16. Questionnaire Design

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Questionnaires: Designand Administration

MDSC 3200

Douladel P. Tyndale (Mrs.)

[email protected]


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Learning Objectives

By the end of this session and with supplementary reading, students

should be able to:

Explain what a questionnaire is

Outline the steps involved in questionnaire construction

Differentiate between: open and closed ended questions; liert!type

and forced! choice response formats

Discuss the art of proper sentence construction and identify thetype of errors in wording of questions

Differentiate between the " main modes of questionnaire

administration

Discuss issues of bias in questionnaire design and administrationand how it may be reduced


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Introduction

#$erhaps epidemiology%s most fundamental role is toprovide a logic and structure for the analysis of health

problems both great and small&'e have to thin about

what is worth counting and how best to ount it&(

! $iro))o et al, "**+ Essential epidemiology


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Introduction

echniques for data collection -uestionnaire administration

.nterview

Observation

Direct physical/chemical measurement

0ecord review

Etc.


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What is a Questionnaire?

! data olletion instrument" in the #orm o# a

doument" with $uestions and statements to whih

%eo%le %ro&ide written res%onses in their ownwords or by seletin' #rom %rede#ined answers


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Questionnaire Construction

1our main steps

23 4pecifying of information being sought

"3 .nitial drafting

53 $re!testing

63 0edrafting and finali)ation


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Steps in questionnaire

construction

23 4pecifying of information

7uided by research ob8ectives

hining and discussion with experts

9iterature review

$rocess culminates with list of information to be later

translated into specific questions


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Steps in questionnaireconstruction

"3 .nitial drafting

9ist from previous step carefully crafted in questions

Deliberate decisions re

'ords and phrasing

Order of questions

Degree of complexity

implications for validity ! see later slides


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Steps in questionnaireconstruction

53 $re!test


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Steps in questionnaire

construction

63 0edrafting and finali)ation


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Words o !isdom"

.t is worth noting that

although questionnairesmay appear to be

deceptively easy to

construct, a well

designed instrument

requires considerableeffort

=oates, "**6

=onstructing aquestionnaire and

wording the

questions are not

simple tass

>eadows, "**5


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#$pes o Questions

Open ended How do you feel about the standard of the treatment you

received while you were a patient at this hospital? *

=losed ended

How would you rate the standardof the treatment you

received while you were a patient at this hospital? (circle

one number)1-excellent !-"ood #-moderately "ood $-

fair %-poor*

ntrodution to *esearh in the +ealthSienes" ,th ed. Pol'ar - Thomas


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#$pes o questions

Open ended

o %re/determinedres%onses

ess1un/strutured

ene#its

>ore detailed responses elicited

Costs

0esponses difficult to encode

and analyse with quantitatively

7reater respondent burden

longer time to answer,

difficulty in gathering andwriting thoughts

C%osed ended

&re'determined %ist o responseoptions

(eneits

ightly structured

0esponses easily encoded and

analysed

9ess time and effort to complete

Costs

9ess in!depth responses

0esearcher must ensure

completeness of options

0espondents must ?fit% their answerin provided responses

=an frustrate respondent and/or yield

less than accurate results


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)esponse ormats ' attitudina% questions

Li*ert

Con&entional ,/%ointiert/ty%e sale

My medial %ratitioner

always e4%lains the hosen

treatment to me (irle onenumber).

2 4trongly agree

"


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Li*ert and orced'choice response

ormats

!d&anta'e


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Wording o Questions'&ita%%s to avoid

Double!barrelled questions

wo questions included in one:'o you lie epidemiolo"y or

biostatistics? 'hat is the problem here Cow should a #yes( be interpreted


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&ita%%s to avoid

=omplicated questions 9evel of wording


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&ita%%s to avoid

@nnecessarily wordy questions ,ver the past year have you attended any hospital includin"

your local hospital but not includin" accident andemer"ency departments to visit friends or family?

Aegatively worded questions

should not tae my medication if am feelin" fine

/tron"ly a"ree0a"ree0ndecided0disa"ree0stron"ly disa"ree

.nstead, try:

should tae my medication if am feelin" fine/tron"ly a"ree0a"ree0ndecided0disa"ree0stron"ly disa"ree


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Structure o questionnaire

Example of a commonly used format:

.ntroductory statement: purpose, general info being sought

and by whom, confidentiality statement Demographic questions: age, sex, education, etc

1actual questions: easy to answer, positioned early as ?warm

up%

Opinion questions: may require reflection, respondentperhaps more comfortable now

4ensitive questions: usually appear at a point where

respondent expected to be somewhat comfortable3 $re!

amble usually used

=losing statements and return instructions


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2seu% techniques

Divide into sections with common focus with appropriate

?lead!in% and instruction for each

4ip patterns to lead respondents to appropriate questions

based on previous responses3 @se with caution: trade off

between reducing respondent burden and causing

confusion

%. 'o you smoe ci"arettes? 2es o

f o to % please "o to &uestion 3

'hat types of questions do you thin are in and


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Other tips

Aever undermine the power of aesthetics self!

administered instruments: appropriate spacing, font and

font!si)e, no unnecessary clutter, general appearance

Feep questionnaire as short as possible =an affect the

response rateG

>ode of administration next slide usually dictates how

a questionnaire is organised and presented


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Administering a questionnaire

Se%'administered

*es%ondent om%letes on own Chea%er to administer

ot suse%tible to inter&iewer

bias

deal #or sensiti&e issues

*es%ondents must be literate o1little o%%ortunity to see

lari#iation

+i'her re#usal rate (es%eially i#

mailed)

More %rone to errors inom%letin'

Intervie!er'administered

Intervie!er as*s questions -ore e.pensive to

administer

&rone to intervie!er bias

3ot idea% or sensitive issues

-ore opportunities to see*

c%ariication

Lo!er reusa% rate

4reater chance o being

correct%$ i%%ed out


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Issues !ith bias and va%idit$

-uestionnaires rely on honesty and accuracy of recall from

the respondent3 4ome information points can be verified,

others cannot or will not .nformation bias:

0ecall bias

0espondents might be ased about past experiences3 here may

be differences in the ability to accurately recall among

respondents and experiences

.nterviewer bias

.nterviewer can consciously or unconsciously influence

responses away from the truth

$ossibly because of tone, disposition, body language, or merepresence


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Issues !ith bias and va%idit$

4ocial desirability bias

0espondents report inaccurate information based on what they

thin is socially acceptable >ost commonly seen as over reporting of ?good% behaviour and

under reporting of ?bad% behaviour or variation in reporting of same

type of behaviour by different groups

Eg3 .n studies of sexual practices ! H of sexual partners in the last

2" months3 women tend to under report, men tend to over

report

4election bias

'ho are the persons who complete the questionnaire Cow

are they different from the ones who do not


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Dea%ing !ith bias and issues o va%idit$

and qua%it$

$roper sentence and questionnaire construction


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#est 5ourse%

=hoose from


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3ote

'e didn%t specifically discuss questionnaires that are

designed into scales which allow for a score to becomputed based on responses3 he general rules of

questionnaire construction apply3 hese instruments

further undergo psychometric testing where their

reliability and validity are assessed3 his will bediscussed in the lecture on validity and reliability and

also in 4eminar 3


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)eerences

$olgar and homas "**J3 .ntroduction to 0esearch in the

Cealth 4ciences3 +thed

16. Questionnaire Design

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