This document discusses techniques for designing and validating questionnaires. It covers factors that affect questionnaires, types of questions, guidelines for preparation, administration methods, validity, reliability, and translation methods. Specifically, it discusses open-ended versus closed-form questions, test-retest and split-half methods for assessing reliability, and a multi-stage translation process involving translation, review, adjudication, and pretesting.

1. Techniques involved in designing a
questionnaire validation administration
Method of translation
Name of the scholar:D. KavithaPh.D scholar
Guide: Dr Anjalakshi Chandrasekar
HOD (OG),Ph.D
Co-Guide:Dr.Venkatraman ,Asst.Professor
SRM University

2. Definition
• A questionnaire is a means of eliciting the
feelings, beliefs, experiences, perceptions, or
attitudes of some sample of individuals.
• As a data collecting instrument, it could be
structured or unstructured.

3. Factors affecting questionnaires
• Length of the questionnaire.
• Reputation of the sponsoring agency.
• Complexity of the questions asked.
• Relative importance of the study as determined
by the potential respondent.
• Extent to which the respondent believes that his
responses are important.
• Quality and design of the questionnaire.
• Time of year the questionnaires are sent out.

4. Types of questionnaires
• Open or unrestricted form - calls for free response
from the respondent
• There is predetermined set of response
• They provide true, insightful and unexpected
suggestions
• Allows for greater depth of response; is difficult
to interpret, tabulate, and summarize.
• An ideal questionnaire contains open ended
questions toward end of all questions

5. Closed or restricted form of
questionnaire
Offers respondents a number of alternative replies,
from which the subjects must choose the one
that most likely matches the appropriate answer.
• Characteristic of questionnaire
Facilitates easy statistical calculation
Provides easy preliminary analysis
Can be asked to different groups at different
intervals
Facilitates efficient tracking of opinion.

6. Types of closed form of questionnaire
• Dichotomous questions: respondent to make a choice
between two responses such as yes/ no or male/
female
• Multiple choice question: respondents to make a
choice between more than two response alternatives
• Cafeteria questions :respondents to select a response
that most closely corresponds to their view.
• Rank order questions – Respondents to rank their
responses from most favorable to least favorable
• Contingency questions: A question that is asked further
only if the respondent gives a particular response to
previous question.

7. • Rating questions: Respondent is asked to rate a
particular issue on a scale that ranges from poor to
good
• Likert questions: helps know how strongly the
respondent agrees with a particular statement.
• Bipolar questions: These questions have two extreme
answers his/ her response between two opposite ends
of the scale.
• Matrix questions: it includes multiple questions and
identical categories are assigned .questions are placed
along the top and list of questions down the side

9. Characteristics of a good
questionnaire
• Deals with a significant topic
• Seeks only that information which cannot be obtained from
other sources such as census data
• As short as possible, only long enough to get the essential
data.
• Attractive in appearance, neatly arranged, and clearly
duplicated or printed.
• Directions are clear and complete. Questions are objective,
with no leading suggestions to the desired response
• Questions are presented in good psychological order,
proceeding from general to more specific responses.
• To easy tabulate and interpret.

10. Guidelines for preparing
questionnaire
o Prepared according with study objective
o Concise, precise and brief
o Criticism from faculty and class members
o Trailing the questionnaire with friends
o Respondents selected carefully
o As par as possible open ended questions should be avoided
o Controversial and ambiguous questions should be avoided
o Getting permission in organization before administering
questionnaire
o Try to get the aid of sponsorship
o Mailed questionnaire should have introduction, purpose and
directions to fill the questions
o Abrupt ending of the questions and questionnaire should be
avoided.

11. Sequence of questions
• Arranged in logical sequence
• Answer to questions not influenced by
previous questions
• Questions should flow from general to more
specific
• Questions should flow least to more sensitive

12. Question construction
The sample -- who are you going to ask
The method--- how are you going to ask them
The questionnaire– what are you going to ask
them
The result – what will you do with information
The cost – how much do you want to pay for
answer
The time scale– By them do you need information

13. Construction of questionnaire
Problem definition
Search for relevant secondary data for problem
Exploratory interviews with subject expertise and
review personal experience with colleques
Writing of specific research objectives
Listing of hypothesis to be tested
Development of questions for
questionnaire

15. Method of administration of
questionnaire
POSTAL
Lowcost
Not in labour
intensive
PHONE
High speed
Rapport with
respondent
High
respondent
rate
ELECTRONIC
low cost, high
speed,
not labour
intensive
PERSONALLY
ADMINISTERED
detailed
questions ,
high response
rate

16. • Cost effective
• Easy to analyse
• Less time and energy need to
administer
• Reduce bias as interviewer is not
present
• Used for large sample size
• Less instructive than face to face
interview
Advantages
of
questionnaire

17. • Not suitable for all
• Low response rate
• Mailed questions may
filled by some one
• Provides superficial
information
• Chances of
misinterpretation
• People can lie and
answer the questions
vaguely.
Disadvantages
of
questionnaire

18. Validity of Research tool
• Validity of an instrument refers to the degree to which
an instrument measures what it is supposed to be
measuring
• Types of validity
• 1.Face validity: overlook of instrument regarding its
appropriateness to measure a particular attribute or
phenomenon
• 2.Content validity: Scope of coverage of the content
are to be measured
• 3.Criterion validity: Relationship between
measurements of the instruments with some other
external criteria

19. • Predictive validity: degree of fore casting
judgment
• Concurrent validity: it is the degree of the
measures at present.
• 4.construct validity: Gives more importance
to testing relationship predicted on theoretical
measurement.

20. • Degree of
consistency and
accuracy with which
an instrument
measures the
attribute for which
it is designed to
measure
Reliability
of the
tool

21. Test –Retest method
• Administration of a research instrument to a sample of subjects on two
different occasions
• Scores of the tool administered at two different occasions is compared
and calculated by using following formula of correlation coefficient
• The correlation coefficient reveals the magnitude and directions of
relationships between scores generated by research instrument at two
separate occasions.
• Interpretation of results– the results of the correlation coefficient ranges
between -1.00 through 0.0 and +1.00, and the results are interrelated as
follows
• +1,00 score---- perfect reliability
• 0.00 score ---- no reliability
• Above 7 indicates --- acceptable reliability

22. Split of method
• Divide items of a research instrument in two
equal parts through grouping either in odd
number question and even number question
/first half and second half item groups
• Administer two subparts of the tool
simultaneously, score them independently
and compute the correlation co-effcient on
the two separate scores

23. Method of Translation
• Team approaches generate more translation
options and provide sounder and less
idiosyncratic translation review and evaluation
• Team based approach based on the multi-
stage translation frameworks

24. Steps in translation
• Translation
• Review
• Initial adjudication
• Cognitive Interview pretesting
• Final review and adjudication.

25. • References
• Barbara H. Forsy et.al; Methods for Translating
Survey Questionnaires Paper presented to American
Association for Public Opinion research, Montreal,
Canada, May, 2006.
• Kothari C.K; Research Methodology‐ Methods and
Techniques , New Age International, New Delhi;2004