This document provides guidance on creating an effective questionnaire, including defining the purpose and advantages, key sections, types of questions, and best practices for writing questions. The main sections of a questionnaire are the title, introduction, biodata questions, multiple topic sections with focused questions in each, and a conclusion. Effective questions are clear, short, ask about one topic, use simple language, and provide all possible answers. Closed-response questions like multiple choice, scales, and numbers are best for gathering standardized data, while open-response questions allow for unique answers. The goal is to design a questionnaire that gathers useful data to answer the research questions in a way that respondents understand and feel comfortable answering honestly.

1. Making Questionnaires
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A. Goal: To create a two-page questionnaire about your topic, with about 10 to 15 questions.
B. Advantage: What is the advantage of using a questionnaire?
You can gather a lot of data from many people (called ‘respondents’) in a short period of time.
C. Quality: What is an effective questionnaire?
An effective questionnaire:
is clear and easy to understand
elicits people’s real and honest opinions
helps you answer your research questions
D. Sections: What are the different sections of a questionnaire?
1. Title: a short, interesting title that is clear and easy to understand.
2. Introduction: introduces you and your topic, and explains why this topic is important.
3. Section One: biodata – asks who your respondents are. You can ask about:
characteristics: e.g. gender and age, number of brothers and sisters
experiences: e.g. length of time lived in Japan, length of time studied Japanese
You can use this data to compare different types of respondents (e.g. males vs. females).
Section One might have from one to three questions.
4. Sections Two, Three (and maybe Four): each section is about one, focused dimension.
For each section, create a short title and write a short, one-sentence explanation of that
section. Each section can have from about three to six questions.
5. Ending: a short thank you.
E. Questions: What are the different types of questions (called ‘items’) in a questionnaire?
1. circle the answer – called ‘closed-response items’
1. What is your gender? Male Female
2. How much do you enjoy CJS Japanese language classes?
I love them. I like them. They’re okay. I can’t wait to go
home.
3. How many classes do you have on Wednesday? 0 1 2 3 4
2. write the answer – called ‘open-response items’: only ask a maximum of three
4. What do you most enjoy about your CJS Japanese language classes?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Making Questionnaires
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F. Writing Great Items:
Great items …
easy to understand – respondents immediately understand them:
very clear – every respondent understands them in the same way:
use simple language – use simple words not technical words, particularly at first
e.g. not ‘What is your opinion of couples who elect to undergo international surrogacy?’
but rather ‘What do you think of couples having surrogate children overseas?’
short – make the items as short as possible:
e.g. not ‘In your opinion, what do you think the Japanese government could do to eliminate Japanese
parents seeking surrogate children in other countries?’
but rather ‘What can the government do to stop people having surrogate children overseas?’
or ‘How can the government stop people having surrogate children overseas?’
one topic only – ‘one item, one topic’ is the rule:
e.g. not ‘Do you think that parents should have surrogate children or adopt children overseas?’
but make two questions: ‘Do you think parents should have surrogate children overseas?’
‘Do you think parents should be able to adopt children overseas?’
positive – avoid double negative items:
e.g. not ‘Why don’t more American people disapprove of international surrogacy?’
but rather ‘Why do so many American people approve of international surrogacy?’
neutral – so respondents can write their real opinions, and even disagree with you:
e.g. not ‘Why is international surrogacy so morally outrageous?’
but rather ‘What moral issues does international surrogacy raise?’
provides all possible answers – or uses ‘other ________’
e.g. Where can people find information about international surrogacy?
the Internet their doctor an IVF clinic a legal service other ___________
and finally is necessary – carefully choose which items to include
G. Individual Items:
1. Closed-response items – categories:
a) Two-choice – two options, and respondents can choose only one answer:
What is your gender? Male Female
Have you ever been to the Seto campus? Yes No
a) Multi-choice – more than two options, and respondents can choose only one answer:
Where do you live here? at a dorm with a homestay family with relatives other ___________
b) Checklist – more than two options, and respondents can choose more than one answer:
What do you like about the CJS?
the students __√__ the teachers __√__ the classes __√__ the campus ______

3. Making Questionnaires
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2. Closed-response items – scales:
a) Intensity scale – this measures how strongly respondents feel about something:
The CJS Japanese program is a challenging program.
Strongly agree. Agree. Disagree. Strongly disagree.
Do you like studying Japanese at the CJS?
Yes, very much. Yes, somewhat. No, not really. No, not at all.
b) Frequency scale – this measures how often respondents do something:
How often do you sleep in Japanese class?
Always. Often. Sometimes. Never.
c) Comparison scale – this allows you to easily compare how respondents feel about similar concepts:
For you now, how difficult is Japanese ___________________?
very difficult difficult not so difficult kind of easy
reading 4 3 2 1
writing 4 3 2 1
listening 4 3 2 1
speaking 4 3 2 1
d) Ranking scale – this asks respondents to rank how they feel about different things:
Please rank these Japanese skills from easiest to most difficult. (1 = easiest, 4 = most difficult)
reading ______ writing ______ listening ______ speaking ______
3. Closed-response items – numbers:
a) Counting item – this asks respondents to choose precise numbers:
How many classes do you have on Wednesday? none one two three more than three
b) Bands item – this asks respondents to choose from numbers grouped together:
How much money do you spend a week in Japan? ¥5000 or less ¥5001 to ¥10000 more than ¥10000
4. Open-response items:
a) Fill-in item – respondents write one- or two-word answers, or numbers:
Name: ___________________ Student No.: __________ Class: _____ Major: ____________________ Age: _____
b) Sentence completion item – respondents complete a sentence:
I love CJS Japanese classes because ______________________________________________________________________________.
c) Short answer item – respondents write one or two sentences:
What do you like most about CJS Japanese classes?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Making Questionnaires
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H. The Process of Writing Items:
Top-down: think of your sections first then create questions to go in each one.
Bottom-up: brainstorm a whole list of questions, and then decide on your sections.
H. The Title, Section Headings, and Explanations: The
1. Title: a short, interesting title that is clear and easy to understand.
e.g. The Dilemmas of Surrogacy
2. Introduction: introduces you and your topic, and explains why this topic is important.
e.g. My name is Yuko Suzuki, and I am a third-year student in the Faculty of Policy Studies at
Nanzan University. For my fieldwork class, I am researching about surrogacy, when a woman agrees to have
a baby for another woman. I would like to know your perspective on this topic. Please circle or write your
answer. Do not write your name. Thank you very much for agreeing to answer these questions.
3. Section Headings: should be clear but short
e.g. Your background e.g. About you
The adoptive family’s point of view Your experiences of gender inequality
The surrogate mother’s point of view Dealing with gender issues
Your point of view on surrogacy Gender in Japan
e.g. Biodata e.g. Who you are
Your feelings towards the 2020 Olympics Your image of ‘Cool Japan’
From a Japanese person’s perspective Shortcomings of the ‘Cool Japan’ policy
From a foreigner’s point of view Ways of improving ‘Cool Japan’
4. Sections Explanations: at the beginning of each section, write a short explanation of what the
section is about (except perhaps for the ‘Your background’ section).
e.g. I would like to explore your perspective on surrogacy.
I would like to understand how you would feel if you were the adoptive family.
e.g. I would like to know how you feel about the Olympics.
I would like to know what would make the 2020 Tokyo Olympics a successful one for
people living in Japan. Please answer assuming that you will be living in Japan in 2020.
e.g. I would like to understand your experiences of gender at your school.
I would like to know what you would do if you experienced problems because of your gender.
I would like to know what you think about gender in Japan.
5. Ending: write a short thank you.
e.g. Thank you very much for answering these questions. If you have any further ideas or
comments to add, please do so here.
If you would like to receive a copy of my final report in late December, please either
contact me at <greatstudent@nanzan-u.ac.jp> or write your email address here. In late December,
I will also put a copy on my Facebook page: greatstudent