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EAPP-Q2-L6-Types-of-Survey-Questions

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34 views

EAPP-Q2-L6-Types-of-Survey-Questions

Uploaded by

King Kay
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Lesson 6

TYPES of SURVEY QUESTIONS

Survey Questionnaire
It is a data gathering tool having set of questions used in a survey and is utilized
in various fields such as politics, research, marketing, media and so on. It is intended to
gather data, views, opinions and others from individuals or a particular group of people.

Types of Survey Questions

1. Open-ended questions
These types of questions do not have predetermined options or answers. The
respondents are allowed to answer the questions freely. Responses must be recorded
verbatim-especially because coding and analysis will rely on the subject’s exact
responses. Open-ended questions often need probing or follow-up questions to clarify
certain items in the subject’s response. These question typically ask the “how” and
“why” of something.
Example: Why did you choose to vote for candidate X? Kindly explain.

2. Dichotomous Questions
Dichotomous questions have two possible answers, often either yes/no,
true/false, or agree/ disagree. These questions are used when the researcher wants to
clearly distinguish the respondent’s opinion, preference, experience or behavior.
Example: HIV/AIDS is transmitted through saliva:
True False

3. Multiple–response questions
There are certain questions that necessitate the respondents to provide more
than one answer. For example, a typical advertising survey would ask the question,
“How did you find about the particular service or item”? A respondent may have
encountered more than one of the probable ways.
Example: How were you able to know about the graduate program of
Development Policy offered in De La Salle University? Check all that applies.
Print Advertisement By word of mouth (friends,
families, etc.)

DSLU Website Telephone inquiry

DSLU Social Networking Physical appearance/ inquiry


page

Others, please specify:


4. Rating Scale or Ranking Questions

In theses questions, respondents are tasked to rank the choices in order of preference.

Example: Qualities of a good leader.


Sample RATING/RANKING Questions
Leader Qualities Rating Scale
1 2 3 4 5
Leader A Integrity
Leader B Inclusiveness
Leader C Information-Driven

5. Matrix questions
There are instances where a number of questions you intend to ask have the
same set of possible answers. Thus, it is possible to construct a matrix of items and
answers for the sake of streamlining the survey.
Example: Qualities of a Good Leader
Beside each of the qualities of a good leader, kindly indicate how well the person
in inquiry manifests the said quality with 1 being the lowest and 5 as the highest.

Sample Matrix Question Set


Qualities/ Rating 1 2 3 4 5
Integrity
Inclusiveness
Information-Driven
Innovative

Shown above is a numerical scale (matrix).The respondents are required to


choose from a number of categories that determine their preferences.
Another common scale is the Likert Scale which tries to assess the subject’s
agreement/disagreement or approval/ disapproval on a five point scale-with one end
being the most positive answer, and the other end being the most negative answer. The
categories correspond to the numerical values 5,4,3,2,1, and are encoded as their
numerical equivalent (Singh 2007,75). The total score per item is determined. From
here, you formulate your inference.

Example: Performance-Based Incentive System

The new performance-based incentive system encouraged me to work over-time.

(5) Strongly Agree (4) Agree (3) Undecided (2) Disagree (1) Strongly

Disagree
6. Contingency Questions
Contingency questions are intended for certain respondents only, depending on
the provided answers. A familiar example would be a follow-up question provided after a
respondent agrees to a certain item. A respondent is asked whether they used any
illegal drugs or substances. Only those who answered yes are required to answer the
succeeding items.
Example: (Contingency Question)

4. Have you ever tried any illegal drugs and/or substances?


Yes No
4.1 If yes, what illegal drugs and/or substances have you used? Check all that apply.
Crystal Meth
Cocaine
Heroine
Marijuana
Ecstasy
Others, please specify:__________________
0

Points to remember in crafting survey questions

1. Keep the questionnaire as short as possible.


2. Ask short, simple, and clearly worded questions.
3. Start with demographic questions to help respondents get started comfortably.
4. Use dichotomous (yes/no) and multiple choice questions.
5. Use open-ended questions cautiously.
6. Avoid using leading-questions. Make your question ask for the other person’s
opinion.
Do not make it clear what your own opinion is. (this would be called a biased question
or a leading question).
A bad example would be: Fishing is a very cruel pastime. Do you agree?
A better question might be: Do you think that fishing is a cruel pastime?
A) strongly agree B) agree C) neutral D) disagree E) strongly disagree
7. Pre-test a questionnaire on a small number of people.
8. Think about the way you intend to use the collected data when preparing the
questionnaire.

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