Designing a Questionnaire
Questionnaire
• A questionnaire consists of a number of
questions printed or typed in a definite order on
a form or set of forms.
• Basically there are 7 steps involved in designing
a questionnaire
3
Designing a Questionnaire
Determine what
information is
needed
What type of
Questionnaire
to be used
Decide on the
types of
questions
Decide in the
wording of
questions
Deciding on
layout
Pre-test
Revise and
prepare final
questionnaire
5
Determine what information is needed
• This stage is a planning stage which includes:
▫ Decide on the topic for research
▫ Get additional information on the research issue
▫ Gather what has been experience with similar
study
▫ Type of information required (such as awareness,
facts, opinions, attitudes, future plans and
reasons)
Determine what information is needed
• Recall Loss
▫ E.g. - Which television programme did you see last
Saturday?
• Memory of events depends on:
▫ Importance of the events
▫ Whether it is necessary for the respondents to
remember.
Modes of collection data
• The questionnaire can be used to collect the
information through personal interview, mail or
telephone.
• The method chosen depends on the information
required and the type of respondent.
• If information is to be collected from illiterate
individuals a questionnaire would be the wrong
choice.
9
What type of Questionnaire to be used
•
•
•
•
Structured and Non-disguised
Structured and Disguised
Non-structured and disguised
Non-structured and Non-disguised
11
Decide on the types of questions
• Open ended questions
• Dichotomous questions
• Close ended questions
Open ended Questions
• These are questions where respondents are free
to answer in their own words.
• Respondent may mention the attribute
▫ What factor do you consider while buying a suit?
• Respondent may not use same frame of
reference
▫ What is the most important attribute in a job?
▫ Pay
▫ Respondent considers basic pay while interviewer
thinks about total pay.
Dichotomous Question
• There questions have only two answers, yes or
no, true or false, use or don’t use.
▫ Do you use toothpaste? Yes.......... No.....
▫ Do you like to watch movies? Like .... Dislike....
• This technique is most convenient and easy to
answer
• This technique limits the respondents response.
This may lead to measurement error.
Close ended Questions
• There are two basic formats in this type:
a) Make one or more choices among
alternatives
b) Rate the alternatives
the
Close ended Questions
a) Which of the following words or phrases best describes
the kind of person you feel would be most likely to use
this product?
▫ Young...... Old........
▫ Single...... Married.........
▫ Modern ....... Old fashioned.........
b) Based on what you saw in the commercial, how
interested do you feel, you would be buying the product.





Definitely
Probably I would buy
I may or may not buy
Probably I would not buy
Definitely I would not buy
17
Decide in the wording of questions
• Wording of particular questions could have a
large impact on how the respondent interprets
them.
• Example:
▫ Don’t you think that Brazil played poorly in the
FIFA cup ?
▫ Do you think that, Brazil played poorly in the FIFA
cup ?
Avoid Double Barrelled Questions
• These are questions in which the respondent can
agree with one part of the question, but not
agree with the other or cannot answer making a
particular assumption.
• Example:
▫ Are you happy with the price and quantity of
branded shampoo?
Avoid Leading Questions
• A leading question is one that suggest the
answers to the respondents.
• Example:
▫ Do you like the programme on Radio Mirchi?
▫ Answer would likely to be Yes
▫ Which is your favourite F.M. Radio station?
Sequence and Layout
• Divide the questionnaire into 3 parts:
▫ Basic information
▫ Classification
▫ Identification Information
• Always move from general to specific questions
on the topic. This is known as funnel sequence.
Pre-testing of Questionnaire
• It is done to detect any flaws that might be
present.
▫ Words used by the researcher must convey same
meaning to the respondent.
• The questionnaire should not be too long as the
response will be poor.
Revise and Preparation of final
questionnaire
• Final questionnaire may be prepared after pretesting the questionnaire with small group of
respondents.
• It should be revised as:
▫ To correct the spellings.
▫ To place the questions in proper order to avoid the
contextual bias.
▫ To remove the words which are not familiar to
respondents.
▫ To add or remove questions arise in the process of pretest, if any.
▫ To purge the words with double meaning, etc.