Questionnaire DesignQuestionnaire Design

Questionnaires• Inexpensive – postage and photocopies• Potential of large # of respondents• Easy to administer confidentially –

embarrassing questions

• More difficult to claim complete objectivity with questionnaire than with a tightly controlled lab test.

– Ex. How long did it take you to learn software program?

Objectives of Survey• Need to have a clear goal and purpose

– If not it will overlook important issues and waste participants time by asking useless questions.

• Don’t ask broad and generalizing questions– Can’t identify a problem, cause or solution.

Writing the Questionnaire

• Already decided what kind of data we are to measure and decided on a participant group.

• Demographic information (beginning-easy)– Income – don’t ask unless you have

rationale for suspecting a variance across income levels.

– If need personal info. Phrase your questions unobtrusively to avoid ruffling your participants.

Kinds of Questions• Open format – No predetermined set of

responses.– Subjective data– Get unexpected and insightful suggestions– Usually at end of questionnaire to get ideas for

changes or improvements.– Have to be read individually (more time and $)

• Closed format – multiple choice– Objective data– Easy to calculate/tabulate– Easy to track opinion over time by administering

the same questionnaire at regular intervals– Filter out useless or extreme answers that happen

in open format questionnaires

Points that must be considered

• Clarity– Causes the greatest # of mistakes– Goal – to eliminate the chance that

the question will mean different things to different people

Ex. Very Often or 5 – 10 times a week• Leading

– Forces or implies a certain type of answer.

Ex. Superb, Excellent, Great, Good, Fair, Not Good

• Embarrassing – Avoid – If uncomfortable you will lose their

trust.• Hypothetical

– If you were governor, what would you do– Never considered – doesn’t produce clear

data• Prestige Bias

– Answer in a way to make them feel better– Make questionnaire private – telephone is

better than one-on-one. The farther away the researcher is the more honest the answers

Now What?• Observe a few test questionnaire

takers.• Work together to solve the problems.• Remember: One does not collect data

and then see if they found something interesting. One forms a hypothesis and an experiment that will help prove or disprove the hypothesis.

• A questionnaire is only as good as the questions it contains

Example Questionnaire1. What is your gender

o Maleo Female

2. What best describes your ethnic race?o American Indian/Alaskan Nativeo Asian/Pacific Islandero Black or African Americano Hispanic Americano White/Caucasiano Multiple Ethnicities (Please describe)__________________________________

Example Questionnaire3. What is your current grade?

o 9th

o 10tho 11th

o 12th

4. What is the average amount of money you bring to school everyday?o $0 - $5.00o $5.01 - $10.00o $10.01 - $15.00o $15.01 - $20.00o More than $20.00__________________________________

Example Questionnaire

5. What supplies do you need for classes everyday? (Check all that apply)o Pen/Pencilo Papero Foldero Bindero Flash Driveo Other (be specific)

______________________________