1. Business Research Methods William G. Zikmund
Chapter 15:
Questionnaire Design

2. “It is not every question that deserves an answer.”
Publius Syrus (roman,1st century B.C.)

3. A QUESTIONNAIRE IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE QUESTIONS IT ASKS

4. A Good Questionnaire Appears
As easy to compose as a good poem
But, it is usually the result of long, painstaking work

5. The Major Decisions in Questionnaire Design
1. What should be asked?
2. How should each question be phrased?
3. In what sequence should the questions be arranged?
4. What questionnaire layout will best serve the research objectives?
5. How should the questionnaire be pretested? Does the questionnaire need to be revised?

6. What Should Be Asked?
Questionnaire relevance
Questionnaire accuracy

7. Phrasing Questions
Open-ended questions
Fixed-alternative questions

8. by Degree of Structure and Degree of Disguise
Classifying Surveys
by Degree of Structure and Degree of Disguise
Structured Unstructured
Example:
Typical descriptive survey
with straight-forward, structured
questions
Survey with open-ended
questions to discover “new”
answers or focus group interview
Survey interview to measure
brand A’s image versus
competitive brands’ images or
brand recall (unaided recall)
Projection techniques used
mostly for exploratory research
Undisguised
Disguised

9. Developing a Questionnaire
No hard and fast rules
Only guidelines

10. Avoid Complexity: use simple, conversational language
Avoid leading and loaded questions
Avoid ambiguity: be as specific as possible
Avoid double-barreled items
Avoid making assumptions
Avoid burdensome questions

11. 1. Do you believe that private citizens have the right to
own firearms to defend themselves, their families, and
property from violent criminal attack?
Yes No Undecided

12. 2. Do you believe that a ban on the private ownership
of firearms would be significantly reduce the number of
murders and robberies in your community?
Yes No Undecided

13. 1a. How many years have you been playing tennis on a regular basis?
Number of years: __________
b. What is your level of play?
Novice Advanced
Lower Intermediate Expert
Upper Intermediate Teaching Pro
c. In the last 12 months, has your level of play improved, remained the
same or decreased?
Improved Decreased
Remained the same

14. 2a. Do you belong to a club with tennis facilities? Yes . . . . . . . -1No
b. How many people in your household - including yourself - play tennis?
Number who play tennis ___________
3a. Why do you play tennis? (Please “X” all that apply.)
To have fun
To stay fit
To be with friends
To improve my game
To compete
To win
b. In the past 12 months, have you purchased any tennis instructional
books or video tapes? Yes

15. Dear Passenger:
American Airlines is pleased to have you on board today.
To help us provide the best service possible, we need to know more about you and your opinions of our service. If you are over 11 years old, we would appreciate it if you would complete this questionnaire.
Your flight attendant will pick up your completed questionnaire shortly.
Thank you.

16. 1. Please indicate: Flight number ___________ Date_____________
2a. At the city where you boarded this particular plane, did you make a connection from another flight?
Yes, from American
Yes, from Other Airline . . 2 No
b. Did you board this plane at the airport from which it just took off, or were you a through passenger for which that was an intermediate stop?
Boarded here
Through passenger
3. How would you rate the overall service from American for this flight, all things considered, from your arrival at the airport terminal until now?
Excellent Good Fair Poor
Overall Service

17. 4. Please rate each of the following with regard to this flight, if applicable.
Excellent Good Fair Poor
Courtesy and Treatment from the:
Skycap at airport
Airport Ticket Counter Agent
Boarding Point (Gate) Agent
Flight Attendants
Your Meal or Snack
Beverage Service
Seat Comfort
Carry-On Stowage Space
Cabin Cleanliness
Video/Stereo Entertainment
On-Time Departure

18. Questionnaire Design Question sequence Question layout Order bias
Funnel technique
Filter bias
Question layout

19. Pretesting is Important

20. Layout for Internet Questionnaires
Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Paging layout going from screen to screen
Scrolling layout gives the respondent the ability to scroll down
Push buttons
Status bar

21. 4 Common Question Displays on a Computer Screen
Radio button
Drop-down box
Check box
Open-ended boxes

27. Software that Makes Questionnaires Interactive
Boolean skip and branching logic
hidden skip logic
Variable piping software
Error trapping - forced answering software
Interactive help desks

28. WebSurveyor