What is a questionnaire? What are the general guidelines for formulating questions for a questionnaire?

QUESTIONNAIRE - OVERVIEW

Questionnaire is a series of questions asked to individuals to obtain statistically useful information about a given topic^[1]. When properly constructed and responsibly administered, questionnaires become a vital instrument by which statements can be made about specific groups or people or entire populations.

Questionnaires are frequently used in quantitative marketing research and social research. They are a valuable method of collecting a wide range of information from a large number of individuals, often referred to as respondents. Good questionnaire construction is critical to the success of a survey. Inappropriate questions, incorrect ordering of questions, incorrect scaling, or bad questionnaire format can make the survey valueless. A useful method for checking a questionnaire and making sure it is accurately capturing the intended information is to pretest among a smaller subset of target respondents.

DESIGN OF QUESTION

The design of a question must always reflect the basic purpose of the research. Survey questions must construct to yield the precise information a researcher needs to respond to a research problem. Survey can consist of two basic types of questions: open-ended questions and close-ended questions. There are some compulsory do's and don'ts about writing questions which are general guideline) for formulating questions for questionnaire.

GUIDELINES FOR FORMULATING QUESTIONS

§     Make Question Unambiguous and Clear

§     Keep Questions Brief

§     Do not ask Double -Barreled Questions

§     Remember the Purpose of Research

§     Avoid Biased Words and Terms

§     Avoid Leading Question

§     Do not Use Questions that ask for Highly Detailed Information

§     Avoid Potentially Embarrassing Question Unless Necessary

MAKE QUESTION UNAMBIGUOUS AND CLEAR

This is the prime perquisite in formulation of question. It is sometimes observed that many researchers do attach themselves with the problem that they cannot comprehend the respondents' position. What might be perfectly clear to researcher might not be necessarily clear to person answering the question making question clear also requires avoiding more difficult or specialized words, acronyms and stilted language In general, the level e10 f vocabulary commonly found in newspapers or popular magazine is adequate for a survey. Question should be phased in everyday speech and social science jargon and technical words should be eliminated.

The clarity of a questionnaire items can be affected by double or hidden meaning in the words that are not apparent to investigator.

                 Example:

The question "How many television shows do you think are a little too violent most, some, few or none contains such a problem. Some respondents who feel that all T.V shows are extremely violent will answer "none" on the basis of the questions' wording. Deleting phrase "a little" from the questions inadequately establishes the ideas that at least some shows are violent. The question should read, "How many TV. Shows, if any, do you think are too violent most, many, some, few or none?" Question should be written so they are fair to all types of respondents.

KEEP QUESTIONS BRIEF:

Researches use sometimes to and complicated questions. They must try to be precise and unambiguously brie Words should be chosen for simplicity and ease of understanding. Yet respondents who are in a hurry to complete a questionnaire are unlikely to take the time to study the precise intent of the person who drafted the items. Short, concise items that will not be misunderstood are best.

                 Example:

The question " How many ' newspaper items or news which you study in daily day to day routine job, in you o opinion are creating a kind of sensational portrayal of aspects in the newspaper under your study  or reading." This question can briefly be asked as “How many news are usually sensational in newspaper you read?"

DONOT ASK DOUBLE -BARRELED QUESTIONS

A double-barreled question is one that asks two or more questions. Whenever the word "and" appears in the question, the sentence structure should be examined to see whether more than one question is being asked

                 Example:

The question " the STN network has programs that are funny and sexually explicit. Do you agree or disagree?" Since as programme may be funny but not necessarily sexually explicit, a respondent would be agree with the second part. of the question even he/she disagrees with the first part. The question should be divided into two items.

                 Example:

The question "do you find the PTV programme `khabarnama'  informative and entertaining?" rises to different issues. A respondent might have one position on the programme's informational value, yet hold quite a different view of its entertaining qualities.

Double-barrel questions produce uninterruptible responses, and they have no place in well constructed questionnaires.

REMEMBER THE PURPOSE OF RESEARCH      

It is important to include in a questionnaire only item that directly relate to what is being studied.

                 Example:

If the occupational level of the respondents is not relevant to the purpose of the survey, the questionnaire should not be asked about it. Beginning researchers often add questions merely or the sake of developing a longer questionnaire. Only relevant question should be included.

AVOID BAISED WORDS AND TERMS

Consider the following items. “In your free time, would you rather read a book or just watch television?" the word “just” in this example injects a pro-book biased into the question because it implies that there is something less than desirable about watching television.

                 Example:

In like manners; “Where did you hear the news, President's new economic programme ?" is mildly biased against newspapers.; the  word "hear" suggest that `radio', `T. V.' or `other people’ are a more appropriate answer. Questionnaire items that starts with  “Do you agree or disagree with so! And –so 's proposal to ...." Almost always bias a question. Any time a specific person or source is mentioned in a question the possibility of  introducing bias arises.         

AVOID LEADING QUESTION

A leading question is one that suggests a certain response (either literally or by implication) or contains a hidden premise. Leading question contains emotionally loaded language that encourages biased responses.

                 Example:

The question "Like most Pakistanis, do you read a newspaper daily?" suggests that the respondent should answer in affirmative or run the risk of being unlike most Pakistanis.

                 Example:

The question "Do you still use marijuana?" contains a hidden premise. these types of questions are called `a double blind' , regardless of how the respondents answer an affirmative response to the hidden premise is implied in this case marijuana has been used by him/her at some point.

DONOT USE QUESTIONS THAT ASK FOR HIGHLY DETAILED INFORMATION

The question should be realistic and comprehend ably answerable. It does not ask too much information on the p of respondent.

                 Example:

The question "In the past 30 days, h many hours of T. V. have you viewed with your family?" is unrealistic. Few respondents would answer such a question. A more realistic approach would be to ask “how many hours did you spend watching T.V. with your family yesterday?" A researcher interested in 30 days period should ask respondents to keep a log or a diary of family viewing habits.

AVOID POTENTIALLY EMBARRASING QUESTION UNLESS NECESSARY

Most surveys need to collect data of a confidential or personal question may cause embarrassment and inhibit respondents from answering honestly. One common area with high potential for embarrassment is `income. Many- individuals ate reluctant to tell their income to strangers conducting a survey. It is more prudent to categories your question so that choosing will be an easy y to the answering person.

Other particularly sensitive areas include people's sex lives, drug use, religion, business practices and trustworthiness. In all these areas care should be taken to ensure respondents of confidentiality and anonymity, when possible.

The simplest type of close-ended question is one that provides dichotomous response, usually "agree/disagree" or "yes /no". Although such questions provide little potentially sensitivity to different degrees of conviction. they are the easiest to tabulate of all question forms .Whether they provide enough sensitivity or information in regard to the purpose of the research project or questions the researchers must seriously consider. The multiple choice questions allow responded a freedom of choosing, they should be allowed to include all possible responses.

Semantic differential scales are another form of rating scale frequently used to rate persons, concepts or objects. These scales use bipolar objectives with seven scale points. The checklist question is often used in pilot studies to refine questions for the finial project. The forced-choice questions are frequently used in media studies designed to gather information about lifestyle and they are always listed in pairs. Forced-choice questionnaires are usually very long i.e. sometimes dozens of questions. Fill-in-the-blank questions are used infrequently by survey researchers. However, some studies are particularly suited for fill-in-the-blank questions. Such questions also can be used in information tests.