What Makes a Good Questionnaire? Handling Data Designing Structure, Capturing and Presenting Data

I wonder what type of questions they are. Questioning the question I wonder what type of questions they are.

Hi. Do you usually hang out here? Will you be staying long? Our questioner meets the closed question….. Are you going off now? Hi. Do you usually hang out here? Will you be staying long? Have you seen any other questions? Yes. Yes. No. No.

Our questioner meets the closed question….. So typical! A closed question always asks things that require an either/or answer, like ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

What are your plans, are you hanging about? Hi, how’s it going? Our questioner meets the open question….. What are your plans, are you hanging about? Hi, how’s it going? It depends on whether I meet anyone I fancy. Catch you later. Great. Have just been speaking to a closed question – very short and sweet.

Our questioner meets the open question….. Wow! Now there’s a question I can enjoy speaking to! Open questions allow me to say exactly what I want.

Our questioner meets the order of priority question….. And if you could change your colour, what three colours would you choose, in priority order? Tell me, in what order do you prefer the following – work, rest and play? Hmm, black would be my first choice, followed by pink, and my third choice is white. Well, play would be first, rest would be second and work would be third.

Our questioner meets the order of priority question….. Now, there’s a question that has everything in priority order. Well, I guess that’s one way of finding things out.

1–2 times would be my choice. Our questioner meets the multiple-choice question….. And how many times do you eat chocolate a week? 1–2 times, 3–4 times or more? I am conducting a survey to find the preferred dessert. Ice-cream, chocolate, or fruit pie? 1–2 times would be my choice. Chocolate, any day.

Those questions were easy to answer! Our questioner meets the multiple-choice question….. Those questions were easy to answer!

Questioning the question Before you ask a question: think about the answer you want to get before deciding on the type of question to ask think about how much detail you need in the answer think how quickly you can then collate all the answers together think how many different answers you want. Question the question!

Other words to describe a hypothesis are: My theory is… Hypothesis Other words to describe a hypothesis are: a belief a theory an assumption

When you hypothesize, you have a theory which then has to be proved or disproved. You may have used a hypothesis in science, and then carried out an experiment to test the hypothesis. An example of a hypothesis: “Teenage girls spend more money on their phones than boys.” to test the hypothesis a survey is conducted the results are analysed a report on the results is written which will prove or disprove the hypothesis.

Teenage girls spend more money on their mobile phones than boys. Now there’s a job for a few questions! If some different questions got together to produce a survey/questionnaire, then the hypothesis can be tested.

To tally or not to tally A survey can be conducted using a questionnaire or a tally. Questionnaire a set of questions with possible answers on one document the questionnaire is copied and handed out for each individual to complete by ticking boxes questionnaires are then collected and analysed. Tally a set of questions with possible answers on one document. the tally is all done on one sheet. Individuals are asked the questions and answers are marked on the same document the tally sheet is then counted and analysed.

Please tick the relevant boxes, and write in the spaces provided. Questionnaire Please tick the relevant boxes, and write in the spaces provided. What is your gender?  male □ female Do you have a mobile phone?  yes □ no What do you use the phone for? (place in order of most use; 1 = most, 4 = least) 1□ text 2□ calls 3□ games 4□ WAP How much money do you spend on contract/top-up cards per month? □ £0–5  £5–10 □ £10–15 □ £15+ How much money have you spent on accessories in the last three months? □ £0–5 □ £5–10  £10–15 □ £15+ What has been your biggest expense on your phone? new cover

Tally What is your gender? male 1111 female 11 Do you have a mobile phone? yes 11111 no 1 What do you use the phone for? (place in order of most use; 1 = most, 4 = least) text 1 2 3 1 1 2 calls 2 1 2 3 2 1 games 3 3 1 2 3 4 WAP 4 4 4 4 4 3

Summary – types of questions There are different types of questions. A closed question has a yes/no or either/or answer. Open questions have answers of any length. Order of priority questions have more than one answer in order of preference. Multiple choice questions allow a choice of one from a selection. Think about the answer before deciding on the question. What can I remember?

Summary – collecting answers A hypothesis is a theory which has to be proved or disproved. A survey can be carried out using a tally or a questionnaire. Copies of a questionnaire are given to each person answering the questions. Only one master document is kept for a tally. A questionnaire is useful to analyse individual answers. A tally is quicker to complete but gives less information. What can I remember? The End