Definition of questionnaire:
A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other
prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. That is to say, it is a
series of questions asked to individuals to obtain statistically useful information about a
given topic. "Questionnaires are any written instruments that present respondents
with a series of questions or statements to which they are
to react either by writing out their answers or selecting from
among existing answers. "
(Brown, 2001, p. 6)
Types of Questionnaire Formats:
There are two types of questionnaire questions, open-ended and closed-ended. Following
description will help you understand the format of questionnaire better, have a look:
1. Open Format Questions
Open format questions or open-ended questions give your audience an opportunity to
express their opinions in a free-flowing manner. These questions don’t have predetermined
set of responses and the respondent is free to answer whatever he/she feels right. By
including open format questions in your questionnaire, you can get true, insightful and even
unexpected suggestions. Qualitative questions fall under this category.
An ideal questionnaire would include an open-ended question at the end of the
questionnaire that seeks feedback and/or suggestions for improvements from respondents.
Example of an Open Format Question
2. Closed Format Questions
Multiple choice questions, where respondents are restricted to choose among any of the
given multiple choice answers are known as closed format or closed-ended questions. There
is no fixed limit as to how many multiple choices should be given; the number can be even or
odd.
One of the main advantages of including closed format questions in your questionnaire
design is the ease at performing preliminary analysis. These questions are ideal for
calculating statistical data and percentages, as the answers set is known. Closed ended
questions can also be asked to different groups at different intervals to efficiently track their
opinion about a product/service/company over time. Closed-ended questions can be further
classified into 7 types.
Example of a Closed Format Question
Classification of Closed Format Questions for Questionnaire Design
There are 7 ways in which pollsters can create polling or survey questions for their
respondents to collect accurate statistical data. Following is a list of 7 types of closed-ended
questions that can be a part of your questionnaire design:
A. Leading Questions
Questions that force your audience for a particular type of answer are known as leading
questions. In a leading question, all the answers would be equally likely. An example of a
leading question would be a question with choices such as, fair, good, great, poor, superb,
excellent etc. These questions are meant to get an opinion from the audience in limited
words.
Example of a Closed-Ended Leading Question
B. Importance Questions
In importance questions, the respondents are usually asked to rate the importance of a
particular issue, on a rating scale of 1 to 5. These questions can help you understand things
that hold significance to your respondents and allow you make business critical decisions.
Example of a Closed-Ended Importance Question
C. Likert Questions
Likert questions can help you ascertain how strongly your respondents agree to a particular
statement. Such types of questions also help you assess how your customers feel towards a
certain issue, product or service.
Example of a Closed-Ended Likert Question
D. Dichotomous Questions
These are simple questions that ask respondents to answer in a yes or no. One major
drawback with dichotomous questions is that it cannot analyze the answers between yes
and no, there is no scope for a middle perspective.
Example of a Closed-Ended Dichotomous Question
E. Bipolar Questions
Bipolar questions are the ones having two extreme answers written at the opposite ends of
the scale. The respondents are asked to mark their responses between those two.
Example of a Closed-Ended Bipolar Question
F. Rating Scale Questions
In rating scale questions, the respondents are asked to rate a particular issue on a scale that
ranges between poor to good. Rating scale questions usually have an even number of
choices, so that respondents are not given the choice of selecting a middle option.
Example of a Closed-Ended Rating Scale Question
G. Buying Propensity Questions
Buying propensity questions try to assess the future intentions of customers and determine
respondent’s buying intention. These questions ask respondents if they want to buy a
particular product, what requirements they want to be addressed, and whether they would
buy such a product in future.
Example of a Closed-Ended Buying propensity Question
Methods of collection:
Method Benefits/Cautions
Low cost-per-response.
Mail is subject to postal delays, which can be substantial when posting
remote areas or unpredictable events such as natural disasters.
Postal
Survey participants can choose to remain anonymous.
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 phone
numbers from) doesn't skew your sample, For example, if you select
the phone numbers from a phone book, you are necessarily excluding
Telephone
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.
Are more prone to social desirability biases than other modes, so
telephone interviews are generally not suitable for sensitive topics.
Electronic This method has a low ongoing cost, and on most surveys costs nothing
for the participants and little for the surveyors. However, Initial set-up
costs can be high for a customised design due to the effort required in
developing the back-end system or programming the questionnaire
itself.
Questionnaires can be conducted swiftly, without postal delays.
Survey participants can choose to remain anonymous, though risk
being tracked through cookies, unique links and other technology.
It is not labour intensive.
Questions can be more detailed, as opposed to the limits of paper or
telephones.
This method works well if your survey contains several branching
questions. Help or instructions can be dynamically displayed with the
question as needed, and automatic sequencing means the computer
can determine the next question, rather than relying on respondents to
correctly follow skip instructions.
Not all of the sample may be able to access the electronic form, and
therefore results may not be representative of the target population.
The main parts of a questionnaire:
The main components of a questionnaire are:
Title:
Just like any other piece of writing, a questionnaire should have a title
to identify the domain of the investigation, to provide the respondent
with initial orientation, and to activate various content schemata. Because
uninformative titles fail to achieve these objectives, Aiken
(1997) suggests that we should try and avoid title words like "questionnaire"
or "survey." For better identification, the title might be
accompanied by the date of the survey administration and the name of
the organization conducting or sponsoring the study.
Instructions:
The title of the questionnaire is followed by instructions. These cannot
be too long and yet need to be informative and well pitched
because they play an important role in determining the respondents'
feelings toward the questionnaire and in specifying how they should
go about answering the items. Instructions are of two types:
A-General instruction /opening greeting: at the beginning of the questionnaire. As a
minimum, the general instruction (or 'opening greeting') should
cover the following points:
• What the study is about and why it is important or socially useful.
• The organization responsible for conducting the study.
• Emphasizing that there are no right or wrong answers; requesting
honest answers and trying to elicit integrity in general.
• Promising confidentiality.
• Saying 'thank you. '
For better readability and emphasis, the instructions should be
graphically highlighted, such as being printed in boldface type, and
the main pieces of information can also be given in a format such as
bulleted points.
Sample of general instruction:
We would like to ask you to help us by answering the following
questions concerning foreign language learning. This survey is
conducted by the Language Research Group of the University of
X to better understand... This is not a test so there are no "right"
or "wrong" answers and you don't even have to write your name
on it. We are interested in your personal opinion. Please give
your answers sincerely as only this will guarantee the success of
the investigation. Thank you very much for your help.
B-Specific instructions:
Specific instructions explain and demonstrate how respondents should
go about answering the questions. It is obvious that this is a crucial
part. Each new task-type requires instructions, and in order to separate
these instructions from the rest of the text, they should be graphically
highlighted, for example by printing them in bold (just like the general
instruction).
A very important role of the instructions is to explain how various
rating scales work and what the various rating criteria
are. For example, if we ask the respondents to produce evaluations
on a five-point scale (i. e., giving marks ranging from 1 to 5), we
needs to explain very clearly what each numerical category stands for.
Then, to avoid misunderstandings and mistakes, a short summary of
this explanation will need to be repeated at least twice on each new
page. Specific instructions introducing each new task.
Sample of instructions for numerical rating scales:
In the following section we would like you to answer some
questions by simply giving marks from 1 to 5.
1 = not at all 2 = not really 3 = so-so 4 = quite a lot 5 = very much
For example, consider the following item. If you like
hamburgers very much, write '5' in the space in front of the
question:
How much do you like hamburgers?
Please write one (and only one) whole number in front of each
question and don't leave out any of them. Thanks.
The advantages and disadvantages of questionnaires:
The advantages of questionnaires :
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 analysed more 'scientifically' and objectively than other forms of research
When data has been quantified, it can be used to compare and contrast other research and
may be used to measure change
Positivists believe that quantitative data can be used to create new theories and / or test
existing hypotheses
The disadvantages of questionnaires :
Is argued to be inadequate to understand some forms of information - i.e. changes of
emotions, behaviour, feelings etc.
Phenomenologists state that quantitative research is simply an artificial creation by the
researcher, as it is asking only a limited amount of information without explanation
Lacks validity
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
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 behavioral 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.
Questions to be avoided in a questionnaire:
There is something more important than knowing the questionnaire format and what
type of questions to be asked in a questionnaire. It is understanding, what questions
need to be avoided in a survey or poll.
Take care to avoid following type of questions when preparing a questionnaire:
1. Embarrassing Questions
Questions that ask respondents details about their personal and private matters are
embarrassing questions. Such types of questions are better to be avoided as you risk
losing trust of your respondents. Your respondents might also feel uncomfortable to
answer such questions and might refuse to answer your questionnaire altogether.
2. Positive/ Negative Connotation Questions
Since most verbs, adjectives and nouns in the English language have either a positive or
negative connotations, questions are bound to be taken as either positive or negative.
While defining a question, strong negative or positive overtones must be avoided. You
will get different data depending on the positive or negative connotation of your
question. Ideal questions should have neutral or subtle overtones.
3. Hypothetical Questions
Hypothetical questions are based on speculation and fantasy. An example of a
hypothetical question would be "If you were the CEO of an ABC organization what would
be the changes that you would bring?" Questions such as these, force respondents to
give their ideas on a particular subject, and generally the data collected through such
questions are inconsistent and unclear. Hypothetical questions should be avoided in
questionnaires.