General Appearance of

the Questionnaire
Sound Questionnaire design should focus on
Three Areas

 Wording of the questions;

 How variables will be categorized, scaled and

coded after receipt of the responses;

 The general appearance of the questionnaire.

 General Appearance or Getup of the
Questionnaire
 A good introduction

 Organizing questions, giving instructions & Guidance, & Good

Alignment

 Demographic data, Sensitive personal data

 Open ended questions at the end

 Concluding the questionnaire: I sincerely appreciate your time and

cooperation. Please check to make sure that you have not skipped any
questions.
 Introduction to respondents
School of Physical Sciences
SUST, Sylhet

17 September 2018

Dear Participant,
This questionnaire is designed to study aspects of life at work. The information you provide will help us better
understand the quality of our work life. Because you are the only one who can give us a correct picture of how you
experience your work life, we would be most grateful if you would respond to the questions frankly and honestly.
Your response will be kept strictly confident. In order to ensure the utmost privacy, we have provided number
for each participant.
Thank you very much for your time and cooperation.
Yours sincerely

Md. Azizul Baten PhD

Department of Statistics
Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
Sylhet-3114, Bangladesh
Constructions
 Regardless of survey type, construct in a way

– Allows for candid/honest answers

– Accurately

– Consistently

– Addresses goals, hypotheses, research

questions
Conceptualizing the Task
 List the set of research questions, hypotheses
– Consider how others have measured
– At least one questionnaire item for each variable
– Operationalize the concept

 Outline what you want to cover

– Consider the following categories
 Attitudes: feelings and opinions
 Behaviors: what they actually do
 Demographics: who they are
Measuring Behavior

 Translate opinions into action

 Useful in
– Making policy
– Improving working conditions
– Evaluation of programs

 Measure of what they say they do

Demographics
 Need to know how opinions and behaviors vary
across different categories of people
 Such things as
– Age, income, education
– Political beliefs, sexual orientation

 Put at end of instrument

– Easy to answer
Instructions
 Beginning of each section, should include clear
instructions
 Disclose needed information for respondents to decide
whether to complete the survey
 Consider phrasing – Don’t alienate/isolate
 Tell whether
– Anonymous: no names or IDs
– Confidential: names or IDs, not attached responses
Instructions

 Information about due date

– General time line is a good idea

 Information on submitting
 Be consistent with instructions and format
– A little variation might break up ‘routine’
Conceptualizing
 Brainstorm
 Reduce your list to items that are connected to your
‘research’ variables
 Be creative and make an engaging survey
 Length of questionnaire
– Time to construct
– Time for respondents to complete
– Cost of construction and dissemination
– # of variables/concepts

 Font, spacing, and format

Question Writing
 Target the vocabulary and grammar to the
population be surveyed.

– For studies within a specific organization, use the

jargon/terminology used in that organization.

– Be careful to avoid language that is familiar to you,

but might not be to your respondents. Avoid
unnecessary abbreviations.
 Basic Considerations in
Questionnaire Design
• Questionnaire design is one of the most
critical stages in the survey research process.
– A questionnaire (survey) is only as good
as the questions it asks — ask a bad
question, get bad results.
– The questions must meet the basic criteria
of relevance and accuracy.
 What Should Be Asked?
• Questionnaire Relevancy
– All information collected should address a research question that
helps the decision maker in solving a current problem.
– the researcher must be specific about data needs; there should be a
rationale for each item, and all possible omissions should be
considered.
• Questionnaire Accuracy
– The information is valid; it faithfully represents reality.
• Questionnaires should use simple, understandable, unbiased,
unambiguous, & nonirritating words.
• Questionnaire design should facilitate recall & motivate
respondents to cooperate.
• Proper question wording & sequencing to avoid confusion &
biased answers.
 Major Decisions in Questionnaire
Design
 1. Content - What should be asked?
 2. Wording - How should each question be phrased?
 3. Sequence - In what sequence should the questions be
arranged?
 4. Layout - What questionnaire layout will best serve the
research objectives?
 How should the questionnaire be pretested? Does the
questionnaire need to be revised?

 The most difficult step is specifying exactly what information

is to be collected from each respondent
 Content and Purpose of Questions
The nature of the variable tapped-

Subjective nature- satisfaction, involvement;

respondent’s beliefs, perceptions, attitudes

Objective nature- a single direct question;

respondent’s age, education
Content: Questions must meet 5 requirements

1. Are the questions relevant. Do they pertain to the

research problem
2. Are the questions accurate. Do they accurately depict
the attitudes, behaviors, etc. intended to investigate
3. Do respondents have the necessary information?
• Qualify respondents
4. Do respondents understand and interpret the question
correctly
5. Will respondents give the information?
 Phrasing Questions
• Open-ended questions
–Aka essay questions, short-answer
questions
• Fixed-alternative questions
–Aka closed or closed-ended questions
Open-Ended Response Questions
– Pose some problem & ask respondents to answer in their
own words.
– Advantages:
• Particularly beneficial in exploratory research, especially when
the range of responses is not known.
• Identify which words & phrases people spontaneously give.
• Valuable at the beginning of an interview.
– Disadvantages:
• High cost of administering open-ended response questions.
• The possibility that interviewer bias will influence the answer.
• Bias introduced by individuals’ longer answers.
Example of Open-Ended Response
Question
 Fixed-alternative Questions
– Questions in which respondents are given specific,
limited-alternative responses & asked to choose the
one closest to their own viewpoint.
– Advantages:
• Require less interviewer skill
• Take less time to answer
• Are easier for the respondent to answer
• Provides comparability of answers
– Disadvantages:
• Researcher may be unaware of all potential responses
• Tendency of respondents to choose more prestigious or
socially acceptable alternative
Example of a Fixed-Alternative
Question
 Types of Fixed-Alternative Questions
• Simple-dichotomy (dichotomous) Question
– Requires the respondent to choose one of two alternatives (e.g., yes or no).
– Example:
Did you make any calls with your home (landline) phone during the 7 days?
_____ Yes _____ No

• Determinant-Choice (multiple-choice) Question

– Requires the respondent to choose one response from among multiple
alternatives (e.g., A, B, or C).
– Example:
 Types of Fixed-Alternative Questions
(con’t.)
• Frequency-determination Question
– Asks for an answer about general frequency of occurrence (e.g., often,
occasionally, or never).

• Checklist Question
– Allows the respondent to provide multiple answers to a single question by
checking off items.

• Scale
– Likert, Semantic Differential, Stapel, etc.
 Phrasing Questions for Self-Administered,
Telephone, & Personal Interview Surveys

• Influences on Question Phrasing

– Means of data collection — telephone
interview, personal interview, self-administered
questionnaire — will influence question format
& question phrasing.
• Questions for mail, Internet, & telephone surveys
must be less complex than those used in personal
interviews.
• Questionnaires for telephone & personal interviews
should be written in a conversational style.
Best Question Formats Vary by the Interview Medium