Chapter X
Questionnaire and
Form Design
Chapter Outline
1) Overview
2) Questionnaire & Observation Forms
i. Questionnaire Definition
3) Questionnaire Design Process
4) Specify the Information Needed
5) Type of Interviewing Method
6) Individual Question Content
i. Is the Question Necessary?
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ii. Objectives of a Questionnaire
7) Overcoming Inability to Answer
i. Is the Respondent Informed?
ii. Can the Respondent Remember?
iii. Can the Respondent Articulate?
8) Overcoming Unwillingness to Answer
i. Effort Required of the Respondent
ii. Context
iii. Legitimate Purpose
iv. Sensitive Information
v. Increasing the Willingness of Respondents
9) Choosing Question Structure
i. Unstructured Question
ii. Structured Question
10) Choosing Question Wording
i. Define the Issue
ii. Use Ordinary Words
iii. Use Unambiguous Words
iv. Avoid Leading or Biasing Questions
v. Avoid Implicit Alternatives
vi. Avoid Implicit Assumptions
vii. Avoid Generalizations & Estimates
viii.Dual Statements: Positive & Negative
11) Determining the Order of Questions
i. Opening Questions
ii. Type of Information
iii. Difficult Questions
iv. Effect on Subsequent Questions
v. Logical Order
12) Form & Layout
13) Reproduction of the Questionnaire
14) Pre-testing
15) Observation Forms
16) International Marketing Research
Layout of Form
Layout of Form
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Fig. 10.1
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 Respondents 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
Table 10.1
Questionnaire Design Checklist
Step 1. Specify The Information Needed
Step 2. Type of Interviewing Method
Step 3. Individual Question Content
Step 4. Overcome Inability and Unwillingness to Answer
Step 5. Choose Question Structure
Step 6. Choose Question Wording
Step 7. Determine the Order of Questions
Step 8. Form and Layout
Step 9. Reproduce the Questionnaire
Step 10. Pretest
Table 10.1
Questionnaire Design Checklist
Step 1 Specify The Information Needed
1.
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
characteristics that influence the research design.
2.
Prepare a set of dummy tables.
3.
Have a clear idea of the target population.
Step 2 Type of Interviewing Method
1.
Review the type of interviewing method determined based on
considerations discussed in Chapter 6.
Table 10.1 Contd.
Step 3
Individual Question Content
1.
Is the question necessary?
2.
Are several questions needed instead of one to obtain the
required information in an unambiguous manner?
3.
Do not use double-barreled questions
Step 4 Overcoming Inability and Unwillingness to Answer
1.
Is the respondent informed?
2.
If respondents are not likely to be informed, filter questions that
measure familiarity, product use, and past experience should be asked
before questions about the topics themselves.
3.
Can the respondent remember?
4.
Avoid errors of omission, telescoping and creation.
5.
Questions which do not provide the respondent with cues can
underestimate the actual occurrence of an event.
6.
Can the respondent articulate?
Table 10.1 Contd.
Step 4 Overcoming Inability and Unwillingness to Answer
7.
Minimize the effort required of the respondents.
8.
Is the context in which the questions are asked appropriate?
9.
Make the request for information seem legitimate.
10.
If the information is sensitive:
a.
Place sensitive topics at the end of the questionnaire.
b.
Preface the question with a statement that the behavior of interest is
common.
c.
Ask the question using the third-person technique.
d.
Hide the question in a group of other questions which respondents are
willing to answer.
e.
Provide response categories rather than asking for specific figures.
f.
Use randomized techniques, if appropriate.
Step 5 Choosing Question Structure
Table 10.1 Contd.
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.
Step 6 Choosing Question Wording
Table 10.1 Contd.
1.
Define the issue in terms of who, what, when, where, why, and way (the
six Ws).
2.
Use ordinary words. Words should match the vocabulary level of the
respondents.
3.
Avoid ambiguous words: usually, normally, frequently, often,
regularly, occasionally, sometimes, etc.
4.
Avoid leading questions that clue the respondent to what the answer
should be.
5.
Avoid implicit alternatives that are not explicitly expressed in the
options.
6.
Avoid implicit assumptions.
7.
Respondent should not have to make generalizations or compute
estimates.
8.
Use positive and negative statements.
Step 7 Determine the Order of Questions
Table 10.1 Contd.
1.
The opening questions should be interesting, simple, and nonthreatening.
2.
Qualifying questions should serve as the opening questions.
3.
Basic information should be obtained first, followed by classification,
and, finally, identification information.
4.
Difficult, sensitive, or complex questions should be placed late in the
sequence.
5.
General questions should precede the specific questions.
6.
Questions should be asked in a logical order.
7.
Branching questions should be designed carefully to cover all possible
contingencies.
8.
The question being branched should be placed as close as possible to
the question causing the branching, and (2) the branching
questions should be ordered so that the respondents cannot anticipate
what additional information will be required.
Step 8 Form and Layout
Table 10.1 Contd.
1.
Divide a questionnaire into several parts.
2.
Questions in each part should be numbered.
3.
The questionnaire should be pre-coded.
4.
The questionnaires themselves should be numbered serially.
Step 9 Reproduction of the Questionnaire
1.
The questionnaire should have a professional appearance.
2.
Booklet format should be used for long questionnaires.
3.
Each question should be reproduced on a single page (or double-page
spread).
4.
Vertical response columns should be used.
5.
Grids are useful when there are a number of related questions which
use the same set of response categories.
6.
The tendency to crowd questions to make the questionnaire look
shorter should be avoided.
7.
close
Directions or instructions for individual questions should be placed as
to the questions as possible.
Step 10 Pre-testing
Table 10.1 Contd.
1.
Pre-testing should be done always.
2.
All aspects of the questionnaire should be tested, including question
content, wording, sequence, form and layout, question difficulty, and
instructions.
3.
The respondents in the pretest should be similar to those who will be
included in the actual survey.
4.
Begin the pretest by using personal interviews.
5.
Pretest should also be conducted by mail or telephone if those methods
are to be used in the actual survey.
6.
A variety of interviewers should be used for pretests.
7.
The pretest sample size is small, varying from 15 to 30 respondents for
the initial testing.
8.
Use protocol analysis and debriefing to identify problems.
9.
After each significant revision of the questionnaire, another pretest
should be conducted, using a different sample of respondents.
10.
The responses obtained from the pretest should be coded and analyzed.
