Questionnaire Method

3) Define Likert scale and Thurstone scale.

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3.7 THE TYPE OF QUESTIONS TO BE INCLUDED

IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE
A high response rate to a questionnaire is most likely to be achieved, if people find
themselves wondering what other people are saying in reply to the questions because
they want to know what other people are doing (especially if they know that the
results will be made public), or if they find the questions or tasks set of interest in
themselves.
How can we make questionnaires more interesting? This can be done if we keep the
following in our view:
 Instead of staying within the confines of the traditional question and answer
mode, put across a few challenging questions? To cite an example, what are
the reasons for parents not allowing their youngsters to go for night parties?
 If you have a choice to get an item that is most important and that too when
ever you need it for your writing, what would it be?
 Another way is to use examples or vignettes and asking questions based on the
same.
 Or you can ask people to change the chosen scenario to make it a closer fit
to their own working behaviour by adding words, crossing out bits or changing
numbers.
 To give an example, faced with someone who spends two hours every day
reading and responding to e-mails, someone else might change the description
to make the pattern less regular or to reduce the time. It was not too difficult
to devise a set of rules for interpreting the changes made to reflect emerging
differences.
 Another method is to present people with photographs, drawings or plans of a
real or imagined information service area and asking for comments of the
respondents. This would provide an excellent response from the participants.

3.8 QUESTIONNAIRES: WHY THEY DON’T WORK?

Despite all our best efforts, sometimes the questionnaires are not effective and they
do not work.
The reasons for the same include the following:
1) Highly complicated.
2) Require more than one answer.
3) Not relevant to the culture.
4) Use of jargons. 41
Tools of Data Collection 5) They are highly biased and touches upon sensitive area.
6) Embarrasses the respondent.
7) Confuses the Respondent.
Designing a questionnaire is a complicated process. There are mainly three main
types of questionnaires: 1) Mail or self administered questionnaire; 2) Face to face
interviews; 3) Telephone Interviews.
Always send a covering letter to the questionnaire, If you’re sending a cover letter,
be sure to use letterhead stationary and have the principal investigator or someone
of renown from the funding agency sign it to add prestige.
Your cover and advance letters should include the following:
a) a brief explanation of the study
b) an explanation of how you obtained the respondent’s name
c) why it is important that each “sampled” respondent cooperate, and
d) a short assurance of confidentiality.
Your mailing envelope should include the words “Address Correction Requested.”
Don’t forget to include a stamped self-addressed envelope for the respondent to
return the completed form.
It is a good idea to include your name and address on the questionnaire itself, in case
the respondent loses the enclosed return envelope.
A few things to remember when planning a mail survey:
 Avoid mailing during holiday periods.
 Do not have forms arrive on the first of the month.
 If mailing to businesses, do not have forms arrive on the first day of the business
week.
 If you plan only two questionnaire mailings, you might want a reminder postcard
between mailings or a telephone follow-up. Do not send a postcard if you have
planned three questionnaire mailings.
 Be sure to allow at least two weeks between mailings.
 Change your cover letter for both the second and third mailings.
 If possible, change the questionnaire for follow-up mailings and include a new
question.
 When writing questionnaires that respondents will see, it is very important that
you present a professional-looking document so that the respondents will know
this is a serious research effort.
 Never send Xerox copies of loose pages held together with a staple in the
upper corner.
 Always have the forms printed in a booklet, either saddle-stapled or glued, and
use a heavier paper for the cover.
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 Do not forget to plan for printing time when setting your study schedule. Questionnaire Method

 Remember when laying out your questionnaire that it will be printed on both
sides of a page and formed like a booklet, so that the final number of pages
will be a multiple of 4. This format also allows for double-width layouts, if
necessary.
 Word questions to be read by a respondent as if you or an interviewer were
speaking to the respondent. Don’t word them like school exams; remember to
insert the work “please” in all instructions (e.g., “PLEASE SPECIFY”).
Other precautions to take include the following:
 Do not skip around from topic to topic.
 Just as in writing a paper, prepare an outline and group your questions according
to topic or subject matter.
 Write transitional statements between sections or changes in subject matter.
 In general, you will begin your questionnaire with a question related to the
subject of the research, one that is designed to capture the respondent’s interest
without being threatening.
 This can be an open-ended question that encourages respondents to express
their thoughts about the subject matter and literally trains them to talk to you.
 However, it is often better to begin with closed questions that respondents can
answer easily so that they can learn that the interview process will be fairly easy
for them.
 Questions can then be ordered from the least threatening issues to the most
threatening. “Threatening” is, of course, a relative term, because questions
about sexual practices and respondent incomes are considered “threatening.”
 In general, demographic questions are asked in the last part of the interview.
However, it is sometimes necessary to obtain some demographic information
early in the interview in order to determine how to proceed through sections of
the questionnaire.
 It is not an absolute fixed rule that demographics are asked toward the end of
the interview; you just need to be aware that they are considered sensitive and
intrusive by some respondents. At the same time, of course, they are critical for
analysis.
 One important rule to follow is never to ask for more personal/demographic
information than is required for analysis. For example, if ‘race’ is never going
to be an analysis variable, do not ask the question.
 The same thing is true for marital status, income, gender, etc. It is not necessary
to include all of the demographic questions that one has developed. In fact, it
would be a rare survey that should require all of them.

3.9 DO’S AND DON’TS IN DESIGNING

QUESTIONNAIRES
1) Be sure all answer choices are mutually exclusive.
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Tools of Data Collection 2) Check for ambiguity in wording the question – can respondents interpret the
meaning of words differently?
3) Don’t write your questions so that you “lead” the respondent to an obvious
response.
Example 1 (Leads the Respondent): Are you in favor of forcing state, to hold all
rape case investigations strictly confidential ans the court proceedings not to be
revealed in public?
Example 2 (Leads the Respondent): Do you think completely stopping the over the
counter drug distribution you can have lesser drug abusers and addicts?
It is important to give due attention to pronouns and articles in the questionnaire.
 Watch personal pronouns (gender references) – never use only he (his) or she
(her) unless you are referring to a specific gender.
 Do not shorten questions that refer to previous questions; repeat the reference.
 Do not let questions about knowledge provide the answer you are seeking
(e.g., Are you aware that xyz program exists?). Obviously, the question indicates
that it does exist.
 Don’t ask respondents to perform arithmetic computations; instead ask for
factual information and make the calculations during the analysis.
 Write specific rather than general questions and word them so that they
communicate uniform meaning.
 Avoid using double negatives – these are especially possible when using Agree/
Disagree.
Example of Double Negative: Indicate if you agree or disagree.
A chemical used in food production that has a negligible cancer risk should be
prohibited even though it delays spoilage, prevents rancidity, or prolongs storage
time.
“Don’t know” is generally not offered as an answer choice; however, there may be
times when “no opinion” should be offered.
Offering a middle choice makes less difference to those who feel strongly about an
issue, but if you offer a middle choice, more people will select it. One solution to
the middle choice is to ask two questions, that is, the first to identify the respondent’s
position on an issue and the second to measure intensity.
Example 1 (Identify Respondent’s Position): Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with
the prices of meals in your student union?
Satisfied (Skip to 2)
Dissatisfied (Skip to 3)
Makes no difference
Example 2 (Additional Question to Measure Intensity): Are you ______
Very satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
44 Slightly satisfied
Example 3 (Additional Question to Measure Intensity): Are you _______ Questionnaire Method

Very dissatisfied
Somewhat dissatisfied
Slightly dissatisfied
Before the “official” pretest, try out your questionnaire on a few members of the
target population.
If there are many changes as a result of the “official” pretest, be sure to conduct a
second pretest before beginning main study data collection.
Asking threatening questions about behaviour
 Open questions are better than closed questions for obtaining information on
frequencies of socially undesirable behaviour.
 Example 1: On the average, about how many times do you watch thematinee
show skipping the classes?
 Long questions are better than short questions for obtaining information on
frequencies of socially undesirable behaviour.
 The use of familiar words may increase the reporting of frequencies of socially
undesirable behaviour.
 Example 1: “Pot” for marijuana
 To obtain reports of threatening behaviour, use data obtained from informants,
if possible.
 Consider deliberate loading of the question to reduce both overstatements of
socially desirable behaviour and understatements of socially undesirable behaviour.
 Do not depend on wording such as “Did you happen to …” to improve
reporting of socially undesirable behaviour. Such wording may actually increase
threat.
 Example 1 (Loaded): Do you think it should be possible for a pregnant woman
to obtain a legal abortion if she is married and does not want any more children?
 Example 2 (Unloaded): Do you believe that a woman should ever be allowed
to have an abortion?
 For socially undesirable behaviour, it is better, before asking about current
behaviour, to ask whether the respondent has ever engaged in the behaviour.
For socially desirable behaviour, it is better to ask about current rather than
usual behaviour.
 Embed the threatening topic into a list of more and less threatening topics, to
reduce the perceived importance of the topic to the respondent.
 Consider alternatives to standard questions, such as randomised response, card
sorting, and sealed envelopes.
 Consider the use of diaries or asking the panel members questions several times
to improve both reliability and validity.
 Avoid the use of reliability checks on the same questionnaire, since this will
annoy respondents.
 Ask questions at the end of the interview to determine how threatening the
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topics were perceived to be by the respondent.