introduction and types of research.

1. Questionnaire
By-
Bhawana

2. The Questionnaire
A questionnaire is a set of carefully planned written
questions related to a particular research topic which,
when submitted to and answered accurately by
properly selected persons called respondents, will
supply data to complete the research project.

3. Advantages of the Questionnaire
1. The questionnaire is easy to construct
2. Distribution is easy and inexpensive.
3. Tabulation of responses is easy.
4. The respondent’s replies are of his own.
5. Confidential information may be given freely.
6. Respondents can fill out the questionnaire at
their own convenience.
7. More accurate replies may be given.

4. Disadvantages of a Questionnaire
1. The questionnaire cannot be used with illiterates.
2. Some or many respondents may not return the
questionnaire.
3. A respondent may give a wrong information.
4. Respondents may leave some or many items
unanswered.
5. Some questions or items may be vague to the
respondents.
6. The number of choices may be very limited.

5. Characteristics of a questionnaire
*Elicits information from respondents
*Results can be tabulated
*Standardized across respondents
*Understandable to respondents

6. There are nine steps involved in the development of a
questionnaire:
1. Decide the information required.
2. Define the target respondents.
3. Choose the method(s) of reaching your target
respondents.
4. Decide on question content.
5. Develop the question wording.
6. Put questions into a meaningful order and format.
7. Check the length of the questionnaire.
8. Pre-test the questionnaire.
9. Develop the final survey form.

7. 1. DECIDING ON THE INFORMATION REQUIRED
It should be noted that one does not start by
writing questions. The first step is to decide
'what are the things one needs to know from
the respondent in order to meet the survey's
objectives?' should appear in the research brief
and the research proposal.

8. 2. DEFINE THE TARGET RESPONDENTS
Demographic characteristics
Job or social category
Other relevant characteristics
Secondary audiences:

9. • Demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, religion,
urban/rural residence, income level, social class, education,
employment status, and ethnic or language group
• Job or social category, such as policymakers, doctors,
nurses, factory workers, religious leaders or university
students

10. • Other relevant characteristics: Some individuals or groups
may be disproportionately affected by TB, such as persons
living with HIV/AIDS, imprisoned people, homeless
populations, drug users, or family members of people with
TB;
• Secondary audiences: Your secondary audiences may
include allies who can influence or provide access to your
primary audience, such as community leaders or health
authorities.
Knowledge, attitudes and health-seeking practices may vary
substantially among population groups, and according to
social, cultural or economic characteristics.

11. 3. CHOOSE THE METHOD(S) OF REACHING TARGET
RESPONDENTS
- Face-to-Face Interview
-Telephone Interviews
- Mail Questionnaires
- Internet Questionnaire

12. A. Face-to-Face Interview
Face-to-face interviews or personal interviews are surveys
conducted in person by an interviewer who usually travels to
the person being surveyed.
Pros—High response rates; can clarify questions, if
necessary; control over respondent selection; can use longer,
more complex questionnaire; and easier to motivate the
respondent.
Cons—High costs, time-consuming, and more administrative
requirements (i.e., selecting and training interviewers,
contacting respondents, travel arrangements). Also, there is a
tendency for respondents to give socially acceptable answers

13. B. Telephone Interviews
Telephone interviews are usually conducted from a central office that
places telephone calls to selected households or businesses.
Pros—Good response rates, fast, some anonymity for respondents in
answering questions, and control over respondent selection. If a
comprehensive list of the target population is available, the likelihood of
obtaining a representative sample is high.
Cons—Questions must be short and not complex; cannot control
interruption by others in household/ office; hard to find persons at
home, and those that are at home may resent intrusion; there is
mounting displeasure among households receiving unsolicited
telephone calls; requires training and quality control monitoring of the
interviewers; and is usually difficult to target a specific geographical
location.

14. C. Mail Questionnaires
Mail questionnaires are written surveys that are sent through
the mail to selected members of the population to be
surveyed.
Pros—Good response rates with rigorous follow-up
procedures, relatively easy to obtain a listed population and
locate respondents, can avoid interviewer bias and distortion,
answers unlikely to be socially influenced, easy to administer
and relatively low costs, can cover a wide geographical area,
and more manageable for handling large samples.
Cons—Questionnaire may be given to someone else to fill
out or may not reach the desired respondent; most difficult
type of questionnaire to design; hard to interpret open-ended
questions; cannot control sequence in which respondents
answer questions; and time consuming, given periodic mail-
out requirements.

15. D. Internet Questionnaire
An Internet questionnaire is a form of a written survey.
Respondents may be invited to participate in the survey
through email or because they visit a particular web page.
Pros—Fast to conduct and tabulate, some software products
allow questionnaires to be customized depending on the
respondent’s answers, avoids interviewer bias and distortion,
answers unlikely to be socially influenced, easy to administer,
and relatively low costs.
Cons—Information transferred via the Internet may not be
confidential; poor control over respondent selection; follow-
up difficult to conduct; difficult to obtain probability sample;
and, like mail surveys, this is the most difficult type of
questionnaire to design.

16. DECIDE ON QUESTION CONTENT
There are a series of questions that should be posed as the researchers
develop the survey questions themselves:
a) "Is this question sufficient to generate the required information?
“ b) "Can the respondent answer the question correctly?“
c) "Are there any external events that might bias response to the
question?“
d) "Do the words have the same meaning to all respondents?"
For example, "How many members are there in your family?" There is
room for ambiguity in such a question since it is open to interpretation
as to whether one is speaking of the immediate or extended family.

17. 5. DEVELOP THE QUESTION WORDING
a) Contingency questions/cascade format
b) Matrix questions
c) Closed ended questions
d) Open ended questions

18. Matrix questions –
Identical response categories are assigned to
multiple questions. The questions are placed
one under the other, forming a matrix with
response categories along the top and a list of
questions down the side. This is an efficient use
of page space and respondents’ time.

19. CLOSED ENDED QUESTIONS
Closed ended questions - Respondents’ answers are limited
to a fixed set of responses. Four types of response scales for
closed-ended questions are distinguished:
Dichotomous, where the respondent has two options
Nominal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than
two unordered options
Ordinal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than
two ordered options
(Bounded)Continuous, where the respondent is presented
with a continuous scale.
Examples of types of scales include the Likert scale, semantic
differential scale, and rank-order scale

20. Open ended questions
Completely unstructured - For example, “What is your
opinion of questionnaires?”
Word association - Words are presented and the respondent
mentions the first word that comes to mind.
Sentence completion - Respondents complete an incomplete
sentence.
Story completion - Respondents complete an incomplete
story.
Picture completion - Respondents fill in an empty
conversation balloon.
Thematic apperception test - Respondents explain a picture
or make up a story about what they think is happening in the
picture

21. 6. PUTTING QUESTIONS INTO A MEANINGFUL ORDER AND
FORMAT
According to the three stages theory (also called the
sandwich theory), initial questions should be screening and
rapport questions. Then in the second stage you ask all the
research specific questions. In the last stage you ask
demographic questions.
A. Opening questions
B. Question flow
C. Question variety
D. Closing questions

22. Opening questions:
Opening questions should be easy to answer and not in any
way threatening to THE respondents. The first question is
crucial because it is the respondent's first exposure to the
interview and sets the tone for the nature of the task to be
performed. If they find the first question difficult to
understand, or beyond their knowledge and experience, or
embarrassing in some way, they are likely to break off
immediately. If, on the other hand, they find the opening
question easy and pleasant to answer, they are encouraged to
continue

23. Question flow:
Questions should flow in some kind of psychological order, so
that one leads easily and naturally to the next. Questions on
one subject, or one particular aspect of a subject, should be
grouped together. Questions should flow logically from one to
the next. The researcher must ensure that the answer to a
question is not influenced by previous questions. Questions
should flow from the more general to the more specific.
Questions should flow from the least sensitive to the most
sensitive. Questions should flow from factual and behavioural
questions to attitudinal and opinion questions. Questions
should flow from unaided to aided questions.

24. Question variety:
Respondents become bored quickly and restless
when asked similar questions for half an hour or so. It
usually improves response, therefore, to vary the
respondent's task from time to time. An open- ended
question here and there (even if it is not analysed)
may provide much-needed relief from a long series of
questions in which respondents have been forced to
limit their replies to pre-coded categories. Questions
involving showing cards/pictures to respondents can
help vary the pace and increase interest.

25. Closing questions
It is natural for a respondent to become increasingly
indifferent to the questionnaire as it nears the end.
Because of impatience or fatigue, he may give
careless answers to the later questions. Those
questions, therefore, that are of special importance
should, if possible, be included in the earlier part of
the questionnaire. Potentially sensitive questions
should be left to the end, to avoid respondents
cutting off the interview before important
information is collected.

26. 7. PRESENTATION AND LAYOUT OF THE INTERVIEW FORM
-Use of booklets
-Simple, clear formats
-Creative use of space and typeface
-Use of color coding
-Interviewer instructions

27. 8. PILOTING / PRE-TESTING THE QUESTIONNAIRES
* whether the questions as they are worded will
achieve the desired results
* whether the questions have been placed in
the best order
* whether the questions are understood by all
classes of respondents
* whether additional or specifying questions are
needed or whether some questions should be
eliminated
* whether the instructions to interviewers are
adequate.

28. Recognizing poor questions through pretests:
1. Lack of order in the answers
2. All or None responses
3. High proportion of don’t-know or don’t
understand answers
4. Great number of qualifications
or/irrelevant comment
5. High proportions of refusals to answers
6. Substantial variation in answers when
order of questions has been changed

29. TYPES OF QUESTIONS ASKED IN SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES
A. According to form:
1. The free – answer type. The respondent is free to answer the
question in his own words and his own way. This is called the open form,
open – ended, subjective, unrestricted, essay, free response, and
unguided response type.
2. The guided response type. This is also called the closed form or
restricted type. The respondent is guided in making his reply. There are
two kinds of this type (a) recall and (b) recognition types.

30. a. Recall Type.
The replies are recalled and supplied. Example: Please
supply the following asked for: (a) Graduate Course
finished _________ (b) School graduated from
___________ (c) Year of graduation
_______________
b. Recognition Type.
There are options given and the respondent chooses
his reply or replies. There are three types:
dichotomous, multiple choice, and multiple response.

31. 1. Dichotomous.
There are only two options and one is chosen.
Example: Are you employed? Yes ____ No____
2. Multiple Choice.
Several options are given but only one is elected as a
reply. Example: What program do you prefer to take?
Please check
_____ Education _____ Nursing _____ Commerce
_____ Optometry _____ Medicine _____ Computer
_____ Engineering _____ Others _____ Dentistry

32. 3. Multiple Response.
Two or more options may be chosen from those
given. Example: Why do you used pepsodent
toothpaste? Please check your answers.
______ It sweetens my breath
______ It makes my mouth fresh
______ It prevents tooth decay
______ It is cheap
______ It is available all the time
______ It is made in the country
______ It is economical

33. B. According to the Type of Data asked for:
1. Descriptive Data (Verbal Data)
Example: In What kind of community do you
live. Please check. ____ City ____ Town ____
Barrio
2. Quantitative Data (Numerical Data)
Examples: (1) What is your daily wage? ____
(2) What is the total income of your family?____

34. 4. Degree of Judgment
Examples:
(1) How serious is drug addiction in your
university? Please check.
______ Very Serious
______ Serious
______ Fairly Serious
______ Not Serious
______ Not a Problem

35. THANK YOU