1. Designing Survey Instruments

2. Creating a Survey Instrument  Survey instruments should help researchers collect the most accurate data and reach the most valid conclusions about a population.  There are three important steps to creating a survey instrument: Writing different types of questions Using rules for good question construction Performing a pilot test of the questions

3. Step 1 Different Types of Questions Step 1 Background (Demographic) Questions Individual Opinion/Attitude Questions Behavioral Questions Sensitive Questions Ask personal characteristics of individuals in the sample group Ask how the individual feels about a topic or statement Ask the individual to describe personal experiences Ask the individual to reveal something deeply personal about themselves age gender ethnicity education income “strongly agree” “agree” “disagree” “strongly disagree” employment college life leisure time media use drug use alcohol use mental health

4. Sensitive Questions Best to include sensitive questions later in the survey instrument Participant would be able to answer less personal questions first and feel more comfortable Background comments can lead the participant to answer the question There should be time to develop trust and respect between the participant and the interviewer

5. Step 1 Closed-Ended or Open-Ended? Step 1 CLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONSOPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS  Questions with a limited number of response options  Easy to analyze because researchers can compare the number of participants who chose each option  No response options  Participant gives individual response  Help researchers explore unlikely responses given by participants

6. Step 2 Constructing Good Questions Step 2 Good questions on a survey instrument should… Be clear to all participants Show respect for participants gender, class, and culture Encourage all participants to complete the survey

7. Step 2 Constructing Good Questions Step 2 Questions should not be wordy or have words that are vague Questions should not include jargon that is not known to everyone Response options need to be mutually exclusive, or distinct.  No overlap between choices that might confuse the participant Response options need to include the most typical or likely answers that a participant might give.

8. STEP 2 CONSTRUCTING GOOD QUESTIONS STEP 2 Is the question clear to everyone taking the survey? Does the question have clear, distinct response options? Would all of the participants be able to answer it? Here are three basic questions to think about to determine if a survey question is constructed well:

9. Step 3 Pilot Test of the Questions Step 3 Researcher gives survey instrument to small group Small group gives comments & suggestions Researcher makes changes to questions Researcher distributes instrument to sample group