This document provides information on constructing questionnaires. It defines what a questionnaire is and describes the various types. The key steps outlined for constructing a questionnaire are: writing the study aim, identifying broad topic areas, breaking these into single-item statements, constructing questions and the questionnaire, and validating the questionnaire. Various question types like closed-ended, open-ended, rating scales, and checklists are described. Guidelines are provided for writing clear, unbiased questions and properly structuring the questionnaire. The importance of validation by piloting the questionnaire on a small sample is also covered.

1. Suvarna Ganvir
Professor
PDVVPF’s College of Physiotherapy
Ahmednagar (M.S.)

2. At the end of session, learner should be able
to
Define questionnaire
Describe types of questionnaire
Describe the steps involved
Describe types of questions
Describe guidelines for constructing the
questions & prepare questionnaire
Describe validation procedure.

4. Self-administered (by mail or personal
contact)
Investigator administered-
 In person (face-to-face)
 Telephone interviews

5. Write aim of the study
Identify broad areas of information to be
obtained ( either individually or after FGD)
Break it into one idea per statement
Construct questions and the model
questionnaire
Validate the questionnaire

6. Write aim of the study
Identify broad areas of information to be
obtained ( either individually or after FGD)
Break it into one idea per statement
Construct questions and the model
questionnaire
Validate the questionnaire

7. Write the aim of your study
To study the perceptions of students about
your teaching

8. Write aim of the study
Identify broad areas of information to be
obtained ( either individually or after FGD)
Break it into one idea per statement
Construct questions and the model
questionnaire
Validate the questionnaire

9. Identify broad areas of information to be
obtained
1. Theory classes
2. Practical demonstrations
3. Tools used for teaching
4. Methods of assessment

10. Write aim of the study
Identify broad areas of information to be
obtained ( either individually or after FGD)
Break it into one idea per statement
Construct questions and the model
questionnaire
Validate the questionnaire

11. Break each broad area into smaller
components with one theme in one
component
Theory classes
1. Punctuality
2. use of blackboard/ppt
3. individual attention

12. Write aim of the study
Identify broad areas of information to be
obtained ( either individually or after FGD)
Break it into one idea per statement
Construct questions and the model
questionnaire
Validate the questionnaire

13. Close ended questions
Open ended questions

14. Close ended -
The respondent has to choose the answer
from the options given
Advantages:
• Simple and quick
• Reduces discrimination against less
literate
• Easy to code, record, analyze
• Easy to compare
• Easy to report results

15. Two option responses –
No-yes, agree- disagree, false –true
e.g. Do you attend my classes on a regular
basis?
a) Yes
b) No

16. • What is your age in years?
___ years
• What is your sex (gender)?
Male 
Female 

17. Checklist
Which of the following teaching
activities did you attend in the last 3
months?
 Theory 
 Practical 
 Class tests 
 Revision classes 

18. Rating scale
To what extent did you attend following
teaching activities in the last 3 months ?
Always Sometimes Seldom Never
Theory    
Practicals    
Class tests    

19. Rating scale
Numerical
How useful do you think that information gained through
the teaching activities would be?
(please circle)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Not at all useful Very useful
Analogue
How useful do you think that information gained
through the teaching activities would be?
(put the tick on the line)
0 10

20. The PPTs used for theory lectures are very
informative and have adequate content.
No, I strongly disagree 
No, I disagree quite a lot 
No, I disagree just a little 
I’m not sure about this 
Yes, I agree just a little 
Yes, I agree quite a lot 
Yes, I strongly agree 

21.  Be relevant/specific
Avoid confusion
 Use appropriate scales
 Avoid bias
Avoid double negatives
Avoid two ideas in one item

22.  Different Domains of Questions:
Behaviour, Beliefs, and Evaluation
Has teaching activities helped you to
learn more about the subject?

23. Behaviour :
What is your overall attendance
percentage in a clinical posting?
 Belief:
 At the end of 3 months of posting, I am
able to take case history of a patient.
Evaluation:
 How many patients did you assess in the
last 3 months?

24. While framing the questions, care should
be taken to check if the words mean same
to both –investigator as well as the
participant.

25. Do you like Grey’s Anatomy?
Do you like the reference book of Anatomy,
Grey’s Anatomy?
•

26. While using the response formats in the
form of scales, appropriate scale should be
chosen which matches with the purpose of
a question.

27. To what extent did you enjoy the practical demonstration
on OSPE?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Not at all Very much
Vs.
To what extent did you enjoy the practical demonstration on
OSPE?
 Not at all
 A little
 Somewhat
 Very much

28. The questions or statements should be
free of presumptions.
Should be neutral and
should not lead the respondent in one
direction.

29.  Was the session on Questionnaire design
good enough to learn about constructing a
good questionnaire?
 On a scale of 1-4, grade the session on
questionnaire design.
 1-Average
 2-Good
 3-Very good
 4- Excellent

30. The statements or questions should not
have two negative words which may
further confuse the respondent .

31. During the workshop, there were no
speakers who were not interesting.
SA A N D SD

32. Each questions should have one central
theme.
Two themes or ideas should not be
combined in one question.
A respondent may have a different
response to both items.

33. The PPTs used for theory lectures are very
informative and have adequate content.

34. Clear statements
No choice of answers given
Respondent can express their views
But can be made specific.

35. E.g. what is your opinion about my
teaching style?
Vs
Write any two positive points about my
teaching, in your opinion.
Write any two Negative points about my
teaching, in your opinion.

36. A brief outline about the project, its
purpose, efforts taken to maintain
anonymity (if desired), its future use should
be provided to the participants.

37.  1. Begin with Non-sensitive demographic
questions along with instructions.
 2. Items of major interest to the research
study should be placed next.
 3. Sensitive items that cover controversial
topics should be placed last.
 4. Items on the same topic should be grouped
together.

38. 5.Items with similar response formats
should be grouped together when several
different response formats are being used
within a questionnaire.
6. Section titles should be used to help the
respondent focus on the area of interest.

39. 7. Ideal questionnaire should have a
combination of open and closed ended
questions.
8. Length of the questionnaire should be
appropriate.

40. Write aim of the study
Identify broad areas of information to be
obtained ( either individually or after FGD)
Break it into one idea per statement
Construct questions and the model
questionnaire
Validate the questionnaire

41. Purpose –
to check framing of questions.
To check feasibility of the questionnaire.
to obtain further information on open-
ended questions with a view to
redesigning.

42.  Select a small pilot sample of respondents
that covers the full range of characteristics of
the target population.
 Administer
 Analyse
 Refine ( if needed )
 Finalise.

43. Questionnaire is ready.

44.  suvarna.ganvir@gmail.com
Thank You.