Designing a Questionnaire

Questionnaire A questionnaire consists of a number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or set of forms. Basically there are 7 steps involved in designing a questionnaire

Designing a Questionnaire Determine what information is needed What type of Questionnaire to be used Decide on the types of questions Decide in the wording of questions Deciding on layout Pre-test Revise and prepare final questionnaire 3

Determine what information is needed This stage is a planning stage which includes: ▫Decide on the topic for research ▫Get additional information on the research issue ▫Gather what has been experience with similar study ▫Type of information required (such as awareness, facts, opinions, attitudes, future plans and reasons) 5

Determine what information is needed Recall Loss ▫E.g. - Which television programme did you see last Saturday? Memory of events depends on: ▫Importance of the events ▫Whether it is necessary for the respondents to remember.

Modes of collection data The questionnaire can be used to collect the information through personal interview, mail or telephone. The method chosen depends on the information required and the type of respondent. If information is to be collected from illiterate individuals a questionnaire would be the wrong choice.

What type of Questionnaire to be used Structured and Non-disguised Structured and Disguised Non-structured and disguised Non-structured and Non-disguised 9

Decide on the types of questions Open ended questions Dichotomous questions Close ended questions 11

Open ended Questions These are questions where respondents are free to answer in their own words. Respondent may mention the attribute ▫What factor do you consider while buying a suit? Respondent may not use same frame of reference ▫What is the most important attribute in a job? ▫Pay ▫Respondent considers basic pay while interviewer thinks about total pay.

Dichotomous Question There questions have only two answers, yes or no, true or false, use or don’t use. ▫Do you use toothpaste? Yes No..... ▫Do you like to watch movies? Like.... Dislike.... This technique is most convenient and easy to answer This technique limits the respondents response. This may lead to measurement error.

Close ended Questions There are two basic formats in this type: a)Make one or more choices among the alternatives b)Rate the alternatives

Close ended Questions a)Which of the following words or phrases best describes the kind of person you feel would be most likely to use this product? ▫Young Old ▫Single Married ▫Modern Old fashioned b)Based on what you saw in the commercial, how interested do you feel, you would be buying the product.  Definitely  Probably I would buy  I may or may not buy  Probably I would not buy  Definitely I would not buy

Decide in the wording of questions Wording of particular questions could have a large impact on how the respondent interprets them. Example: ▫Don’t you think that Brazil played poorly in the FIFA cup ? ▫Do you think that, Brazil played poorly in the FIFA cup ? 17

Avoid Double Barrelled Questions These are questions in which the respondent can agree with one part of the question, but not agree with the other or cannot answer making a particular assumption. Example: ▫Are you happy with the price and quantity of branded shampoo?

Avoid Leading Questions A leading question is one that suggest the answers to the respondents. Example: ▫Do you like the programme on Radio Mirchi? ▫Answer would likely to be Yes ▫Which is your favourite F.M. Radio station?

Sequence and Layout Divide the questionnaire into 3 parts: ▫Basic information ▫Classification ▫Identification Information Always move from general to specific questions on the topic. This is known as funnel sequence.

Pre-testing of Questionnaire It is done to detect any flaws that might be present. ▫Words used by the researcher must convey same meaning to the respondent. The questionnaire should not be too long as the response will be poor.

Revise and Preparation of final questionnaire Final questionnaire may be prepared after pre- testing the questionnaire with small group of respondents. It should be revised as: ▫To correct the spellings. ▫To place the questions in proper order to avoid the contextual bias. ▫To remove the words which are not familiar to respondents. ▫To add or remove questions arise in the process of pre- test, if any. ▫To purge the words with double meaning, etc.