PRINCIPLES OF

QUESTIONNAIRE
CONSTRUCTION
• Questionnaire
• A questionnaire is a set of questions typically used for research purposes
which can be both qualitative as well as quantitative in nature. A
questionnaire may or may not be delivered in the form of a survey, but a
survey always consists of questionnaire.
WHY?

Less Less
Cheap
time effort

to collect large
data
 4

STEPS TO DESIGN A
QUESTIONNAIRE:
1. Write out the primary and secondary aims/objectives of your study.
2. Write out information to be collected that relates to these aims/objectives.
3. Review the current literature to identify already validated questionnaires
that measure your specific area of interest.
4. Compose a draft of your questionnaire.
5. Revise the draft.
6. Assemble the final questionnaire.
7. Conduct a pilot test
8. Refine the questionnaire
 5

COMPOSE A DRAFT
• Determine the mode of survey administration: face-to-face interviews,
telephone interviews, self-completed questionnaires, computer-assisted
approaches.
• Format the draft as if it were the final version with appropriate white space to
get an accurate estimate as to its length – longer questionnaires reduce the
response rate.
• Place the most important items in the first half of the questionnaire to
increase response on the important measures even in partially completed
surveys.
• Make sure questions flow naturally from one to another.
 Good questions
should be able to
achieve research
objective(s)!
 PRESENTATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE
Have a distinctive look - Include graphics, Use larger font size, eg. 14

Don’t squeeze too much onto one page - Crowding questions on a

page can make the questionnaire appear too long

Must have a cover page- Include the purpose of the study, How the
data will be used, Confidentiality assurance, Instructions on how to fill
out the questionnaire

Thank respondents in advance for their co-operation.

** Offer incentive(s)
 SAMPLE COVER LETTER

• Dear Participants,
• We are currently conducting a survey on the title
____________________________________________ for EWC661
Final Project. We greatly appreciate your valuable time and
effort that you will spend in filling out this questionnaire. We
anticipate that your accurate answers will enable us to
reach accurate results. Please note that all information
included in this survey will be kept confidential.
• THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION.
 TYPES
Open-ended items Closed-ended items

-allow participants to answer in whatever way they -ask a question and provide a set of response options
choose for participants to choose from.

-are used when researchers do not know how -are used when researchers have a good idea of the
participants might respond or want to avoid different responses that participants might make.
influencing their responses
-are more difficult to write because they must include
-they take more time and effort on the part of an appropriate set of response options
participants
-they are relatively quick and easy for participants to
-they are more difficult for the researcher to analyze complete
because the answers must be transcribed, coded

-It is best to use open-ended questions when the -much easier for researchers to analyze because the
answer is unsure and for quantities which can easily responses can be easily converted to numbers and
be converted to categories later in the analysis entered into a spreadsheet

-This is often a good option to discover new ideas you -Closed questions are used when you already have an
may have overlooked or did not know existed idea what categories your answers will fall into or
you’re only interested in the frequency of particular
answers.
 10

TYPES OF SURVEY QUESTIONS

 QUESTION TYPES

DICHOTOMOUS YES/NO

MULTIPLE ONE/MANY
CHOICE RESPONSES

ODD/EVEN
RATING SCALES
NUMBERS

OPEN-ENDED FREE RESPONSE

OPEN VS. CLOSED QUESTIONS
12
13
 14

CLOSED QUESTION TYPES

 15

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

 16

DICHOTOMOUS QUESTIONS
17
SCALED QUESTIONS
18
 19

LIKERT SCALE
 20

SLIDER SCALE
Slider scales are useful when you want to have a more precise reading of a
respondent’s views. These scales are most easily implemented in an online
survey, since the computer will calculate the position of the marker; when
used on a paper survey, you will need to have someone measure the marker’s
location on the scale manually. Slider scales may be more practical than Likert
scales when conducting a survey that is being translated into multiple
languages since text categories are not always easy to translate.
 21

DOS AND DON’TS

 22

QUESTION WORDING
• Precision
 23

BREVITY
• Your questions should be relatively short, except where additional wording is
absolutely necessary to provide context or to clarify terminology. Long,
complex questions can quickly become confusing.
 BIASED AND LEADING QUESTIONS
24

• Biased or leading questions can easily skew your answers if you do not pay close
attention to your wordings.
 25

AVOID NEGATIVES IF POSSIBLE

• Negatives should be used only sparingly. For example, instead of asking
students whether they agree with the statement, “Small group teaching
should not be abolished,” the statement should be rephrased as, “Small
group teaching should continue.”
• Double negatives should always be avoided.
 RESPONSE OPTIONS ARE NOT
EXHAUSTIVE

• Response options are exhaustive when there is a response option available

for every potential response. Below is an example of a question where the
response options are not exhaustive because there is no option available for
respondents less than 10 years old or more than forty years old.
• Example 1: What is your current age?
 10 to 20
 21 to 30
 31 to 40
 RESPONSE OPTIONS ARE NOT
MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE
• Closed-ended questions require response options that are mutually
exclusive. Response options are not mutually exclusive if a potential answer
fits more than one of the response options.
•
• Example 1: What is your current age?
•  10 or less
•  10 to 20
 20 to 30
 30 or greater
• These response options are not mutually exclusive because a person who is
10 years old fits into both of the first two response options (same with
respondents aged 20 and 30). Respondents will find this confusing.
 ASKING FOR WHAT RESPONDENTS
DON’T KNOW
• Example: Are most of your teachers liberal?
• At best respondents are limited to what they infer from what teachers say
and do. If you want an answer to this question, you should survey the
teachers.
 LEADING / LOADED QUESTIONS

• A leading question suggests to the respondent that the researcher expects

or desires a certain answer. The respondent should not be able to discern
what type of answer the researcher wants to hear.
• Example: Now that you've seen how you can save time, would you buy
our product?
• A loaded question asks the respondent to rely on their emotions more than
the facts. Loaded questions contain “emotive” words with a positive or
negative connotation.
• Example: Do you approve of the President’s oppressive immigration
policy?
 MORE EXAMPLES
OF BAD QUESTIONS
 31

• Question: What brand of computer do you own?

• (A) IBM PC
• (B) Apple
• Principle: Avoid hidden assumptions. Make sure to accommodate all
possible answers.
• Solution:
• (1) Make each response a separate dichotomous item
• Do you own an IBM PC? (Circle: Yes or No)
• Do you own an Apple computer? (Circle: Yes or No)
• (2) Add necessary response categories and allow for multiple responses.
• What brand of computer do you own? (Circle all that apply)
• Do not own computer
• IBM PC
• Apple
• Other
 32

• Question: Have you had pain in the last week?

[ ] Never [ ] Seldom [ ] Often [ ] Very often
• Principle: Make sure question and answer options match.
• Solution: Reword either question or answer to match.
• How often have you had pain in the last week?
[ ] Never [ ] Seldom [ ] Often [ ] Very Often
 33

• Question: Where did you grow up?

• Country
• Farm
• City
• Principle: Avoid questions having non-mutually exclusive answers.
• Solution: Design the question with mutually exclusive options.
• Where did you grow up?
• House in the country
• Farm in the country
• City
 34

• Question: Are you against drug abuse? (Circle: Yes or No)

• Principle: Write questions that will produce variability in the responses.
• Solution: Eliminate the question.
 35

• Question: Which one of the following do you think increases a person’s

chance of having a heart attack the most? (Check one.)
[ ] Smoking [ ] Being overweight [ ] Stress
• Principle: Encourage the respondent to consider each possible response to
avoid the uncertainty of whether a missing item may represent either an
answer that does not apply or an overlooked item.
• Solution: Which of the following increases the chance of having a heart
attack?
• Smoking: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
• Being overweight: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
• Stress: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
 36

• Question:
• (1) Do you currently have a life insurance policy? (Circle: Yes or No)
• If no, go to question 3.
• (2) How much is your annual life insurance premium?
• Principle: Avoid branching as much as possible to avoid confusing
respondents.
• Solution: If possible, write as one question.
• How much did you spend last year for life insurance? (Write 0 if none).
 37

A FEW FINAL THINGS…

• There are few final things to consider when developing your survey questions:
• If possible, consider varying the type of questions you use to keep your
respondents engaged throughout the survey. You have a variety of question
types to choose from, so mix it up where you can! (But do keep in mind that
each type of question has a specific purpose and gives you more or less
specific data.)
• Think about how certain words can have different interpretations and
remember that meanings are often embedded in culture and language.
• Be sensitive to different cultures if you are examining several groups within a
population.
 PURPOSES OF PILOTING
• To check clarity of items/layout/sections/presentation/ instructions;
• To gain feedback on appearance;
• To eliminate ambiguities/uncertainty/poor wording;
• To check readability;
• To gain feedback on question type (suitability/feasibility/ format (e.g.
open/closed/multiple choice);
• To gain feedback on appropriateness of question stems;
• To generate categories for responses in multiple choices;
• To generate items for further exploration/discussion;
• To gain feedback on response categories;
• To gain feedback on length/timing (when to conduct the data collection
as well as how long each takes to complete (e.g. each
interview/questionnaire))/coverage/ease of completion;
 PURPOSES OF PILOTING
• To identify redundant items/questions (those with little discriminability);
• To identify irrelevant questions;
• To identify non-responses;
• To identify how motivating/non-engaging/threatening/ intrusive/offensive
items may be;
• To identify sensitive topics and problems in conducting interviews;
• To test for inter-rater reliability;
• To minimise counter-transference;
• To gain feedback on leading questions;
• To identify items which are too easy/difficult/complex/ remote from
experience;
• To identify commonly misunderstood or non-completed items.