Prepared By: Soad Khalil

QuestionnaireDesign

A questionnaire is a written or printed form used in gathering information on some subject or subjects consisting of a list of questions to be submitted to one or more persons.

The questionnaire is most frequently a very concise, preplanned set of questions designed to yield specific information to meet a particular need for research information about a pertinent topic. The research information is attained from respondents from a related interest area.

What Is A Questionnaire?

Questionnaires provide a quantitative method of data gathering - the evidence, data or information you find is expressed in numerical terms.

 The advantage of using a questionnaire rather than an interview is that you can reach large numbers of people more easily, as you can leave them to fi ll in the questionnaire and send it back to you.

Why Use a Questionnaire

Feelings

What do you think of..?

How does --- make you feel?

--- is the best solution to ---

Do you think there could be..?

How do you feel about our latest software version?

Behaviour

Did you participate in the last protests?

How often do you usually…?

How would you react to….?

What To Ask About

Types of Survey Questions

Yes/No QuestionsDid you attend

the last concert?Did you

participate in any of the school activities?

1. Dichotomous

2. Likret Scale

Providing the respondents with two opposed options

Ex: Do you think that the medication prescribed to your asthma:Works wel l 1 2 3 4 5 Does not work

3. Semantic Differential Scale(Interval Scale)

Providing the respondents wi th a set of i tems to check/ c i rc le the re levant one

 This quest ion type is often used to gather demographic informat ion or to fi nd out about a range of i ssues. Mult ip le choice quest ions can require a s ingle answer or off er mult ip le answer se lect ions.   EX. What is your mar i ta l status? (Se lect one) a . S ingle b . L iv ing wi th Partner c . Marr ied d . Divorced e . Separated f . Widowed

Ex: Which car type is more sui table for your l i fe sty le current ly ?

a. Van b . convert ib le c . 4x4 d . sa lon

4. Multiple-Choice Questions

A set of items is provided and the respondents are asked to order them according to importance , merit , quality, etc..

5. Rank Order Scale

If you are investigating a narrow but deep subject you may not need to question that many people; you may be interested in the opinions and experiences of experts or people with direct experience, rather than a random sample.

If you gather responses from a small number of people you must make sure that the sample is as appropriate as possible to your research.

Larger samples are often employed in quantitative research. A basic rule of thumb is that increasing the sample size increases its reliability.

Consider non-responses. It is a good idea to send questionnaires to more people than you need.

Sampling

DOS Make sure you introduce yoursel f and

expla in what the a im of the quest ionnaire is . A lso, make sure the respondent is aware of the ethica l impl icat ions of the research.

Devise your quest ions so they help to answer your research quest ion. That way, a l l the quest ions wi l l be re levant .

Try and have a sequence to your quest ions or topics - group them in themes and make sure they fo l low on logica l ly f rom each other.

Make sure your quest ions are c lear and easy to understand.

Always run a p i lot of your quest ionnaire. This helps you to test the technica l aspect of the quest ionnaire, such as whether you have g iven the correct answer opt ions or whether you have lef t anything out .

DONTS Do not ask leading quest ions. Make

sure people are free to g ive their own, honest answer

x What do you think of yesterday’s d isastrous party?

Don’t g ive overlapping answers. 1 to 3 t imes a week x 3 to 5 t imes a week x 5 to 7 t imes a week

Don’t ask double-barrel quest ions x What do you think of the

univers i ty’s soc ial l i fe and academic standard?

Preparing a Questionnaire