QUESTIONNAIRE

Definition

It is a list of planned written questions related to a particular topic, with space provided for submission to a number of persons for reply. --According to Good

Definition

Is simply a set of questions which answered properly by a required number of properly selected respondents, will supply the necessary information to complete a research study.

Advantages of Questionnaire

The Questionnaire is easy to construct Distribution is easy and inexpensive Responses are easy to tabulate The respondents replies are free

Advantages of Questionnaire

Confidential information may be given freely

Respondents can fill out the questionnaire at will

Respondents can give more accurate replies.

Disadvantages of Questionnaire

Cannot be used with those who cannot read nor write well

Respondents may not return the filled up copies of the questionnaire purposely

If respondents give wrong information, it cannot be corrected at once

Disadvantages of Questionnaire

Respondents may leave questions unanswered because nobody urges him

Some questions may be vague to respondents

Number of choices maybe so limited that the respondents may be forced to select response that are not actual choices

Construction of Questionnaire Doing library search Talking to knowledgeable people Mastering the guidelines Writing the questionnaire Editing the questionnaire Rewriting the questionnaire Pretesting the questionnaire Writing the questionnaire in final form

Doing library search

Do some library research among studies similar to yours? There may be some questionnaires similar to what you want to use.

Talking to knowledgeable one Talk to people who have some

knowledge about the construction of questionnaires. You may be able to get some ideas from them.

Mastering Guidelines

There are guidelines in constructing a questionnaire. You learn these from books and similar studies in your library search and from your interviews with knowledgeable people.

Writing the Questionnaire

Write the questionnaire following the guidelines as closely as possible

Editing the Questionnaire

After the questionnaire has been finished, show it for correction and suggestions for improvement to people who are known to posses adequate knowledge in the construction of questionnaires, especially if you have one.

Rewriting the Questionnaire

Rewrite the questionnaire according to the corrections and suggestions

Pretesting the Questionnaire This is called a dry run. This is the

process of measuring the effectiveness, validity, and reliability of the questionnaire.

Are the directions, statements, questions and/or items clear and unequivocal?

Do the questions gather the intended data?

What difficulties are encountered in answering the questions?

Are the respondents given adequate number of options from which they choose their response?

Is the questionnaire too long that it creates boredom or is it too short that the information gathered is not adequate?

What item should be eliminated or improve? What other items should be included?

Some of Questions (Pretest)

Were the directions very clear to you? Did you understand completely the

questions or items? What difficulties did you meet in

answering the questions? If the respondents failed to answer

some questions: Why did you not answer the question?

Some of Questions (Pretest)

Are the spaces where you wrote your replies sufficient?

Are the number of options from which you selected your response enough?

Is the questionnaire too long? What suggestions can you give to

improve the questionnaire?

Writing the Final Form

After making the proper corrections, adjustments and revisions according to the results of the dry run or pretesting, the questionnaire should be now written in its final form.

Types of Questions (Survey)

1. The Free answer type

-- it is also called the open ended, unrestricted, essay, etc. The respondents answer the question in his own words.

Example: What is your current marital status?

Types of Questions (Survey)

2. The Guided response type

-- also called closed form or restricted type. The respondent is guided in making his reply. There is 2 kind of this type:

A.) Recall type – replies are recalled

Example: Pls. Supply the information asked for. Age ____ Sex _____ Date of Birth ________

Types of Questions (Survey)

B.) Recognition Types – The possible responses are given and respondent select his answer. There are three types

(1)Dichotomus – only 2 options and one is selected.

Ex. Are you married? YES __ NO __

(2) Multiple Choice -- Only one answer is chosen from those given as options.

Ex. What is your highest educational attainment

Please put a check mark before you reply

_____ Elementary Graduate

_____ High School Graduate

_____ College Graduate

(3) Numerical -- When the answer must be a number, ask a numerical question.

Ex. What is your current age? (select one) 

____ Less than 18   ____ 18 to 29   ____ 30 to 39   ____ 40 to 49   ____ 50 or older

(4) Ordinal -- A ranking indicates the importance assigned by a participant to an attitudinal object.

Ex. Please rank the importance of the following qualities in a team leader. (number it from 1-5)__ A team leader that is sincere __ A team leader that gets resources for the team __ A team leader that is an advocate for the team __ A team leader that is a strong disciplinarian __ A team leader that is a good motivator

(5) Likert Scale --  trying to determine respondents’ attitudes or feelings about something. 

Ex. How important do you think NAT scores are to a High School student’s success? (select one):

Not very important  1    2    3    4    5   Extremely

important