Principles of Questionnaire Construction

SURVEY – Research instrument/ data-gathering tool
1. Questionnaire – a list of planned written questions

2. Interview – oral
Advantages of Questionnaire
1. large sample – conclusion or generalization
2. Confidential information may be given by the respondent. There is
anonymity.
3. The respondent can answer the questionnaire at his own will.
4. There could be accuracy in questionnaire.
Disadvantages of Questionnaire
1. Might not be taken seriously
2. There are respondents who will not answer your questionnaire or who will
not provide accurate answers.
Principles of Questionnaire Construction

1. Target the vocabulary and grammar to the population be surveyed.
2. Avoid ambiguity, confusion, and vagueness. Avoid indefinite words or
response categories.
Example: Do you always buy beauty products? (What do you mean by
always?)
Revised: How many times in a month do you buy beauty products?
3. Avoid double-barrelled question
Example: Are you a regular customer of Nivea or Ponds?
Revised: What particular brand of beauty product you purchase all the
time?
Example: "Does your company have pension and health insurance
benefits?"
Revised: What specific health benefits does your company provide to its
employees?
3. Avoid emotional language, prestige bias and leading questions
Watch out for loaded words that have a history of being attached to
extreme situations.
Example: "What should be done
about murderous terrorists who threaten the freedom of good citizens and
the safety of our children?"
5. Avoid false premises
Example: "What is the most important thing we should do stop the
economy from deteriorating any further?"
Revised: "What is the most important thing a government can do to
strengthen its economy?"
6. Avoid asking questions beyond a respondent's capabilities
Examples: "How did you feel about your brother when you were six years
old?”
"How many gallons of gasoline did you buy for your car last
year?".
Examine these questions:

1. How great is our hard-working customer service team?
2. How useful is the school’s online platform?
3. What problems do you have with the online teaching method of teachers?
Better: How would you describe the online teaching method of SHS teachers?
4. How often do you use digital contact tracing?
5. What tools do your teachers use during online classes?
Qualify the word: teaching tools
6. Was the game effective in teaching the lesson and did you enjoy it?
7. How easy was it to login to the company website? Answer: Yes | No
Better: How would you describe your experience in logging in to the school
portal?
Better: It is easy to login to the school portal.
Strongly agree ____
Agree ____
Disagree _____
Strongly disagree _____
8. How often do you check your email in a day?
Overlapping answer options: A. 0-1 time | B. 1-2 times | C. 2-3 times | D. More
than 3 times
Open-ended ( Unstructured ) versus Closed-ended ( Structured ) Questions

An open-ended question is one in which you do not provide any standard answers
to choose from. For example, these are all open-ended questions:
How old are you? ______ years.
What do you like best about your job?
______________________________________________
A closed-ended question is one in which you provide the response categories, and
the respondent just chooses one:
Multiple Choice
How old are you?
(a) 12 - 15 years old (c) 26 - 35 years old
(b) 16 - 25 years old (d) 36 - 45 years old
Multiple Response
What are the difficulties that you encountered while logging in to the school
portal?
Confusing links ____
Unclear instructions ____
Time confusing ____
What do you like best about your job?

(a) The people (c) The diversity of skills you need to do it
(b) The pay and/or benefits (d) Other: __________________( Indicate )
From : http://www.analytictech.com/mb313/principl.htm
CLASSIFICATION OF CLOSED FORMAT QUESTIONS FOR

QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
There are 7 ways in which pollsters can create polling or survey questions
for their respondents to collect accurate statistical data. Following is a list of 7
types of closed-ended questions that can be a part of your questionnaire design:
A. Leading Questions
Questions that force your audience for a particular type of answer are known
as leading questions. In a leading question, all the answers would be equally likely.
An example of a leading question would be a question with choices such as, fair,
good, great, poor, superb, excellent etc. These questions are meant to get an
opinion from the audience in limited words.
B. Importance Questions
In importance questions, the respondents are usually asked to rate the
importance of a particular issue, on a rating scale of 1 to 5. These questions can
help you understand things that hold significance to your respondents and allow
you make business critical decisions.
C. Likert Questions
Likert questions can help you ascertain how strongly your respondents agree
to a particular statement. Such type of questions also help you assess how your
customers feel towards a certain issue, product or service.
D. Dichotomous Questions
These are simple questions that ask respondents to answer in a yes or no.
One major drawback with dichotomous questions is that it cannot analyze the
answers between yes and no, there is no scope for a middle perspective.
E. Bipolar Questions
Bipolar questions are the ones having two extreme answers written at the opposite
ends of the scale. The respondents are asked to mark their responses between those
two.
How would you describe the services of _______( a leading fast food chain)?
Efficient _______ Inefficient _____
Fast ___________ Slow _____
F. Rating Scale Questions
In rating scale questions, the respondents are asked to rate a particular issue on a
scale that ranges between poor to good. Rating scale questions usually have an
even number of choices.
Rank according to the most important quality that you are looking for in a school
portal. (1 – the highest 5 – the lowest)
Appearance _____ Accessibility ____ Security _____
Easy to use _____ Completeness _____

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What are the different types of research instruments discussed?

What are some principles of questionnaire construction?

SURVEY – Research instrument/ data-gathering tool

1. Questionnaire – a list of planned written questions

Examine these questions:

Open-ended ( Unstructured ) versus Closed-ended ( Structured ) Questions

What do you like best about your job?

CLASSIFICATION OF CLOSED FORMAT QUESTIONS FOR

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