Questionnaire Construction

Questionnaire A questionnaire is an instrument that is generally mailed or handed over to the respondents and filled in by them without the help of interviewer or any other person.

Schedule A schedule is an instrument that is not given to the respondents but is filled in by interviewer himself who reads the questions to the respondents and records the answers as provided by the respondents.

Questionnaire Construction Points to be considered while constructing questionnaire are  Contents of questions  Types of questions  Sequence of questions  Question formulation and their wording  Physical layout of the questionnaire

Types of Questions Closed ended questions In a closed ended question, respondents are offered a set of answers and asked to choose the one that most closely represents their views. For example, What is your marital status? a. Single b. Married c. Widowed d. Divorced

Types of Questions Open – ended Questions Open – ended questions are those questions that are not followed by any kind of specified choice i.e. respondents are not given a specific set of responses. Here, the respondents are asked to describe their attitude in their own words and their answers are recorded in full.

Open – ended Questions For example, the question, “What do you personally feel are the most important steps government should take to eliminate terrorism?” is an open ended question.

Types of Questions Contingency Questions Contingency questions are special type of closed ended questions, applicable to a sub-group of respondents. The relevance of the question to this sub-group is determined by the answer of all respondents to a preceding filter question.

Q. 3 How old are you?…. Years Q. 4 Have you ever attended school? Yes No [1] [2] Go to Q. 6 Q. 5 What was the highest class you have passed? Primary Secondary College University [1] [2] [3] [4] Q. 6 What is your religion? Islam Hinduism Others [1] [2] [3] For example, Q. 5 is a contingency question and Q. 4 is a filter question

Question Formulation & Wording Use simple language Question should be formulated using simple and everyday language so that respondents can easily understand. For example, instead of using ‘assist’, ‘help’ is known to be much used word.

Question Formulation & Wording Start with an interesting and easy question It is important to start with question that is interesting and non-controversial and is directly related to the study.

Question Formulation & Wording Avoid ambiguity An ambiguous question is one that can have more than one meaning. This is likely to mislead the respondent resulting in incorrect response or non-response.

Avoid ambiguity Suppose one is asked “Are you live in a rented house, because you are constructing a new house of your own?” A ‘no’ answer may mean two things – I am not living in a rented house. I am not constructing a new house. So ambiguity arises.

Question Formulation & Wording Avoid questions with vague words Vague words and phrases like “often”, “occasional” “kind of”, “fairly”, “many” should be avoided. For example, in a typical month, how often do you shop in department stores? 1. Never 2. Occasionally 3. Often 4. frequently

Question Formulation & Wording Avoid leading questions A Leading question is one, which by its content, structure or wording leads the respondents in the direction of a certain answer. For example, Smoking is harmful, isn’t it?

Question Formulation & Wording Avoid sensitive, embarrassing or painful questions If it is necessary to ask a sensitive question, you should be tactfully as possible and avoid asking it near beginning of the interview. Similarly, painful questions should be asked with great care.

Question Formulation & Wording Avoid asking double - barreled questions Double barreled questions refer to ask more than one items of information in a single question. For example, do not ask, Does your company has pension and health insurance benefits?

Question Formulation & Wording Use short questionnaire Do not overload the questionnaire with items that are not essential for your study. Make the questionnaire as short as possible.

Question Formulation & Wording Avoid question that involve memory Events that have occurred in the distant past are sometimes difficult to recollect for many people. For example, How many times you experienced load shading during the last 2 months?