King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Department of Management and Marketing
MKT 345 Marketing Research
Dr. Alhassan G. Abdul-Muhmin
Questionnaire Design
Reference: Zikmund, Chapter 15
Learning Objectives
At the end of the discussion you should be able to:
• Identify and explain the key factors that determine what to
ask in the questionnaire
• Identify the different ways in which questions can be
phrased and explain the characteristics of alternative
question phrasings
• Summarize key guidelines in “the art of asking questions”
• Describe the issues to consider in determining question
order
• Describe alternative ways to improve questionnaire layout
• Describe the importance and approaches to questionnaire
pre-testing and revision
What Should be Asked
What to ask in questionnaire depends on:
1. The research problem definition/objectives
2. The communication medium to be used – E.g. some questions
cannot be asked in personal interviews
3. The type of statistical analysis to be performed – E.g. if you
plan to do regression analysis, you may need to ask about,
say, overall evaluations to use as dependent variable
Two important guidelines are:
1. Relevancy  ask only questions that are relevant to the
research objective.
2. Accuracy  ask only questions that will provide accurate
information.
Question Phrasing
•Need to decide how “what is to be asked” should be phrased
•Alternative question formats are shown below
•Each format has its advantages and disadvantages
Open ended
Question
type
Closed ended
Determinant
choice
Simple
dichotomy
Multiple
choice
Check-list
Alternative Question Formats
1. Open-ended – Questions in which the respondent
answers in his own words
2. Closed-ended (or Fixed Alternative) – Question in
which respondent selects one or more options from
pre-determined set of responses
– Simple dichotomy  Closed ended question with only two
response alternatives
– Multiple Choice  Closed ended question with more than
two response alternatives
•
•
Determinant choice – Multiple choice question in which respondent
must select only one of the response alternatives
Checklist question - Multiple choice question in which respondent
can select more than one of the response alternatives
Requirements for Close-Ended Questions
•
Response categories provided for each close-ended
question should be mutually exclusive and
exhaustive
1. Mutually Exclusive  Response categories must be
such that the same respondent cannot be classified
into more than one category; e.g. the categories
SR1,000-5,000 and SR5,000-10,000 are not
mutually exclusive.
2. Mutually Exhaustive – Response categories should
include all possible response options. Sometimes
this is achieved by including a response option like
“Other (Please specify)….”
THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS
• Avoid complexity: use simple, conversational
language.
• Avoid leading and loaded questions.
• Avoid ambiguity: be as specific as possible.
• Avoid double barreled items.
• Avoid making assumptions.
• Avoid burdensome questions.
Leading & Loaded questions
Leading question: a question that suggests or implies a certain
answer.
Causes:
•The bandwagon effect – e.g. Most Saudis have stopped eating
junk food. Do you eat junk food?
•Partially mentioning some alternatives – e.g. which fast food
restaurant do you prefer, Al-Tazaj or others?
•Questions with the phrase: “ Don’t you think that ..”
•Phrasing question to reflect negative or positive aspect of
issue  use split ballot technique.
Loaded Question
• A question that is designed to suggest a
socially desirable answer. Usually it is
emotionally charged.
Causes:
• Choice of words; e.g. using emotionally-charged
words, such as in: In your opinion is it fair that the
Security Dept should be harassing students with
parking tickets?
• Framing question such that honest answer is
painful or embarrassing  use counter biasing
statement.
Question Sequence
Two related issues:
1. Order of questions in questionnaire.
2. Order of answer alternatives for specific
questions.
Both can lead to order bias.
Order of Questions
• Use simple, interesting opening questions  e.g
asking for respondent’s opinion on an issue.
• Ask general questions before specific questions
 funnel approach
• Use branching questions (filter & pivot) with care.
• Ask for classification information last.
• Place difficult or sensitive questions late in
questionnaire.
• Finish asking questions on one topic before
moving to another.
Questionnaire layout
•
Keep questionnaire short if possible, but not too short that
you sacrifice needed information
•
Do not over crowd questionnaire
•
Provide decent margin space
•
Use multiple- grid layout for questions with similar
responses
•
Use good quality print paper.
•
Use booklet form if possible
•
Carefully craft the questionnaire title:
1. Captures respondent’s interest.
2. Shows importance of the study.
3. Shows interesting nature of the study.
Questionnaire Pre-testing
• Pretesting Process
– Seeks to determine whether respondents have any
difficulty understanding the questionnaire and
whether there are any ambiguous or biased
questions.
• Preliminary Tabulation
– A tabulation of the results of a pretest to help
determine whether the questionnaire will meet the
objectives of the research.
Questionnaire Translation
• Back Translation
– Taking a questionnaire that has previously been
translated into another language and having a
second, independent translator translate it back to
the original language.
– A questionnaire developed in one country may be
difficult to translate because equivalent language
concepts do not exist or because of differences in
idiom and vernacular.