Designing Questionnaire

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

1
 Questionnaire Definition and
Objectives

 Definition

 A questionnaire is a formalized set of questions for

obtaining information from respondents.

 Objectives

 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.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 STEPS IN QUESTIONNARE DESIGNING

 Despite much progress, designing questionnaire is still an art.

 Neither a basic theory nor even a fully systematised approach

to the problem has been developed.
 The extensive experience of many researchers and organised
experiments have led to a considerable understanding of the
problem and to along list of "dos and don'ts" and rules of
thumb.
 Designing questionnaire requires lot of thinking and takes time

 Experts suggested a procedure for developing questionnaire

in steps.
 Typically this development involves some iteration and looping.

 Secondly, these steps should be taken as a guide. With

questionnaire "the proof of the pudding is very much in
eating".

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

STEPS IN QUESTIONNARE DESIGNING
Specify what information will be sought

Determine type of questionnaire & method of

administration
Determine the contents of the individual questions

Choosing Question Structure

Determine the question phrasing/wording

Determining the number of questions and sequence

of each question

Pre-test the questionnaire and revise, if necessary

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Step 1: Specify what information is needed

 Basically a questionnaire must Translate research

objectives into specific questions, and 2) Motivate
respondent to cooperate and furnish inf. correctly.
 Research objectives generally lead to the formulation
of hypotheses and hypotheses guide the
questionnaire.
 Hypotheses not only guide what information is
needed but they also help in deciding the type of
questions and form of response.
 During the preparation of questionnaire additional
hypotheses may emerge.
 Therefore, if a new hypothesis is important and vital
to the understanding the problem, it should be
included. On the other hand, if any hypothesis is
interesting but not vital to the problem under
consideration should be dropped.
 Lengthening questionnaire may cause problems in
administration and analysis and often increases
non‑response.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Step 2: Type of Questionnaire and Method of
Administration

 After basic information, the next step is how it is to be

gathered.
 This is with respect to the structure/disguise and whether
mail, telephone, or personal interview will be used to
administer it.
 If a disguised unstructured questionnaire has to be
employed then this is not possible with telephone and
also for mail.
 Mail administration is not recommended for
unstructured undisguised questionnaire with open ended
questions.
 Type of data collected have important effect on these
questions.
 Example: the relationship between behaviour and
demographic, one may use either
mail/personal/telephone interview.
 If the researcher wants measuring attitudes through
attitude scale telephone interview will be out of question.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Step 3: Determine the Contents of Individual Questions

 The following points are in the nature of standards against

which to check possible questions.

 1) Is the question necessary?

 Extra questions add to the expense of the survey and

increase the non response

 Question should fulfils any objective then it should be

included

 2) Do the respondents have the necessary information?

 The respondents will be able to give a reliable answer.

 The answer will not require a great deal of time and

effort

 Expl: "Which statement true of Metallic Metal Act?

Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Step 3: Contents of Individual Questions (Cont)

 3) Will Respondents Provide Information?

 Sometimes respondents have necessary

information but they do not provide it.
 They may not possess necessary communication
skills or they may simply not wish to convey this
information.
 Hide the question in a group of questions.
 Phrasing the question in terms of others.
 Stating that is not unusual .
 Providing response in terms of a number of
categories.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Individual Question Content (Cont)

 Are Several Questions Needed Instead of One?

“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)

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

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)

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Overcoming Inability To Answer

Can the Respondent Remember?

How many Liters 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

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Step 4: Choosing Question Structure

 Unstructured/Open Ended Questions: Respondents

are free to reply to open ended questions in their own
words. The following example highlights this type.
 Open-ended questions are often used as "openers" and
for probe for additional information.
 Open-ended question have certain disadvantages:
1. Interviewers bias
2. Tabulation problems:
3. Implicit Weightage to upper Income Better
Educated:
4. More Costly: three to five times are more costly
5. Useful in exploratory research and as a means for
opening up topics.
 Their disadvantages out weight their advantages.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 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)

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Choosing Question Structure

 Scales:
 How often do you use zigzag stitch on your machine?
 Never ( ) occasionally ( ) sometimes ( ) Often
( )
 The advantage of this pattern is that the descriptors could
be presented at the top of the page and a number of
possible features could be listed along the left margin.
 Ranking questions:
 The respondent may be required to rank feature of a
product.
 Please rank the following factors, for the most important (1)
to the least important to you, buying a refrigerator.
 i) Company reputation ( ) ii) Price ( )
 iii) Compressor ( ) iv) Guarantee ( )
 v) Colour ( ) vi) After
sale‑service ( )
 vii) Maintenance cost ( )
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Step 5 Choosing Question
Wording/Phrasing

 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)

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 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?

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 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)

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 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)
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Choosing Question Wording

 2. Biased Words and Leading Questions

 A leading question is one that clues the respondent to

what the answer should be, as in the following:
 Emotionally coloured, a feeling of approval or
disapproval.
 Leading questions suggest what the answer should be or
indicate the researcher's own point of view.
 Both result in a consistent measurement error.

 Biased phrases are difficult to deal with because phrases

that are neutral to one group may be emotionally
charged to another.
 Phrases such as luxury items and leisure times are
neutral to many people, yet negative overtones to others.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Choosing Question Wording

Avoid Leading or Biasing Questions (Cont)

Do you think that patriotic Indians should buy imported
automobiles when that would put Indian labor out of work?
_____ Yes
_____ No
_____ Don't know
(Incorrect)

Do you think that Indians should buy imported

automobiles?
_____ Yes
_____ No
_____ Don't know
(Correct)

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 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)

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Choosing Question Wording

 Avoid Implied Assumptions

 Questions are frequently asked in such a way that the

answer depends on assumptions about factors outside
the question itself.
 "Are you in favour of curtailment of amount of
advertising allowed on TV?”
 Will elicit differing responses, depending on the
respondents assumptions converting the effects this
might have on the quantity and quality of TV
programming.
 A more effective way of wording the question would be

 "Are you in favour of curtailing the amount of

advertising allowed on TV if this would have an impact
on TV programming".
 Therefore, failure to state assumptions often produces
different responses.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Step 6: Number and Sequence of Questions

 Researcher is ready to putt all questions together.

 A very long questionnaire can appear quite imposing and

may deter the respondent from even reading the
instructions.
 Questions sequence is also important. A typical
questionnaire contains two types of information:
 1) Basic information: Refers to the subject of the study for
example, intentions or attitude of respondents towards
some phenomenon.
 2) Classification information: Data collected to classify
respondent. These are basically the demographical
socio‑economic characteristics of respondents.
 Therefore, a proper questionnaire sequence is for
question securing basic information to be presented first
and those seeking classification information to be
presented last.
 The basic information is most critical, without it there is
no study. Thus, the researcher should not risk alienating
the respondent before getting to the body of the study.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Number and Sequence of Questions (Cont)

 The basic information itself can also present some

sequence problem. The early questions should not be
sensitive ones.
 Opening questions should be designed to secure the
respondents interest and cooperation.
 These questions should be simple and if possible should
arouse curiosity enough so that they willing cooperate.
 The sensitive questions should be relegated to the body
of the questionnaire and intermixed and hidden among
some not so sensitive ones.
 The order in which the questions are presented can
affects the responses.
 For Example: "what improvements are needed in the
companies' service policy"? "How do you like the quality
of service".
 Funnel Approach should be used
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Step 7: Re‑examination, Revision and Pre-testing the
Questionnaire

Re‑examination and revision are the

order of the day.

Revision of each question should be done

by the researcher critically keeping in
mind whether the question is an
ambiguous, confusing potentially
offensive.

The real test how it performs under

actual conditions of data collection.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Pre-testing

Pretesting refers to the testing of the questionnaire on a

small sample of respondents to identify and eliminate
potential problems.
 Therefore, data collection should never begin without an
adequate pre-test of questionnaire.
 The pre-test can be used to assess both individual
questions and their sequence.
 A pre-test must use respondents who are as similar as
possible to the target respondents.
 This typically involves drawing a sub sample from the
larger sample. The questionnaire should be administered in
the some manner as the final survey.
 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.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Pre-testing
 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.
 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.
 Finally, the responses obtained from the pretest should be
coded and analyzed.
 Churchil: Researcher who avoids a pre-test is either naive
or a fool.
 The pre-test is the most inexpensive insurance the
researcher can buy to assure the success of the
questionnaire and the research project.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 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 pre-coded.

 The questionnaires themselves should be numbered

serially.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Example of a Pre-coded Questionnaire

The American Lawyer

A Confidential Survey of Our Subscribers

(Please ignore the numbers alongside the answers. They are only to help us
in data processing.)

1. Considering all the times you pick it up, about how much time, in total, do
you spend reading or looking through a typical issue of THE AMERICAN
LAWYER?

Less than 30 minutes.....................-1 11/2 hours to 1 hour 59 minutes.........-4

30 to 59 minutes............................-2 2 hours to 2 hours 59 minutes...........-5

1 hour to 1 hour 29 minutes..........-3 3 hours or more.................................-6

Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 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.
 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.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Questionnaire Design Checklist

Step 1. Specify The Information Needed

Step 2. Type of Interviewing Method

Step 3. Individual Question Content

Step 4. Overcome Inability and Unwillingness to Answer

Step 5. Choose Question Structure

Step 6. Choose Question Wording

Step 7. Determine the Order of Questions

Step 8. Form and Layout

Step 9. Reproduce the Questionnaire

Step 10. Pretest

Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Questionnaire Design Checklist

Step 1. Specify the Information Needed

1. Ensure that the information obtained fully addresses all
the components of the problem. Review components of
the problem and the approach, particularly the research
questions, hypotheses, and specification of information
needed.
2. Prepare a set of dummy tables.
3. Have a clear idea of the target population.

Step 2. Type of Interviewing Method

1. Review the type of interviewing method determined based
on considerations discussed in Chapter 6.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Questionnaire Design Checklist

Step 3. Individual Question Content

1. Is the question necessary?
2. Are several questions needed instead of one to obtain the
required information in an unambiguous manner?
3. Do not use double-barreled questions.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Questionnaire Design Checklist

Step 4. Overcoming Inability and Unwillingness to Answer

1. Is the respondent informed?
2. If respondents are not likely to be informed, filter questions
that measure familiarity, product use, and past experience
should be asked before questions about the topics
themselves.
3. Can the respondent remember?
4. Avoid errors of omission, telescoping, and creation.
5. Questions which do not provide the respondent with cues can
underestimate the actual occurrence of an event.
6. Can the respondent articulate?

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Questionnaire Design Checklist

Step 4. Overcoming Inability and Unwillingness to Answer

7. Minimize the effort required of the respondents.
8. Is the context in which the questions are asked appropriate?
9. Make the request for information seem legitimate.
10. If the information is sensitive:

a. Place sensitive topics at the end of the questionnaire.

b. Preface the question with a statement that the behavior of interest is
common.
c. Ask the question using the third-person technique.
d. Hide the question in a group of other questions which respondents are
willing to answer.
e. Provide response categories rather than asking for specific figures.
f. Use randomized techniques, if appropriate.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Questionnaire Design Checklist
Step 5. Choosing Question Structure
1. Open-ended questions are useful in exploratory research and
as opening questions.
2. Use structured questions whenever possible.
3. In multiple-choice questions, the response alternatives
should include the set of all possible choices and should be
mutually exclusive.
4. In a dichotomous question, if a substantial proportion of the
respondents can be expected to be neutral, include a neutral
alternative.
5. Consider the use of the split ballot technique to reduce order
bias in dichotomous and multiple-choice questions.
6. If the response alternatives are numerous, consider using
more than one question to reduce the information processing
demands on the respondents.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Questionnaire Design Checklist
Step 6. Choosing Question Wording
1. Define the issue in terms of who, what, when, where, why, and way
(the six Ws).
2. Use ordinary words. Words should match the vocabulary level of the
respondents.
3. Avoid ambiguous words: usually, normally, frequently, often,
regularly, occasionally, sometimes, etc.
4. Avoid leading questions that clue the respondent to what the answer
should be.
5. Avoid implicit alternatives that are not explicitly expressed in the
options.
6. Avoid implicit assumptions.
7. Respondent should not have to make generalizations or compute
estimates.
8. Use positive and negative statements.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Questionnaire Design Checklist
Step 7. Determine the Order of Questions
1. The opening questions should be interesting, simple, and non-
threatening.
2. Qualifying questions should serve as the opening questions.
3. Basic information should be obtained first, followed by classification,
and, finally, identification information.
4. Difficult, sensitive, or complex questions should be placed late in the
sequence.
5. General questions should precede the specific questions.
6. Questions should be asked in a logical order.
7. Branching questions should be designed carefully to cover all possible
contingencies.
8. The question being branched should be placed as close as possible to
the question causing the branching, and (2) the branching questions
should be ordered so that the respondents cannot anticipate what
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
additional information will be required.
 Questionnaire Design Checklist

Step 8. Form and Layout

1. Divide a questionnaire into several parts.
2. Questions in each part should be numbered.
3. The questionnaire should be pre-coded.
4. The questionnaires themselves should be numbered
serially.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

 Questionnaire Design Checklist

Step 9. Reproduction of the Questionnaire

1. The questionnaire should have a professional appearance.
2. Booklet format should be used for long questionnaires.
3. Each question should be reproduced on a single page (or
double-page spread).
4. Vertical response columns should be used.
5. Grids are useful when there are a number of related
questions which use the same set of response categories.
6. The tendency to crowd questions to make the questionnaire
look shorter should be avoided.
7. Directions or instructions for individual questions should
be placed as close to the questions as possible.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
 Questionnaire Design Checklist

Step 10. Pretesting

1. Pretesting should be done always.
2. All aspects of the questionnaire should be tested, including question content,
wording, sequence, form and layout, question difficulty, and instructions.
3. The respondents in the pretest should be similar to those who will be included in the
actual survey.
4. Begin the pretest by using personal interviews.
5. Pretest should also be conducted by mail or telephone if those methods are to be
used in the actual survey.
6. A variety of interviewers should be used for pretests.
7. The pretest sample size is small, varying from 15 to 30 respondents for the initial
testing.
8. Use protocol analysis and debriefing to identify problems.
9. After each significant revision of the questionnaire, another pretest should be
conducted, using a different sample of respondents.
10. The responses obtained from the pretest should be coded and analyzed.
Tuesday, April 22, 2025