COURSE: QUANTITATIVE METHODS

TOPIC: DESIGNING SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (for research) – Things to consider

SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
➢ Are defined as objective questions used to gain detailed insights from
respondents about a survey research topic.
➢ These answers received for those quantitative survey questions are analyzed and
a research report is generated on the basis of this quantitative data.
➢ These questions form the core of a survey and are used to gather numerical data
to determine statistical results.
➢ Feedback received to quantitative survey questions is related to, measured by or
measuring a “quantity” or statistic and not the “quality” of the parameter.

Types of quantitative survey questions

Quantitative survey questions should be such that they offer respondents a medium to
answer accurately on the basis of this factor, quantitative survey questions are divided into
three types:

1. Descriptive Survey Questions

Are used to gain information about a variable or multiple variables to associate
a quantity to the variable.
It is the simplest type of quantitative survey questions and helps researchers in
qualifying the variables by surveying a large sample of their target objective.
Most widely implemented descriptive questions start with “what is this…”,
“how much…”, “what percentage of…” and such similar questions.
Examples:
1.1. What is the most preferred food of the Filipinos?
Variable: Food
Target group: Filipinos
1.2. What are the facets that transform VSU student thoughts and
motivate them to join EVSU University?
Variable: facets that transform career decisions
Target group: VSU students
1.3. How many Filipino citizens choose to leave the country to find a
better avenues?
Variable: Number of citizens looking for better opportunities
Target group: Filipino citizens
✓ In every example mentioned above, researchers should focus on
quantifying the variable. The only factor that changes is the parameter
of measurement. They are different quantitative sample problem which
need to be measured by different parameters.

2. Comparative Survey Questions

Are used to obtain a comparison between 2 groups of variables. The aim is to
establish a clear difference between one or more variables belonging to different
target groups.
The questions usually begin with “what is the difference in [dependable
variable] between [two or more variables]?” This question will be enough to
 realize that the main objective of comparative questions is to form a
comparative relationship between the groups under consideration.
Examples:
[Link] are the differences in the usage of mobile between young and
older people?
Dependent Variable: Usage of mobile devices
Comparison groups: Young generation and Older generation
[Link] are the differences in daily calorie intake between Filipino
women and men?
Dependent Variable: Calorie intake
Comparison Groups: Filipino men and women
[Link] is the difference in food preferences in Filipino children and
adults?
Dependent Variable: Food preference
Comparison groups: Filipino children and adults
✓ The various groups mentioned in the above-mentioned option indicate
independent variables. These independent variables could be based on
gender, ethnicity or education. It is the dependable variable that
determines the complexity of comparative survey questions.

3. Relationship Survey Questions

Are used to understand the association, trends, and causal relationship between
two or more variables. When discussing research topics, the term
relationship/casual survey questions should be carefully used since it is a widely
used type of research design, i.e. experimental research-where the cause and
effect between two or more variables. These questions start with “what is the
relationship [between or amongst] followed by a string of independent [gender
or ethnicity] and dependent variables [career, political beliefs etc.]?”
Examples:
3.1. What is the relationship between age and usage of gadgets in
EVSU-TC?
Dependent Variable: Usage of gadgets
Independent Variable: Age
Relationship group: EVSU-TC
3.2. Do grades have an impact on the future success of BSIT students?
Dependent Variable: Future success
Independent Variable: Grades
Relationship group: BSIT students
3.3. What is the relationship between college students’ study time and
their scores in exams?
Dependent Variable: Scores in Exams
Independent Variable: Study time
Relationship group: College students

How to design Quantitative Survey Questions?

There are four critical steps to follow while designing quantitative survey questions:
1. Select the type of quantitative survey question
The objective of the research is reflected in the chosen type of quantitative
survey question. For the respondents to have a clear understanding of the
 survey, researchers should select the desired type of quantitative survey
question.
2. Recognize the filtered dependent and independent variable along with the target
group/s
Irrespective of the type of selected quantitative survey question (descriptive,
comparative or relationship based), researchers should decide on the dependent
and independent variables and also the target audience.
There are four levels of measurement variables – one of which can be chosen
for creating quantitative survey questions. Nominal variable indicates the names
of variables, ordinal variables indicates names and order of variables, interval
variables indicates name, order, and established interval between order
variables and ratio variable indicates the name, order, and established interval
and also an absolute zero value.
A variable can not only be calculated but also can be manipulated and
controlled. For descriptive survey questions, there can be multiple variables for
which questions can be formed. In the other two types of quantitative survey
questions (Comparative and Relationship-based) dependent and independent
variables are to be decided. Independent variables are those which are
manipulated in order to observe the change in the dependent variables.
3. Choose the right structure according to the decided type of quantitative survey question
As discussed in the previous section, appropriate structure has to be chosen to
create quantitative survey questions. The intention of creating these survey
questions should align with the structure of the questions:
This structure indicates – 1) variables, 2) groups and 3) order in which
the variables and groups should appear in the questions.
4. Note the roadblock you are trying to solve in order to create a thorough survey
questions
Analyze the ease of reading these questions once the right structure is in place,
will the respondents be able to early understand the questions – Ensure this
factor before finalizing the quantitative survey questions.

What is a good questionnaire?

A good questionnaire should be valid, reliable, clear, interesting and succinct.
Valid – a valid questionnaire should ask what it intends to ask, i.e. the
questions should be phrased in such a way that the respondent
understands, the objective of the questions. To achieve this, the
questionnaire should be reviewed by the “content expert” during the
pilot test. (e.g. if the target respondents are a diabetic patient, then a
diabetic patient should comment whether he understands the
questionnaire). Any uncertainties and queries should be clarified till the
question is clearly understand.
Reliable – a reliable questionnaire should yield the same answer if the
same question is posed to the respondent repeatedly in a short span of
time. This can be achieved by performing a “test-retest” i.e. administer
the same questionnaire to the respondent a second time and check for
consistency of the answer. Any discrepancy in the answers could be due
to lack of clarity of the questions and this should be reviewed and
rephrased.
Interesting – an interesting questionnaire is more likely to be complete
by the respondent and hence yields a better response rate. This requires
 the researcher to put some thoughts into asking questions that are
relevant to the respondents and in a logical sequence.
Succinct – a succinct questionnaire asks questions that aim to answer
only the research objectives. Any questions beyond that scope of the
research should be excluded. It is common for researchers to “cast the
wider” so that they will collect more data, regardless of whether these
data are important or not. This usually happens when the researcher has
not properly thought through the research objectives. It runs the risk
asking too many questions and the questionnaire runs into many pages.

Six Methodological Components in Designing an Online Survey

1. User-friendly design layout

The format of the questionnaire should be easy for the participants to navigate
around and should need only a minimum of computer skills. Items should be
short, clear and easy to read by the participants, elderly people might need larger
fonts. Sensitive or personal questions should be placed at the end.
2. Selecting survey participants
An easy access to surveys for all participants is essential in any online
questionnaire survey. An online questionnaire may be appropriate only for a
certain age groups. For example, an online study among elderly population
would not be appropriate if the proportion of elderly who access/use internet is
low.
3. Avoiding multiple responses
Another important feature of the online survey design is the ability to avoid
multiple responses. This is a particularly challenging when incentives are
provided to the survey participants. In order to minimize this problem, online
survey design should able to include a feature that enables to register interested
participants (through their email) in the first stage so that the online tool will be
able to assign a unique participant number which will minimize the chance of
multiple enrolments into the study. It is very important that the email should be
used for sharing the survey link only to ensure participants details are protected.
Restriction through an IP address could be another strategy to avoid multiple
enrolments.
4. Data management
Generally, online survey platforms offer convenient and reliable data
management. Online survey format protects against the loss of data and
facilitates data transfer into a data (e.g. excel or SPSS) for analysis. It can be
argued the overall ease of use for well-designed questionnaires for both study
participants and researchers potentially improves the reliability and validity of
the data collection process.
5. Ethical issues
Online administration of surveys raises unique ethical questions regarding key
ethical components including:
a. Informed consent
✓ In most online survey tools, it is not possible to explain the study or to
take verbal consent from the participants. Researchers therefore have
turned to ensuring that all information regarding the study, participants’
rights and researcher’s contact details are provided on the first page of
the survey.
 b. Privacy and confidentially
✓ There have been concerns regarding the ability of online administration
tools ability to facilitate primary and confidentially. Survey tools such
as SurveyMonkey have been associated with easily accessible data from
surveys shared from common account thereby compromising
confidentiality. Most of these tools rely on the researchers’ ingenuity in
setting up the survey settings to limit for instance participants’ IP
address or access to their own personal data.
c. Right to withdrawal or omission of items
✓ Study participants should have a right to withdrawal from the survey in
addition to the choice of opt out sharing the data already provided on an
online questionnaire. Researchers should, therefore, ensure that the
opportunity to erase or skip questions or backtrack through the survey is
provided in order to maintain ethnically sound conduct.
6. Piloting tools
Once the survey tools, contents, and platforms are decided, it is very important
to carry out a pilot with potential participants. Pilot studies can help ensure the
adequacy of the questions and comprehensiveness of the contents. Some aspects
such as download time require piloting an electronic version of survey.

Six Methodological Components in Designing Offline Survey

1. Questionnaire design in terms of content

All process participants develop a questionnaire that meets the survey goals and
easy to process.
2. Creation of the questionnaire print template
The completed questionnaire is adapted to the layout of the corporate identity
and finalized as a print template.
3. Wording of the letter on invitation
To encourage participant, a cover letter is prepared, which is also designed in
accordance with the corporate identity and corporate design of the study.
4. Print
The cover letter and the questionnaire can be printed internally or handed over
to an appropriate service provider for printing. However, the costs of copies of
the instruments is expensive. If replies are to be sent by standard mail, a reply
envelope is also required.
5. Field phase
The questionnaires will be completed and collected within a certain period of
time.
6. Evaluation
The questionnaires are digitized. The results are then prepared and evaluated
externally or internally according to the study’s specifications.

Closed-ended Survey Questions

Respondents’ answers are limited to fixed set of responses. Most scales are closed ended.
Types of closed-ended questions include:
a. Yes/No questions – the respondent answers the questions with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.
Example: have you ever visited EVSU-TC?
 b. Multiple choice – the respondent has several options from which to choose.
Example: how would you rate the performance of BSIT students?
(i)Excellent (ii)Good (iii)Fair (iv)Poor

c. Scaled questions – responses are graded on a continuum (example: Rate the

appearance of the performance of BSIT students on a scale from 1to 10, with 10 being
the most preferred performance). Examples of scales include the likert scale and
semantic differential scale.
Likert scale is a psychometric scale commonly involved in research that employs
questionnaires to measure social attitudes.
Example: Are you happy with your grades in the first semester?
(1) Strongly disagree (2) disagree (3) don’t know (4) agree (5) strongly agree

A semantic differential scale is a list of opposite adjectives to measure psychological

meaning of an object to an individual.
Example: Rate the park on the following dimensions:
Safe ____: ____: ____: Dangerous
Dirty ____: ____: ____: Clean
Quiet ____: ____: ____: Noisy

Open-ended Survey Questions

The options or predefined categories are not suggested. The respondent replies in their own
words without being constrained by a fixed set of possible responses.
Types of Open-ended questions include :

a. Completely unstructured - The questionnaire in this case has a basic structure

and some branching questions but nothing that limits the responses of a
respondent.
Example: ‘What is your opinion on questionnaires?’

b. Word association — Words are presented and the respondent mentions the first
word that comes to mind.
Example: If interviewer says cold, the respondent may say hot and the like ones.

c. Sentence completion — Respondents complete an incomplete sentence.

Example: ‘The most important consideration in my decision to buy a new house
is . . .’

d. Story completion — involves participants writing stories about hypothetical

scenarios created by the researcher, through responding to a stimulus consisting
of at least one complete sentence which represents the beginning of a story plot.
Example: David has decided to start removing his body hair….”

e. Picture completion — Respondents fill in an empty conversation balloon.

f. Thematic apperception test — Respondents explain a picture or make up a story

about what they think is happening in the picture.

References
Bhat, A. (2021, July 15). Quantitative Survey Questions: Definition, Types and
Examples. QuestionPro. [Link]
survey-questions/

Chaudhari, A. (2022, August 9). Quantitative Survey Questions. Voxco.

[Link]

Jenn, N. C. (2006). Designing A Questionnaire. Malaysian Family Physician, 1(1), 32–

35.

Regmi, P. R., Waithaka, E., Paudyal, A., Simkhada, P., & Van Teijlingen, E. (2017).
Guide to the design and application of online questionnaire surveys. Nepal
Journal of Epidemiology, 6(4), 640–644.
[Link]

Paper-pencil survey | Guide, definition and explanation. (2022, March 15). Rogator.
[Link]

Roopa, S., & Rani, M. (2012). Questionnaire Designing for a Survey. Journal of Indian
Orthodontic Society, 46(4_suppl1), 273–277.
[Link]