Questionnaire Design

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Chapter 11

• Questionnaire Design

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Questionnaire Design Decisions

• Wording
• Form
• e.g., multiple choice, open-ended question
• Flow
• Physical layout

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General Criteria for a Good Questionnaire

• Does the questionnaire fit the management
  decision problem?
• Does the questionnaire fit the respondent?
• Does the questionnaire fit the survey type?

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The Questionnaire Development Process
Implementation
Determine Data Collection Methods
Determine Question Response Format
Prepare Final Copy
Determine Survey Objectives and Constraints
Decide Question Wording
Pretest and Revise
Obtain Approval from all Relevant Parties
Describe Questionnaire Flow and Layout
Evaluate the Questionnaire and Layout
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Steps in Questionnaire Development (1)

• Step 1 Determine Survey Objectives, Resources,
  and Constraints
• decision-making information
• budget, etc
• Step 2 Determine Data Collection Methods(s)

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Steps in Questionnaire Development (2)

• Step 3 Determine Question Response Format
• Open-ended questions respondents reply in own
  words
• Closed-ended questions respondents choose from a
  list of answers
• Dichotomous questions respondents choose between
  two answers.

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Steps in Questionnaire Development (3)

• Step 3 Determine Question Response Format
  (continued)
• Multiple-choice (multichotomous) questions list
  of alternative answers
• Scale-response questions Multiple-choice choices
  designed to capture the intensity
• e.g., Likert, Semantic Differential

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Closed-ended questions

• Do you smoke because it relaxes you?
• Yes No
• What is the primary reason you smoke
• ___it is relaxing
• ___my friend like it
• ___it makes my parents angry
• ___I want to die young

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Closed-ended questions (2)

• I smoke because
• It relaxes me
• agree_______________disagree
• My friends like it
• agree_______________disagree
• etc

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Steps in Questionnaire Development (4)

• Step 4 Decide Question Wording
• Four general guidelines for wording and
  sequencing questions
• wording must be clear.
• avoid words that bias the respondent.
• consider respondents ability of the to answer
• consider respondents willingness of the to answer

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Clarity and Precision

• 1. How many cups of coffee do you drink in a
  typical workday? ____
• (write in all number)
• 2. How often do you drink coffee?
• Extremely often 1
• Very often 2
• Not too often 3
• Never 4

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Mutual Exclusivity

• Which of the following categories best describes
  your total household income before taxes in 1997
  Circle one answer
• less than 10, 000 1
• 10, 000--15, 000 2
• 15, 000--25, 000 3
• 25, 000 or higher 4

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Loaded Questions

• 1. What did you dislike about the product you
  just tried?
• 2. Did you dislike any aspects of the product you
  just tried?
• _____yes (1) _____no(2)
• 3. Do you think Johnson Johnson did everything
  possible in its handling of the Tylenol poisoning
  situation?
• _____yes (1) _____no(2)

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Double-Barreled

• Do you believe that McDonalds has fast and
  courteous service?
• _____yes(1) _____(2)

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Steps in Questionnaire Development (5)

• Step 5 Establish Questionnaire Flow and Layout
• Step 6 Evaluate the Questionnaire and Layout
• Step7 Obtain Approval from All Relevant Parties
• Step 8 Pretest and Revise
• Step 9 Prepare Final Copy

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How a Questionnaire Should be Organized
Screener questions - to identify
qualified respondents
Questions that spark interest
General questions
Sensitive, threatening, and demographic questions
Prompters (strategic points in long
questionnaire)
Questions that require work
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Issues for Evaluating Questionnaire Layout
Is the Question Necessary? Is the Questionnaire
Too Long Will the Questions Provide the Desired
Information to Accomplish the Research
Objectives? Appearances of Mail and
Self-Administered Questionnaires Avoid a
Cluttered Look Allow Plenty of Space for
Open-Ended Responses Consider Color-Coding the
Questionnaires Instructions Printed Within The
Questionnaire Should Be In Capital Letters
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Steps in Questionnaire Development (6)

• Step 10 Implementation
• Supervisors instructions
• Interviewers instructions
• Call record sheets logs listing the number and
  results of a contact.
• Field management companies

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The Most Important Step

• PRETEST