QUESTIONNAIRE DEFINITION & OBJECTIVES
• A questionnaire is a formalized set of questions for
obtaining information from respondents.
• It must translate the information needed into a set of
specific questions that the respondents can and will
answer.
• A questionnaire must uplift, motivate, and encourage
the respondent to become involved in the interview,
to cooperate, and to complete the interview.
• A questionnaire should minimize response error.
IS THE QUESTION NECESSARY?
• If there is no satisfactory use for the data resulting
from a question, that question should be eliminated.
ARE SEVERAL QUESTIONS NEEDED INSTEAD OF
ONE?
• Sometimes, several questions are needed to obtain
the required information in an unambiguous manner.
Consider the question,
“Do you think Coca-Cola is a tasty and refreshing soft
drink?” (Incorrect)
• Such a question is called a double-barreled
question, because two or more questions are
combined into one. To obtain the required
information, two distinct questions should be asked:
“Do you think Coca-Cola is a tasty soft drink?” and
“Do you think Coca-Cola is a refreshing soft drink?” (Correct)
IS THE RESPONDENT INFORMED?
• In situations where not all respondents are likely to
be informed about the topic of interest, filter
questions that measure familiarity and past
experience should be asked before questions about
the topics themselves.
• A “don't know” option appears to reduce uninformed
responses without reducing the response rate.
CAN THE RESPONDENT REMEMBER?
How many gallons of soft drinks did you
consume during the last four weeks? (Incorrect)
How often do you consume soft drinks in a
typical week? (Correct)
1. ___ Less than once a week
2. ___ 1 to 3 times per week
3. ___ 4 to 6 times per week
4. ___ 7 or more times per week
OVERCOMING UNWILLINGNESS TO ANSWER
Please list all the departments from which you purchased
merchandise on your most recent shopping trip to a department
store. (Incorrect)
In the list that follows, please check all the departments from
which you purchased merchandise on your most recent shopping
trip to a department store.
1. Women's dresses ____
2. Men's apparel ____
3. Children's apparel ____
4. Cosmetics ____
.
.
.
16. Jewelry ____
17. Other (please specify) ____ (Correct)
OVERCOMING UNWILLINGNESS TO ANSWER
INCREASING THE WILLINGNESS OF RESPONDENTS
• Place sensitive topics at the end of the
questionnaire.
• Preface the question with a statement that the
behavior of interest is common.
• Ask the question using the third-person technique:
phrase the question as if it referred to other people.
• Hide the question in a group of other questions
which respondents are willing to answer. The entire
list of questions can then be asked quickly.
• Provide response categories rather than asking for
specific figures.
• Use randomized techniques.
CHOOSING QUESTION STRUCTURE
UNSTRUCTURED QUESTIONS
• Unstructured questions are open-ended questions
that respondents answer in their own words.
Do you intend to buy a new car within the next six
months?
__________________________________
CHOOSING QUESTION STRUCTURE
STRUCTURED QUESTIONS
• Structured questions specify the set of response
alternatives and the response format. A structured
question may be multiple-choice, dichotomous, or a
scale.
CHOOSING QUESTION STRUCTURE
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
• In multiple-choice questions, the researcher provides
a choice of answers and respondents are asked to
select one or more of the alternatives given.
Do you intend to buy a new car within the next six
months?
____ Definitely will not buy
____ Probably will not buy
____ Undecided
____ Probably will buy
____ Definitely will buy
____ Other (please specify)
CHOOSING QUESTION STRUCTURE
DICHOTOMOUS QUESTIONS
• A dichotomous question has only two response
alternatives: yes or no, agree or disagree, and so on.
• Often, the two alternatives of interest are
supplemented by a neutral alternative, such as “no
opinion,” “don't know,” “both,” or “none.”
Do you intend to buy a new car within the next six
months?
_____ Yes
_____ No
_____ Don't know
CHOOSING QUESTION STRUCTURE
SCALES
• Scales were discussed in detail in Chapters 8 and 9:
Do you intend to buy a new car within the next six
months?
Definitely Probably Undecided Probably Definitely
will not buy will not buy will buy will buy
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CHOOSING QUESTION WORDING
DEFINE THE ISSUE
• Define the issue in terms of who, what, when, where,
why, and way (the six Ws). Who, what, when, and
where are particularly important.
Which brand of shampoo do you use? (Incorrect)
Which brand or brands of shampoo have you
personally used at home during the last month?
In case of more than one brand, please
list all the brands that apply. (Correct)
CHOOSING QUESTION WORDING
The W's Defining the Question
Who The Respondent
It is not clear whether this question
relates to the individual respondent
or the respondent's total
household.
What The Brand of Shampoo
It is unclear how the respondent is
to answer this question if more than
one brand is used.
When Unclear
The time frame is not specified in
this question. The respondent
could interpret it as meaning the
shampoo used this morning, this
week, or over the past year.
Where At home, at the gym, on the road?
CHOOSING QUESTION WORDING
USE ORDINARY WORDS
“Do you think the distribution of soft drinks is
adequate?” (Incorrect)
“Do you think soft drinks are readily available when
you want to buy them?” (Correct)
CHOOSING QUESTION WORDING
USE UNAMBIGUOUS WORDS
In a typical month, how often do you shop in
department stores?
_____ Never
_____ Occasionally
_____ Sometimes
_____ Often
_____ Regularly (Incorrect)
In a typical month, how often do you shop in
department stores?
_____ Less than once
_____ 1 or 2 times
_____ 3 or 4 times
_____ More than 4 times (Correct)
CHOOSING QUESTION WORDING
AVOID LEADING OR BIASING QUESTIONS
• A leading question is one that clues the respondent to what the
answer should be, as in the following:
Do you think that patriotic Americans should buy imported
automobiles when that would put American labor out of work?
_____ Yes
_____ No
_____ Don't know (Incorrect)
Do you think that Americans should buy imported automobiles?
_____ Yes
_____ No
_____ Don't know (Correct)
CHOOSING QUESTION WORDING
AVOID IMPLICIT ALTERNATIVES
• An alternative that is not explicitly expressed in the
options is an implicit alternative.
1. Do you like to fly when traveling short distances?
(Incorrect)
2. Do you like to fly when traveling short distances,
or would you rather drive? (Correct)
CHOOSING QUESTION WORDING
AVOID IMPLICIT ASSUMPTIONS
• Questions should not be worded so that the answer
is dependent upon implicit assumptions about what
will happen as a consequence.
1. Are you in favor of a balanced budget? (Incorrect)
2. Are you in favor of a balanced budget if it would
result in an increase in the personal income tax?
(Correct)
CHOOSING QUESTION WORDING
AVOID GENERALIZATIONS AND ESTIMATES
“What is the annual per capita expenditure on
groceries in your household?” (Incorrect)
“What is the monthly (or weekly) expenditure on
groceries in your household?”
and
“How many members are there in your household?”
(Correct)
CHOOSING QUESTION WORDING
DUAL STATEMENTS: POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
• Questions that are in the form of statements should
be worded both positively and negatively.
DETERMINING THE ORDER OF QUESTIONS
Opening Questions
• The opening questions should be interesting, simple,
and non-threatening.
Type of Information
• As a general guideline, basic information should be
obtained first, followed by classification, and, finally,
identification information.
Difficult Questions
• Difficult questions or questions which are sensitive,
embarrassing, complex, or dull, should be placed
late in the sequence.
FORM AND LAYOUT
• Divide a questionnaire into several parts.
• The questions in each part should be numbered,
particularly when branching questions are used.
• The questionnaires should preferably be precoded.
• The questionnaires themselves should be numbered
serially.
REPRODUCTION OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE
• The questionnaire should be reproduced on good-quality paper
and have a professional appearance.
• Questionnaires should take the form of a booklet rather than a
number of sheets of paper clipped or stapled together.
• Each question should be reproduced on a single page (or
double-page spread).
• Vertical response columns should be used for individual
questions.
• Grids are useful when there are a number of related questions
which use the same set of response categories.
• The tendency to crowd questions together to make the
questionnaire look shorter should be avoided.
• Directions or instructions for individual questions should be
placed as close to the questions as possible.
PRETESTING
Pretesting refers to the testing of the questionnaire on
a small sample of respondents to identify and eliminate
potential problems.
• A questionnaire should not be used in the field survey
without adequate pretesting.
• All aspects of the questionnaire should be tested,
including question content, wording, sequence, form and
layout, question difficulty, and instructions.
• The respondents for the pretest and for the actual survey
should be drawn from the same population.
• Pretests are best done by personal interviews, even if
the actual survey is to be conducted by mail, telephone,
or electronic means, because interviewers can observe
respondents' reactions and attitudes.
PRETESTING
• After the necessary changes have been made,
another pretest could be conducted by mail,
telephone, or electronic means if those methods are
to be used in the actual survey.
• A variety of interviewers should be used for pretests.
• The pretest sample size varies from 15 to 30
respondents for each wave.
• Protocol analysis and debriefing are two commonly
used procedures in pretesting.
• Finally, the responses obtained from the pretest
should be coded and analyzed.
OBSERVATIONAL FORMS
Department Store Project
• Who: Purchasers, browsers, males, females,
parents with children, or children alone.
• What: Products/brands considered, products/brands
purchased, size, price of package inspected, or
influence of children or other family members.
• When: Day, hour, date of observation.
• Where: Inside the store, checkout counter, or type of
department within the store.
• Why: Influence of price, brand name, package size,
promotion, or family members on the purchase.
• Way: Personal observer disguised as sales clerk,
undisguised personal observer, hidden camera, or
obtrusive mechanical device.