QUESTION

PREPARAT
NAIRE

ON

Why questionnaires?
Questionnaires are just one of a
range of ways of getting
information from people

Source: Gillham (2007

Why questionnaires?
Table 1.1 The verbal data
dimension

Unstructured

Structured
Listenin
g to
other
people
s
convers
a tion

Using
natural

convers
ation to
ask
researc
h
questio
ns

openended
intervie
ws

Semistructur
ed
intervie
ws

Recordi
ng
schedul
es/
verbally
adminis
tered
questio
n naires

Semistructur
ed
questio
n naires

Structur
ed
questio
n
naires:

Source: Gillham (2007

Qualities of a good questionnaire

A well-designed questionnaire
should:
1. meet the research objectives
2. contain the most complete and
appropriate information possible

Qualities of a good questionnaire

A well-designed questionnaire
should:
3. be easily understood by the
respondents
4. make respondents interested

Designing aquestionnaire
1. Decide the information
What are therequired
things one needs
to know from the respondent
in order to meet the surveys
objectives?

Designing aquestionnaire
1. Decide the information
preliminary informal
requiredinterviews

with target respondents will

give a glimpse of reality that
may help clarify ideas about
what information is required

Designing aquestionnaire
2. Decide the target respondents
- define the population about
which you wish to generalize
from the sample data to be
collected
- take into account factors such
as age, educ. attainment, etc.

Designing aquestionnaire
3. Choose the method of reaching
target respondents
Personal interviews
Group or focus interviews
Mailed questionnaires
Telephone interviews

Designing aquestionnaire

4. Decide the type of questionnaire to use

Type of
question
structure
d
semistructure
d

Areas of use

Administrat
ion

used in large interview

programmes (anything
over 50 interviews)

telephone/
face-to-face/
selfcompletion

used when responses

cant be anticipated

face-to-face/
telephone

allows probing and

unstructu
searching where a
red
skilled researcher is not
Source: Hague, P.
fully sure of the

group
discussion/
visit
interviews/

Designing aquestionnaire
5. Decide on the questions

a. Questions of fact/
classification (Are you? )
b. Question about opinions,
beliefs, judgements (What do
you think of ?)
c. Questions about behaviour
(Which do you do most
often?)

Designing aquestionnaire
5. Decide on the questions
Open ended
questions

Closed questions

Behavioral question

Free
Fixed
response
response

Fixed
response

Attitudinal question

Free
Fixed
response
response

Fixed
Scalar
response
response

Classification
question

Free
Fixed
response
response

Fixed
response

Designing a questionnaire
6. Determine possible answers

Researchers should make sure

that
-questionnaires have a
consistent style of response
- respondents can clearly
understand what they
need to do

Designing a questionnaire
6. Determine possible answers

Types of responses
a.Selected responses (factual)
Gender
male female
b. Specified response (open
question)
What was it you found most
useful about the training
programme?
Please write in:____________

Designing a questionnaire
6. Determine possible answers

Types of responses
c. Ranked responses (preferential
judgements)
Which aspect of the training did you find
most
useful? Put 1 against what you found
most
useful, 2 against the next most
useful, and so on down to 5, for the least
useful.
pre-planning
b
presentation
visual aids
evaluation
promoting discussion

Designing a questionnaire
6. Determine possible answers

Types of responses
d. Scaled responses
The standard of education in this school is
high:
b
agree
not sure
disagree
strongly disagree

Designing a questionnaire
6. Determine possible answers
*routing questions
Q1. Did you feel the training programme
was useful? Yes
No
If YES, go on to Q2, if NO go on to Q5
Please write in your answers
Q2. Which elements did you find most
useful?
______________

Designing a questionnaire

7. Check the layout and organization of the

questions
-aim for clean, uncluttered look

Designing a questionnaire
8. Pre-test the questionnaire/ piloting
This is to determine if:
- the questions as they are worded
will achieve the desired results
- the questions have been placed in
the best order
- the questions are understood by all
classes of respondent

Designing a questionnaire
8. Pre-test the questionnaire/ piloting
- additional or specifying questions
are needed or whether some
questions should be eliminated
- the instructions to interviewers are
adequate.

Designing a questionnaire
9. Develop the final survey form
revise, revise, revise
*other considerations:
Think about the introduction/ cover
letter
Think about how the data will be
processed

References:
Hague, P. (1993). Questionnaire design.
Kogan Page Ltd, London.
Gillham, B. (2007). Developing a
questionnaire (2nd Ed.). Continuum
International Publishing Group. NY
Chapter 4: Questionnaire Design (2013).
FAO Corporate Document Repository.
Retrieved from
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w3241e/w3241e
05.htm