Week 3 - Designing a Questionnaire

Leung (2001) gives suggestions for designing a questionnaire :

• Use short and simple sentences
• Ask for only one piece of information at a time
• Avoid negatives if possible
• Ask precise questions
• Ensure those you ask have the necessary knowledge
• Sensitive issues - hard to get truthful answers to sensitive questions
• Minimize bias

Format can be open or closed. Closed is easiest to fill in. It is a structured response where subject chooses between predetermined responses. Open Form - the subject writes in any response.

Order of questions is significant. I'll note the guidelines below:

• general to particular
  
• easy to difficult
• factual to abstract
• start with closed format
• start with questions pertaining to the main subject
• do NOT start with personal or demographic questions

The survey should begin with an introductory letter detailing the purpose of the survey. The survey can either be self administered or interview administered. Multiple choice questions are easy to lay out on a written survey. The respondents can pick the best answer or answers from among all the options. Make sure to give directions about how many answers to select after the question. Use the Likert scale to assess a person's feelings about something.
(Encylopedia of Educational Technology, 2008)

InfoPoll Survey tips include:

• short questionnaire
• use simple words
• relax your grammar
• assure common understanding
• start with interesting questions
• don't write leading questions
• avoid double negatives
• balance rating scales

Avoid using difficult concepts and making the list of choices too long. Put the questions in logical order and name the survey to pique interest. Pretest the survey.


Leung, W. C. (2001) How to conduct a questionnaire. Retrieved March 14, 2007 from http://student.bmj.com/back_issues/0601/education/187.html

Waddington, H. (2000) Types of survey questions Encylopedia of Educational Technology. Retrieved 3/16/08 from http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/surveyquest/index.htm

InfoPoll Survey (1998) http://www.accesscable.net/~infopoll/tips.htm