How Useful Are Your Questionnaires

1
How Useful Are Your Questionnaires Surveys?

• Very
• Somewhat
• Not at all

2
Questionnaires- Why Use Them ?

• Are easy to administer to large groups
• A quick method of gaining information
• Can be standardized to meet your needs
• Are quantifiable
• Are comparable
• Are flexible
• They should NOT be your only evaluation tool!

3
Remember. Never Test the Depth of Water with
Both Feet
4
Constructing a Questionnaire

• Make a list of what you want to know
• What will you actually do with the information?
• Ask a question only when it has a purpose.
• Check to see if the information is already
  available.
• Look through the respondents eyes.
• Be selective and realistic.

5
Getting the Right Information
To get the type of information you want, you must
ask the right question! If the pen is mightier
than the sword, and a picture is worth a thousand
words, how dangerous is a fax? Why do they put
Braille on the drive-through bank machines? How
come there aren't B batteries?
6
Kinds of Information

• KNOWLEDGE what people know how well they
  understand something.
• BELIEF what people think is true an opinion.
• ATTITUDE - how people feel about something
• a preference.
• BEHAVIOR - what people do may be a
  physical/manual
• or mental behavior.
• ATTRIBUTES what people are what people
• have.

7
Two Types of QuestionsOpen-ended Questions

• Gives respondents a chance to offer
• opinions in writing
• Take more time to complete
• Qualitative feelings and attitudes are expressed
• Difficult to analyze and quantify may
• require elaborate coding schemes
• Large amounts of time needed to analyze

8
Two Types of QuestionsClosed Questions

• Yield quantitative data hard data
• Ranked, scored, cross tabs, frequencies and
  percentages
• Seek limited range of responses
• Yes or no
• Rating scales three to five responses
• Avoid having too many responses
• Use odd number of responses to force respondents
  to take sides 1 2 3 4 5
• Avoid having too many response options

9
Preparing the Questionnaire Part I

• Keep form to no
• more than two pages
• Avoid bias in
• questions asked
• Address one concept
• at a time - no double barrel questions
• Keep similar questions grouped in categories
• Question should be relevant to the respondents

• Make it easy and simple to complete
• Use clear straight- forward language
• Number your questions for coding
• Ask easy to answer questions first warm-up
  questions
• Keep time requirement to maximum of 15 minutes

10
Preparing the Questions Part II

• Ask someone not related to the field to answer
  the questionnaire
• Consider sharing the results with respondents
• Use what you learn, dont collect garbage!

• Provide relevant descriptors to each response
  option
• Make anonymity an option - gets honest and
  responsive answers
• Always pre-test your questionnaire - send it to a
  representative sample of population

11
Other Questionnaire Considerations

• Choice of words should be precise to maximize the
  validity of data collected
• Honest for candid
• Most important for priority
• Free time for leisure
• Work for employment
• Help for assistance
• Correct for rectify
• Stomach ache for gastroenteritis

12
Other Questionnaire Considerations - Cont.

• Avoid abbreviations or unconnected phrases
• PCA, ASCS, SCS, DDT (understood by ag community)
  versus AMA, HUD, HRS, e.g.,etc
• Avoid vague questions - they usually produce
  vague answers
• Majority (more than half or what?)
• Regularly (daily,weekly,monthly)
• Government (state,county,federal)
• Older people (how old?)

13
Other Questionnaire Considerations - Cont

• Avoid biased questions
• It implies that the respondent should be engaged
  in a particular behavior
• Unequal categories may be represented
• It contains words with strong positive or
  negative emotional appeal
• Avoid objectionable questions
• Some information is quite personal
• Question may convey implications about which
  respondent have very negative feelings or feel
  incriminates them

14
Other Questionnaire Considerations - Cont

• Avoid questions which are too
• demanding
• Listed below are 25 extension programs carried
  out
• in your county, rank them first to 25th in
  terms of their importance
• Avoid a double question
• Do you like chickens and turkeys?
• Avoid a double negative
• Should our 4-H advisory committee not meet
  monthly? (Yes) (no)

15
Other Questionnaire Considerations - Cont

• Dont assume too much knowledge
• Respondents may be too embarrassed to admit their
  lack of knowledge and take a wild guess
• Word the question technically correct
• Questions must leave the respondent with the
  feeling that the researcher accurately
  comprehends the topic and that the respondent has
  appropriate options to choose from

16
Summary

• Prepare a form easy to understand and simple to
  fill out
• Use clear, straightforward language avoid jargon
• Begin by asking easy questions first, building up
  to the more difficult and more personal
• Use a mix of closed and open-ended questions
• Keep your questionnaire short- no more than two
  pages.
• Limit the time required to complete the form to
  no more than 15 minutes
• Make sure each question addresses only one issue.
• Group questions by categories.
• Establish priorities among broad and specific
  questions
• Limit response options to no more than five .
• Provide relevant descriptors to each response
  option
• Pre-test all questionnaires.

CONVENE - Volume XIII, No 8 page 25
17
Remember
If It At First You Dont Succeed, Redefine Success
18
For further Information or to Comment Contact

• Dr Dallas L. Holmes
• Extension Specialist Institutional Research
• Utah State University Extension
• 4900 Old Main Hill
• Logan, Utah 84322-4900
• DallasH_at_Ext.USU.Edu