Unit no 08_designing questionnaire

Designing Questionnaire
Dr. Dhobale J V
Assistant Professor
IBS, IFHE, Hyderabad.
IBS Hyderabad 1
Business Research Methods (SHRM-431)
Chapter No.-08

Objectives
 Procedure for Developing a Questionnaire.
 Procedure for Administrating a Questionnaire.
 Peer Review of Questionnaire.
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Introduction
 Most beginning researchers have no idea how
difficult it is to develop an effective
questionnaire.
 It doesn't matter how perfectly data collection
goes if the questions themselves are lousy
and introduce error into the dataset.
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Procedure for Developing a Questionnaire
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1. Specify What Information Will Be Sought-
 Both descriptive and causal research designs
require that researchers have enough
knowledge about the problem to frame some
specific hypotheses to guide the research.
 The hypotheses also guide the questionnaire.
 They determine what information will be
sought.
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1. Specify What Information Will Be Sought-
 If the information is truly important for the
research problem you're studying, then go
ahead and include the necessary questions.
 If it simply represents something that might be
“nice to know,” but isn't central to the purpose
of the study, do not incorporate such
questions.
 Including extra questions makes the survey
longer, which often causes response rates to
go down.
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2. Determine Method of Administration-
 Once you know the basic information you
need to collect, it's time to consider the
method of administration.
 Out of four primary methods of collecting data
via communication: personal interviews,
telephone interviews, mail questionnaires, or
Web-based questionnaires.
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2. Determine Method of Administration-
 Based on specific circumstances of your
project you have to go with overall best
method of administration.
 It's important to decide on a method as early
as possible, because choice of method will
influence the number and types of questions,
wording of questions and response categories,
question sequencing, and so forth.
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3. Determine Content of Individual Questions
 It's time to begin thinking about the actual
questions that should be asked.
 We need to think about the general issues
we're addressing and how many questions
might be needed to deliver the required
information?
 We have to think about whether our
respondents are likely to have the information
and if their willingness to share it.
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 In general, we want to capture the needed
data using as few questions as possible.
 One reason that pretesting of questionnaire is
so important—to make sure that a question
won't be interpreted in different ways by
different people.
 “Why do you use Sensodyne toothpaste?”
 Reply might be - To reduce cavities or
Because our dentist recommended it- gives
two different frames of reference.
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 Filter question - A question used to determine
whether a respondent is likely to possess the
knowledge being sought; also used to determine
whether an individual qualifies as a member of the
defined population.
 Do you do the grocery shopping for your family?”
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 Obtaining useful data from respondents also
requires that they be able to remember the
information we ask about.
 Unwillingness to respond to a question (or the
whole questionnaire, for that matter) may be a
function of the amount of work involved in
producing an answer or the sensitivity of the
issue.
 Avoid asking sensitive questions unless they
are absolutely essential.
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 Tips to handle sensitive Questions –
1. Guarantee respondents that their answers will be
completely anonymous.
2. Put any sensitive questions near the end of the
questionnaire.
3. Use a counter biasing statement that indicates
that the behavior or attitude in question is not
unusual.
4. Phrase the question in terms of other people and
how they might feel or act;
5. Ask for general answers, rather than specific
answers, when seeking sensitive information. 13IBS Hyderabad

4. Determine Form of Response to Each
Question -
 Once you've determined the general content of
the individual questions, you must decide
whether to use closed-ended or open-ended
responses.
 Response categories are also susceptible to
response order bias.
 An error that occurs when the response to a
question is influenced by the order in which
the alternatives are presented.
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4. Determine Form of Response to Each
Question -
 The recommended procedure for dealing with
order bias is known as the split-ballot
technique .
 A technique used to combat response order
bias, in which response options are reordered
or randomized to create different versions of
the survey.
 This is very easily accomplished with Web-
based surveys where response option
randomization is available. 15IBS Hyderabad

5. Determine Wording of Each Question –
 In the questionnaire development process
involves the phrasing—word by word—of each
question.
 This is a critical task because a poorly worded
question can cause respondents to refuse to
answer it (item nonresponse) which creates
problems for data analysis.
 Poorly worded questions introduce error when
people do respond.
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5. Determine Wording of Each Question –
 Writing good questions is difficult. Some
general rules of thumb –
1. Use Simple Words.
2. Avoid Ambiguous Words and Questions.
3. Avoid Leading Questions (it's an intentional
attempt to manipulate the study's results.).
4. Avoid Unstated Alternatives.
5. Avoid Assumed Consequences.
6. Avoid Generalizations and Estimates.
7. Avoid Double-Barreled (two responses with
single answer) Questions. 17IBS Hyderabad

6. Determine Question Sequence –
 Once you have the questions and responses
developed, you're ready to begin putting them
together into a questionnaire.
 The order in which the questions are
presented can be crucial to the success of the
research effort.
 Rules of thumb to use as guides -
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6. Determine Question Sequence –
1. Use Simple and Interesting Opening
Questions.
2. Use the Funnel Approach (Start with broad
questions and progressively narrow down the
scope. )
3. Design Branching Questions with Care.
4. Ask for Classification Information Last.
5. Place Difficult or Sensitive Questions Late in
the Questionnaire.
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7. Determine Physical Characteristics of
Questionnaire -
 The physical appearance of the questionnaire
can influence respondents’ cooperation.
 Some specific suggestions that can improve
the initial “look” and likely acceptance of a
questionnaire are -
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Questionnaire -
1. Use good-quality paper and a good
photocopier.
2. The questionnaire must not appear to be
cluttered.
3. Keep the questionnaire to a single page,
printed on front and back, if it is possible to
do so.
4. If you must use branching questions, make
certain that the instructions are clear.
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Questionnaire -
5. Use the graphics.
6. If your questionnaire will contain more than
about 8–10 questions, try numbering the
questions within sections.
7. Include the name of the sponsoring
organization and the name of the project
on the first page.
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8. Develop Recruiting Message or Script –
 The most important things to communicate are
1. Who you are
2. Why you are contacting them
3. Your request for their help in providing information
4. How long it will take
5. Their responses will be anonymous and/or
confidential (if this is true)
6. Any incentives they will receive for participating.
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9. Reexamine Steps 1–8 and Revise If
Necessary -
 Never expect the first draft of the
questionnaire to be the one that is ultimately
used. Questionnaire development is an
iterative process, even for professional
researchers.
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9. Reexamine Steps 1–8 and Revise If
Necessary -
 After examining each question, and each word
in each question, for its potential meanings
and implications, test the questionnaire by
having different members of the research team
answer the questions, using the method of
administration to be used in the actual study.
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10. Pretest Questionnaire and Revise If
Necessary –
 The real test of a questionnaire is how it
performs under actual conditions of data
collection.
 Pretest - Use of a questionnaire (or
observation form) on a trial basis in a small
pilot study to determine how well the
questionnaire (or observation form) works.
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10. Pretest Questionnaire and Revise If
Necessary –
 Use two pretests.
 There are no strict guidelines for how many
respondents to include in a pretest. We
recommend using at least five people with the
face-to-face pretest and probably 5–10 more
with the actual pretest.
 The pretest is the most inexpensive insurance
you can buy to ensure the success of the
questionnaire and the research project.
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 While administering the questionnaire, there
are different factors one need to consider –
1. The objectives of the study.
2. The target group and its distribution definition.
3. Types of questions.
4. The availability of resource.
5. Cultural hindrance – when doing surveys across
different cultures, the cultural factors should be
considered. What is acceptable what is not should
be properly understood.
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Procedure for Administering a
Questionnaire

 Peer reviewing means sending the
questionnaire to various people, from
informally circulating it among friends to
requesting a panel of experts to review it.
 Peer review of a questionnaire provides the
following data –
1. Time taken to fill it in.
2. Information about ambiguity of questions.
3. Feedback on clarity of instructions.
4. Opportunity to delete questions that don't give
usable data.
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Peer Review of Questionnaire

 A peer reviews helps determine –
1. If the wording of the questions will achieve
desired results.
2. If the order of questions is right.
3. If questions can be understood by respondents
across classes.
4. If some questions need to be deleted or new
questions are to be added.
5. If instructions to respondents are clear.
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 Advantages –
1. Helps researcher identify areas where they need
to hone their skills.
2. Helps researchers decide how the design can be
improved.
3. Provides researcher an outside assessment of
design and interpretation.
4. Assures researcher of the appropriateness of
questionnaire.
5. Provides valuable input at low cost before actual
survey.
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 Disadvantages –
1. Testing may be on people outside target group.
2. Interference of personal prejudices may lead to
wrong inferences.
3. Selection of peer review team becomes very
important since an unqualified team could alter
the interpretations impacting survey.
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Reviews
 We have discussed –
 Procedure for Developing a Questionnaire.
 Procedure for Administrating a Questionnaire.
 Peer Review of Questionnaire.
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References
 MARKETING RESEARCH – A SOUTH ASIAN
PERSPECTIVE by Brown, Sutter , Adhikari,
Cengage Learning, India.
 Business Research Methods - Donald R
Cooper, Pamela S Schindler, J K Sharma,
MCGraw Hill Education
 Business Research Methods - Naval Bajpai,
Pearson Education, India.
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Unit no 08_designing questionnaire

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