriminalized”

1 Agree 2 Disagree

Alternative

“Marijuana should be legalized”

1 Agree 2 Disagree
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Or
“Marijuana should remain illegal”
1 Agree 2 Disagree
Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Frame of Reference

• Is the frame of reference for the question sufficiently clear?

Problem question

• How often do you visit your Doctor?

• Establish within what time frame -> within the last year? the last
month?
• Provide alternatives -> e.g. ‘weekly’ through to ‘never’
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 Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Criteria for Assessing Each Survey Question

Does the question require an answer?

• In order for an inquiry to constitute a survey question, it must

require an answer from each person to whom the question is
asked

• Introductory words “if” and “when” invites non-response

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Types of Questions - Structured
(cont.)
Examples

If you exercised in the last week, did you do strength exercises as part
of that exercise?
 Yes
 No

When you exercise, which type of exercise do you most prefer?

 Walking
 Jogging
 Swimming 25
 Other
Types of Questions – Semi-structured
Semi-structured questionnaires (Partially Structured Question)

Semi-structured questionnaires take a mixed approach. In some

situations, you may have a partial list of answer choices, but you may
still have some doubt or uncertainty about other possible responses.
You can create a partially structured question.

Example of a Partially Structured Question

What purpose do you use web based resources?

• For research work
• To write assignments
• To improve subject knowledge
• For the purpose of seminar presentation
• Any other (Please specify): 1.________________ 26
2. ________________
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.

1. Do you have computer knowledge?

• Yes ( )
• No ( )

2. If ‘yes’ how long have you been using?

• From last 6 months ( )
• From last 1 year ( )
• From last 2 years ( )
• From last 3-4 years ( )
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Questionnaire Layout – Instructions
• General instructions: introduction to purpose of questionnaire,
assurance of confidentiality, how respondent was chosen, how and
when to return questionnaire

• Section introductions: Provide brief introduction to each sub-section

e.g. “Finally we would like to know a little about your background so
we can see how different people feel about the topics about which
you have answered questions”

• Question instructions: Indicate how many responses the respondent

can tick (e.g. one only, as many as apply)

• ‘Go to’ instructions: Make use of these when using contingency

questions
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Questionnaire Layout
- Order of Questions
• Logical flow
• Build rapport
• Commence with questions the respondent will enjoy
answering
• Easy -> more difficult
• Concrete -> abstract
• Least sensitive -> sensitive
• Keep open-ended to minimum and if possible place
towards end
• Group questions into sections
• When using positive and negative items to form a scale,
mix the order to help avoid acquiescent response set
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• Introduce a variety of question formats to create interest
Questionnaire Length
In general
SHORT + SIMPLE = HIGHER RESPONSE RATES

But also consider

• Method of administration
• Nature of the sample
• Topic under investigation

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Method of Application

• Mail?
• Telephone?
• E-mail?
• Internet?
• Personal interviews?

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Pilot Testing

• Respondents should told, questions are being

developed and they are being asked to improve them.

• Ask how they would phrase question, what they had in

mind when gave particular answer, whether there were
unavailable alternative answers, alternative wordings,
etc.

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Pilot Testing – Reasons
• Variation
• Meaning
• Redundancy
• Scalability
• Non-response
• Acquiescent response set
• Flow
• Question skips
• Timing
• Respondent interest and attention
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Designing Questions – Cautions
1. Question number
2. Order of Questions
3. Check the spellings of the question statements
4. Do not use offensive language
5. Avoid double-meaning Questions
6. If there are any difficult terms in the questionnaire, explain them
7. Avoid unnecessary questions
8. Know the academic and mental capacities of the target population
9. If there are certain personal or emotional questions, ask them in the
middle or at the end
10.Don't ask for elaborate answers
11.Use polite language
12.Don't write questions that already contain the answer to the
question
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13.Let the respondents know that their privacy will be ensured