Questionnaire techniques Zeeshan A. Bhatti
When to use questionnaires? Not good to be used in exploratory research Primarily used in Descriptive and Explanatory Research E.g., attitude, opinion etc. Cause and effect relationships etc
Types of Questionnaire
The choice of questionnaire Characteristics of the respondents from whom you wish to collect data Importance of reaching a particular person as respondent Importance of respondents’ answers not being contaminated or distorted Uninformed response Socially desirable responses Size of sample; taking into account the likely response rate Types of question you need to ask to collect your data Number of questions you need to ask
Types of questions Adopt questions used in other questionnaires Adapt questions used in other questionnaires Develop your own questions Open ended questions Lets respondents to answer their own way Closed ended questions Forced choice questions Provide a no. of alternative answers
Six types of closed questions: List – respondent selects from a list of items Category – where only response can be selected from a given set of categories Ranking – to place things in order Scale – a rating device is used to record responses Quantity – response if the no. giving an amount Grid – two or more questions can be recorded using the same matrix
Open Questions
List Questions
Category Questions
Ranking Questions
Rating or Scale
Quantity Questions (Self Coded)
Translating questions into other languages Lexical Meaning Precise meaning Idiomatic Meaning Idioms Grammar and Syntax Ordering of words Experiential Meaning The equivalence of meaning of words (e.g., dual career household) Reverse Translation
Introducing the questionnaire Sequence of Questions Coding of Questions Layout Covering Letter Introducing the questionnaire Clear unbiased title Sequence of Questions Administering the questionnaire