2. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
DESIGNS
Research instrument design is the process by which a
Research instrument is developed.
Research instruments include
- Questionnaire
- Check list
- Guide lines
- Others
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3. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT…
• When a research instrument contains only questions and
statements to be answered by respondents, it is called a
questionnaire.
• Before conducting Research instrument design ;
- study objective (s),
- the major concepts to be investigated,
- the major dimensions of these concepts, and their
representative categories
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4. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT…
• In the process of designing the research
instrument we have to consider
- Frame of reference
- Time frame
- Response format,
- composition of questions
- instrument assembling, and
- pre-testing.
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5. A. Frame of reference
• Frame of reference is related to the respondents’ particular
perspectives.
- general educational level of respondents
- words, phrases, terms, or languages which are familiar to
them (easily understandable language )
- general experience they have etc.
• If no prior knowledge
conduct a pilot test of the instrument
before finalizing it
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6. B. Time Frame
• In designing an instrument, researchers can ask questions about
the past, current, or future.
• Current questions
- produce more accurate answers than past or future
questions,
- the longer the time span from the present, the less accurate
the answers become.
• future questions
Asking questions about the future involves guesswork & is even
less reliable than recalling past events.
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7. Time Frame
• past questions
- Asking questions about the past is affected by memory
problems.
- “telescoping” is the most common memory problem
(the tendency to recall the timing of an event as having
occurred more recently than it actually did).
When the time frame is improperly extended into the past
or future, the responses are likely to be inaccurate.
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8. Time Frame…
• methods to improve the accuracy of responses
related to memory problems???
- check with the records
- provide a list of response categories
- Paying attention to question formulation
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9. C. Response Format
• In terms of response format, the researcher must make the
choice between:
1.Close-ended questions
provide answer categories for the respondents to choose
based on their own characteristics.
2. Open-ended
questions require the respondents to provide their answers using
their own words
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10. Open-ended Questions
• Open-ended questions are questions to which there
is no one definite answer.
Example: Have you comments about
this presentation?
• Open-ended questions can have quantitative as well
as qualitative answers.
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11. Open-ended questions…
• Quantitative open-ended
It require respondents to provide numerical
answers that often categorized as interval
ratios.
Examples questions about age, income,
years of education…
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12. Open-ended questions…
• Qualitative open-ended
require respondents to answer the questions
using their own words.
Example: What type (s) of health insurance plans
do you have?
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13. The choice between qualitative open-ended and
close-ended questions is based on:
- knowledge of subject matter
- depth of information required
- sample size
- desired response and completion rates
- desired level of standardization
- length of questionnaire
- data analysis techniques
- the amount of time to complete the
research.
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14. Advantages Disadvantages
O
P
E
N
-
E
N
D
E
D
- Permit unlimited number of
answers
- Respondents can qualify
and clarify responses
- Can find the unanticipated
- Reveal respondents thinking
processes
- Respondents give answers with
diff. level of detail
- Answers can be irrelevant
- Inarticulate or forgetful
respondents are at disadvantage
- Coding responses is subjective
and tedious
- Requires more respondents
effort and time
- frighten respondents
- When resp omits a response,
can't tell if its because
of belief or just forgetfulness
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15. Closed-ended Questions
• Closed-ended questions have a finite set of answers
from which the respondent choose.
• Advantage = they are easy to standardize, and data
gathered from closed-ended questions are amenable
to statistical analysis.
• Disadvantage = they are more difficult to write than
open-ended questions.
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16. Advantages Disadvantages
C
L
O
S
E
D
E
N
D
E
D
-Easy and quick to
answer
-Answers across
respondents easy to
compare
-Answers easier to
analyze on computer
-Response choices make
question clearer
-Easy to replicate study
- Can put ideas in resp's head
- Resps with no opinion answer
anyway
-Many choices can be
confusing
-Can't tell if resp. misinterpreted
the question
- Fine distinctions may be lost
- Clerical mistakes easy to
make
Force respondents into simple
responses
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17. Types of closed-ended questions
1. Contingency questions
• are those questions whose relevance
depends on responses to a prior question.
• Example :
Have you ever been hospitalized?
( ) Yes (Please answer questions 8-11.)
( ) No (Please skip question 8-11. Go
directly to question 12 on page 3.)
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18. Types of closed-ended …
2. Two-way question
• Include a question or statement followed by two
dichotomous, realistic alternatives.
- yes/no, agree/disagree, like/dislike, and so on.
• Sometimes, a third alternative, “don’t know” or “no opinion,”
is included to make the choices more realistic.
• Example 1:
Have you had a mammogram in the past 12 months?
( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Don’t Know
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19. Types of closed-ended …
3. Multiple-Choice Questions
• It is among the most frequently used formats in close-ended
questions.
• There are two types of multiple choice questions
3.1 multiple-choice, single response questions
• respondents are presented with a question or statement
followed by a list of possible answers from which they are asked
to select the one most appropriate to their situation.
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20. Types of closed-ended…
3.2 Multiple-choice, multiple- response
questions.
• a question or statement followed by a list of possible
answers from which to select as many as relevant or
applicable to their situation.
• It is also called checklist questions, because a list of
all relevant items are provided for respondent to
check off .
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21. Types of closed-ended questions
Example 1: multiple-choice, single response
• Please check one race or ethnic origin you belong
to.
( ) White
( ) Black
( ) Asian/Pacific Islanders
( ) American Indian/Eskimo/Aleut
( ) Other [Single-response]
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22. Types of closed-ended…
• Example 2: Multiple-choice, multiple- response
In which of the following settings do you currently
provide services to your patients? (Please check all those
that apply.)
( ) Hospital Inpatient
( ) Hospital Outpatient
( ) Community /Migrant Health Center
( ) Free clinic
( ) Other [Multiple-response]
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23. Types of closed-ended questions
4. Ranking scale ( forced ranking scale)
• asks respondents to rank a number of items in relation to one
another.
• provides more information than multiple-choice question
(multiple selection + ranking)
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24. Types of closed-ended…
Ranking…
Example
• The following are sources where a person may obtain knowledge about AIDS.
In your situation, please rank these sources in terms of relevance to you.
( ) Newspaper
( ) Radio
( ) T.V.
( ) Book
( ) Workplace/School
( ) Friends
( ) Relatives
( ) Family Members
( ) Other
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25. Types of closed-ended …
5. Agreement Scale Questions
• It presents a statement and asks respondents to indicate their
level of agreements or disagreement.
• There are typically five ordinal response categories:
“strongly agree,” “agree” “undecided,” “disagree,” and
“strongly disagree,”
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26. Types of closed-ended …
Agreement Scale….
Example :
How much do you agree or disagree with health care reform that
stresses universal coverage?
( ) Strongly Agree
( ) Agree
( ) Uncertain
( ) Disagree
( ) Strongly Disagree
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27. Summary
Type of question... Best Used for...
• Open-ended - Breaking the ice in an interview
- when respondents' own words are important
- when the surveyor doesn't know the all
possible answers.
• Closed-ended - Collecting rank ordered data;
- when all response choices are known;
- when quantitative statistical results are
desired.
Likert -scale - To assess a person's feelings about something.
• Multiple-choice - When there are a finite number of options
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28. D. Compositions of questionnaire
• A questionnaire should contain a variety of questions such as that
asks about:
- background,
- knowledge,
- experience,
- behavior, feeling, opinion, attitude, values,
intentions, or plans
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29. Compositions…
• In writing specific questionnaire items:
- Avoid Loaded Questions
- Avoid Leading Questions
- Avoid Double-Barreled Questions
- Use Appropriate Words
- Write Short Questions
- Write Simple Questions
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30. Examples
Avoid Loaded Questions
“What is your opinion toward a socialist one- payer
system for health care reform?”
Avoid Leading Questions
“The Ethiopian PM believes that universal access to care is an
essential element of health care reform. Do you agree that
universal access should be mandated?”
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31. Examples
Avoid Double-Barreled Questions
“Do you think the treatment you received from the doctor was
costly and ineffective?”
• Respondents may agree that the treatment was costly but
disagree that it was ineffective.
• The question is also leading because only negative concepts
are conveyed.
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32. E. Assembling
• Assembling a questionnaire is like packaging a product.
• The quality of the paper and appearance of the pages all
create impressions on potential respondents and may
affect the response rate.
• In general, white-colored paper is used to facilitate
reading.
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33. F. Sequencing
• Questionnaire sequencing differs between self-administered
instrument and interviews.
• In the self-administered questionnaire, it is usually proper to
start with interesting but relatively easy questions
• Routine questions such as background questions are usually
placed at the end.
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34. Sequencing…
• In interviews, however, background question are usually asked
in the beginning after a general introduction about the nature of
the study.
• The purpose is to gain rapport so that answers to later questions
can be facilitated.
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35. Steps in designing a questionnaire
• Designing a good questionnaire always takes several drafts
- 1st draft = concentrate on content
- 2nd >> = formulation and sequencing
- 3rd >> = Sequencing of questions
- 4th >> = Test run
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36. Steps in designing a questionnaire
Step 1:-Content
-Take your objectives and variables as the starting
point.
- decide which question need to measure variables &
to reach the objective
- reconsider the variable chosen (add, drop or change)
- at this stage even it is possible to change some of the
objectives
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37. Steps…
Step 2 :- Formulating questions
- Formulate one or more questions that will provide information
needed for each variable.
- Check whether each question measures one thing at a time.
- Avoid leading questions
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38. Steps…
Step 3 :- Sequencing of questions
-Design the questionnaire to be “consumer friendly”.
Sequence should be logical to the respondent.
At the beginning keep questions of background variable
to a minimum
Start with interesting but non controversial, open ended
questions.
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39. Steps…
Pose more sensitive questions as late as possible ( income,
sexual behavior…)
Use simple everyday language
Step 4:- Formatting the questionnaire
- layout, spaces for response,
and arrangement of questions
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40. Steps…
Step 5:- Translation
If it is conducted in one or more local language, it
should be translated .
E.g. English Amharic (Oromiffa)
English
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41. References
1. Pro. Mekonen Assefa, JU (unpublished)
Supplementary reading For research Methods
2.http://www.childrensmercy.org/stats/definitio
ns/npv.htm
3.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_predict
ive_value
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