Questionnaire

Definition
• Questionnaire is a structured technique for
data collection that consists of a series of
questions, written or verbal, that a
respondent answer.
• In other words, a questionnaire is a
formalized set of questions for obtaining
information from respondents.

1
 Questionnaire
Objectives
• It must translate the information needed into a
set of specific questions that the respondents can
and will answer.
• A questionnaire must uplift, motivate, and
encourage the respondent to become involved in
the interview, to cooperate, and to complete the
interview.
• A questionnaire should minimize response error.

2
 Questionnaire Design
Process Specify the Information Needed

Specify the Type of Interviewing Method

Determine the Content of Individual Questions

Design the Question to Overcome the Respondent’s Inability and Unwillingness

to Answer

Decide the Question Structure

Determine the Question Wording

Arrange the Questions in Proper Order

Identify the Form and Layout

Reproduce the Questionnaire

Eliminate Bugs by Pre-testing

3
Step 1. Specify the Information Needed

• Ensure that the information obtained fully addresses all the components of the problem.

• Review components of the problem and the approach, particularly the research questions,
hypotheses, and specification of information needed.

4
Step 2. Specify the Type of Interviewing Method

• The type of interviewing (mail, telephone or personal etc.) method influences the design
and form of questionnaire being constructed.

5
 Effect of Interviewing Method on
Questionnaire Design
Department Store Project
Mail or Electronic Questionnaire
• Please rank-order the following department stores in order of your preference to shop at these
stores. Begin by picking out the one store that you like most and assign it a number 1. Then find the
second most preferred department store and assign it a number 2. Continue this procedure until you
have ranked all the stores in order of preference. The least preferred store should be assigned a rank of
10. No two stores should receive the same rank number.
Store Rank Order
1. Lord & Taylor
2. Macy's
.
.
10. Wal-
Mart
6
 Effect of Interviewing Method on
Electronic Questionnaire Questionnaire Design
• This question for e-mail and Internet
questionnaires will be very similar to that
for the mail questionnaire.
• In all these methods, the questionnaire is
self-administered by the respondent.

7
 Effect of Interviewing
Method on
• I will read to you the namesQuestionnaire Design
Telephone Questionnaire
of some department stores. Please rate them in terms of your preference to
shop at these stores. Use a ten point scale, where 1 denotes “not so preferred” and 10 denotes “greatly
preferred”. Numbers between 1 and 10 reflect intermediate degrees of preference. Again, please
remember that the higher the number, the greater the degree of preference. Now, please tell me your
preference to shop at .......(READ ONE STORE AT A TIME)

Store Not So Greatly

Preferred Preferred
1. Nordstrom 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. Macy's 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
.
.
10. Wal-Mart 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

8
 Method on
Personal Questionnaire Questionnaire
names, each written on a separateDesign
• (HAND DEPARTMENT STORE CARDS TO THE RESPONDENT). Here is a set of department store
card. Please examine these cards carefully. (GIVE RESPONDENT
TIME). Now, please examine these cards again and pull out that card which has the name of the store
you like the most, i.e., your most preferred store for shopping. (RECORD THE STORE NAME AND
KEEP THIS CARD WITH YOU). Now, please examine the remaining nine cards. Of these remaining
nine stores, what is your most preferred store for shopping? (REPEAT THIS PROCEDURE
SEQUENTIALLY UNTIL THE RESPONDENT HAS ONLY ONE CARD LEFT)

Store Rank Name of the Store

1. 1
2. 2
.
.
10. 10

9
Step 3. Determine Content of Individual Question

• Once the interview method is clearly established, the next step is determining the contents of
individual questions

• Following questions are required to be taken care of:

 Are several questions needed instead of one to obtain the required information in an
unambiguous manner?

 Is the question necessary?

 Do not use double-barreled questions.

10
 Determine Content of Individual Question
Is the Question Necessary?
• If there is no satisfactory use for the data resulting
from a question, that question should be eliminated.
• Example- A survey on personal
computers
sponsored by HP may also include questions related
to Dell and Apple. It may not be related
immediate problems at hand. So, to
this questions may be eliminated. types
of

11
 Individual Question Are Several
Questions Needed Instead of
• Sometimes, questions are needed to obtain the required information in
unambiguous
several One?
manner. an
Consider the question,

“Do you think Coca-Cola is a tasty and refreshing soft drink?” (Incorrect)

• Such a question is called a double-barreled question, because two or more questions are
combined into one. To obtain the required information, two distinct questions should be
asked:

“Do you think Coca-Cola is a tasty soft drink?” and

“Do you think Coca-Cola is a refreshing soft drink?” (Correct)

12
Step 4. Overcoming Inability and Unwillingness to Answer

• Researcher should not assume respondents can provide accurate or reasonable answer to all
questions.

• Following questions are taken care of during questionnaire designing:

• Even the respondent may be able to answer , he/she may no be willing to answer because of
information sought is sensitive, need of information is not disclosed etc.

13
 Overcoming Inability To Answer
Is the Respondent Informed?
• In situations where not all respondents are likely to be informed about the topic of interest,
filter questions that measure familiarity and past experience should be asked before
questions about the topics themselves.
• A “don't know” option appears to reduce uninformed responses without reducing the
response rate.

14
 Overcoming Inability
To Answer
Can the Respondent
How many gallons of soft Remember?
drinks did you
consume during the last four weeks? (Incorrect)

How often do you consume soft drinks in a

typical week? (Correct)
1. ___ Less than once a week
2. 1 to 3 times per week
3. ___ 4 to 6 times per week
4. 7 or more times per week

15
 Overcoming Inability
To Answer
Can the Respondent
• Articulate?
Respondents may be unable to articulate certain types of responses, e.g., describe the
atmosphere of a department store.
• Respondents should be given aids, such as pictures, maps, and descriptions to help them
articulate their responses.

16
 Overcoming Unwillingness To Answer
Effort Required of the Respondents
• Even if the respondents are able to answer a particular question , they may be unwilling
to do so , either because too much effort is required, the situation or context may not
seem appropriate for disclosure, no legitimate purpose or need for the information
requested is apparent, or the information requested is sensitive

17
 Overcoming Unwillingness
• To Answer
Please list all the departments from which you purchased merchandise on your most recent
shopping trip to a department store. (Incorrect)

•In the list that follows, please check all the departments from
which you purchased merchandise on your most recent shopping
trip to a department store.

1. Women's dresses ____

2. Men's apparel ____
3. Children's apparel ____
4. Cosmetics ____
.
.
16. Jewelry ____
17. Other (please specify) ____ (Correct)

18
 Overcoming Unwillingness
Context To Answer
• Respondents are unwilling to respond to questions which they consider to be inappropriate
for the given context.
• The researcher should manipulate the context so that the request for information seems
appropriate.

Legitimate Purpose
• Explaining why the data are needed can make the request for the information seem
legitimate and increase the respondents' willingness to answer.

Sensitive Information
• Respondents are unwilling to disclose, at least accurately, sensitive information
because this
may cause embarrassment or threaten the respondent's prestige or self-image.
19
 Overcoming Unwillingness To
Answer
Increasing the Willingness of
•
Respondents
Place sensitive topics at the end of the questionnaire.
• Preface the question with a statement that the behavior of interest is common.
• Ask the question using the third-person technique
• Hide the question in a group of other questions which respondents are willing to answer.
The entire list of questions can then be asked quickly.
• Provide response categories rather than asking for specific figures.

20
Step 5. Choosing Question Structure
1. Open-ended questions are useful in exploratory research and as opening questions.
2. Use structured questions whenever possible.
3.In multiple-choice questions, the response alternatives should include the set of all possible
choices and should be mutually exclusive.
4. In a dichotomous question, if a substantial proportion of the respondents can be expected to
be neutral, include a neutral alternative.
5.Consider the use of the split ballot technique to reduce order bias in dichotomous and
multiple-choice questions.
6. If the response alternatives are numerous, consider using more than one question to reduce
the information processing demands on the respondents.

21
 Choosing Question Structure
Unstructured Questions
• Unstructured questions are open-ended questions that respondents answer in their own
words. They are referred to as free response or free answer questions.

 Do you intend to buy a new car within the next six months?
 What is your profession?
 Who is your favorite political figure?
___________________

22
 Choosing Question Structure
Structured Questions
• Structured questions specify the set of response alternatives and the response format.
A
structured question may be multiple-choice, dichotomous, or a scale.

23
 Choosing Question
Structure
Multiple-Choice
• In multiple-choiceQuestions
questions, the researcher provides a choice of
answers and respondents
• are asked to select one or more of the alternatives given.
____ Definitely will not buy
• Do you intend
____ Probably willanot
to buy buycar within the next six months?
new
____ Undecided
____ Probably will buy
____ Definitely will buy
____ Other (please specify)

24
 Choosing Question
Structure
Dichotomous
• Questions
A dichotomous question has only two response alternatives: yes or no, agree or disagree,
and so on.
• Often, the two alternatives of interest are supplemented by a neutral alternative, such as “no
opinion,” “don't know,” “both,” or “none.”

Do you intend to buy a new car within the next six months?
_____ Yes
_____ No
_____ Don't know

25
Step 6. Choosing Question Wording
1. Define the issue in terms of who, what, when, where, why, and way (the six Ws).
2.Use ordinary words.
3.Avoid ambiguous words:
4.Avoid leading questions.
5.Avoid implicit assumptions.
6.Use positive and negative
statements.

26
 Choosing Question Wording
•
Define the Issue
Define the issue in terms of who, what, when, where, why, and way (the six Ws). Who,
what, when, and where are particularly important.

Which brand of shampoo do you use? (Incorrect)

Which brand or brands of shampoo have you

personally used at home during the last month?
In case of more than one brand, please
list all the brands that apply. (Correct)

27
 Choosing Question
The W's Wording Defining the Question
Who The Respondent
It is not clear whether this question relates to the
individual respondent or the respondent's total
household.
What The Brand of Shampoo
It is unclear how the respondent is to answer this
question if more than one brand is used.
When Unclear
The time frame is not specified in this question. The
respondent could interpret it as meaning the shampoo
used this morning, this week, or over the past year.

Where At home, at the gym, on the road?

28
 Choosing Question Wording
Use Ordinary Words
“Do you think the distribution of soft drinks is adequate?”
(Incorrect)

“Do you think soft drinks are readily available when you
want to buy them?”
(Correct)

29
 Choosing Question
Wording
Use Unambiguous
In a typical month, how often do you shop in department stores?
Never Words
_____ Occasionally
Sometimes
_____ Often
Regularly (Incorrect)

In a typical month, how often do you shop in department stores?

Less than once
_____ 1 or 2 times
_____ 3 or 4 times
_____ More than 4 times (Correct)

30
 Wording
Avoid Leading or Biasing
• A leading question is one that clues the respondent to what the answer should be, as in the
following: Questions
Do you think that patriotic Americans should buy imported automobiles when that would
put American labor out of work?
Yes
_____ No
Don't know
(Incorrect)
Do you think that Americans should buy imported automobiles?
_____ Yes
No
_____ Don't know
(Correct)
31
 Choosing Question
Wording
Avoid Implicit
•
Assumptions
Questions should not be worded so that the answer is dependent upon implicit assumptions
about what will happen as a consequence.

 Are you in favor of a balanced budget?

(Incorrect)

 Are you in favor of a balanced budget if it would result in an increase in the personal
income tax? (Correct)

32
Step 7. Determine the Order of Questions
1.The opening questions should be interesting, simple, and non-threatening.
2.Basic information should be obtained.
3. Difficult, sensitive, or complex questions should be placed late in the
sequence.
4.General questions should precede the specific questions.
5.Questions should be asked in a logical order.
6.Branching questions should be designed carefully to
cover all possible contingencies.

33
 Determining the Order of
Opening Questions
Questions
• The opening questions should be interesting, simple, and non-threatening.

Type of Information
• As a general guideline, basic information should be obtained first, followed by
classification, and, finally, identification information.

Difficult Questions
• Difficult questions or questions which are sensitive, embarrassing, complex, or dull, should
be placed late in the sequence.

34
 Determining the Order of
Questions
Effect on Subsequent Questions
• General questions should precede the specific questions (funnel approach).

 “What considerations are important to you in selecting a department store?” (Incorrect)

 “In selecting a department store, how important is convenience of location?” (Correct)

35
 Determining the Order of
Logical Order
Questions
The following guidelines should be followed for branching questions:

• The question being branched (the one to which the respondent is being directed) should
be placed as close as possible to the question causing the branching.
• The branching questions should be ordered so that the respondents cannot anticipate what
additional information will be required.

36
Step 8. Form and Layout

• Divide a questionnaire into several parts.

• Questions in each part should be numbered.

• The questionnaire should be pre-coded.

• The questionnaires themselves should be numbered serially.

37
Step 8. Form and Layout (cont…)
• Divide a questionnaire into several parts.
• The questions in each part should be numbered, particularly when branching questions
are used.
• The questionnaires should preferably be precoded.
• The questionnaires themselves should be numbered serially.

38
 Example of a Pre-coded
Questionnaire
The American Lawyer
A Confidential Survey of Our Subscribers
(Please ignore the numbers alongside the answers. They are only to help us in data processing.)
1. Considering all the times you pick it up, about how much time, in total, do you spend reading
or looking through a typical issue of THE AMERICAN LAWYER?

Less than 30 minutes..................... -1 11/2 hours to 1 hour 59 minutes.............. -4

30 to 59 minutes............................ -2 2 hours to 2 hours 59 minutes........... -5

1 hour to 1 hour 29 minutes.......... -3 3 hours or more................................ -6

39
Step 9. Reproduction of the Questionnaire
• The questionnaire should have a professional appearance.
• Booklet format should be used for long questionnaires.
• Each question should be reproduced on a single page (or double-page spread).
• Grids are useful when there are a number of related questions which use the same set of
response categories.
• The tendency to crowd questions to make the questionnaire look shorter should be avoided.
• Directions or instructions for individual questions should be placed as close to the questions
as possible.

40
Step 10. Pretesting
 Pretesting refers to the testing of the questionnaire on a small sample of respondents to
identify and eliminate potential problems.
• A questionnaire should not be used in the field survey without adequate pretesting.
• All aspects of the questionnaire should be tested, including question content, wording,
sequence, form and layout, question difficulty, and instructions.
• The respondents for the pretest and for the actual survey should be drawn from the same
population.
• Pretests are best done by personal interviews, even if the actual survey is to be conducted by
mail, telephone, or electronic means, because interviewers can observe respondents'
reactions and attitudes.

41
Step 10. Pretesting (cont…)
• After the necessary changes have been made, another pretest could be conducted by mail,
telephone, or electronic means if those methods are to be used in the actual survey.
• A variety of interviewers should be used for pretests.
• The pretest sample size varies from 15 to 30 respondents for each wave.
• Protocol analysis and debriefing are two commonly used procedures in pretesting.
• Finally, the responses obtained from the pretest should be coded and analyzed.

42
THANK
YOU

43