EUW212 UNIVERSITY ENGLISH DESIGNING A QUESTIONNAIRE Survey What is a survey?

It is method for gathering primary information by asking predetermined questions. Survey can be conducted: Using a self-administered questionnaire In person (face-to-face) By telephone Via the Internet Questionnaire Survey What is questionnaire survey? The use of self-administered questionnaire to collect information from people.

What is a questionnaire? A questionnaire is basically a written list of questions.

TYPES OF QUESTIONS Closed-ended/closed questions Open-ended/open questions Closed-ended/Closed Questions Common forms Dichotomous Multiple choice Likert scale Semantic differential Rank order Numeric Dichotomous Description: Question offering two choices Example: Did you watch television at all yesterday? Yes / No Multiple choice Description: Question offering three or more choices

Example: Which of these shops at the Mall do you prefer? Seed Body Glove Top Man MNG

Likert scale Description: Statement with which respondent shows the amount of agreement / disagreement Example: Assessment by course-work is easier than assessment by examination. Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Strongly agree _______ _______ ________ _______ _______ Strongly disagree Semantic differential Description: Scale is inscribed between two bipolar words and respondent selects the point that most represents the direction and intensity of his / her feelings Example: The engineering degree I am taking is .... Interesting:_____:_____:_____:_____:___:Boring Useful:_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:Useless Easy :_____:_____:_____:_____:_____:Difficult Rank order Description: Respondent is asked to rate or rank each option that applies. This allows the researcher to obtain information on relative preferences, importance etc. Long lists should be avoided (respondents generally find it difficult to rank more than 5 items) Example: Please indicate, in rank order, your preferred chocolate bar, putting 1 next to your favourite through to 5 for your least favourite. ____ Double Decker ____ Crunchie ____ Wispa ____ Mars Bar ____ Creme Egg Numeric Description: Respondent specifies a particular value (can include decimal places)

Example:

How far (to the nearest kilometre) did you travel today to reach this supermarket? ________km Open-ended/Open Questions Common forms Unstructured Word association Sentence completion Unstructured Description: Question that respondents can answer in an unlimited number of ways?

Example: Why did you choose to study at UniMAP?

Word association Description: Words are presented one at a time and respondents give the first word that comes to mind Example: What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the following: Lecture _______ (Answers given by respondents) (e.g. Interesting, boring) Exam _______ (e.g. Nervous, Challenging, difficult) Computer _______ (e.g. Exciting, fun) Tutorial _______ (e.g. Rewarding, helpful) Sentence completion Description: Incomplete sentences are presented, one at a time, and respondents are asked to complete the sentence Example: While visiting Petronas Twin Tower, I felt .

Advantages and Disadvantages Closed-ended questions Advantages Quick to answer Easy to code No difference between articulate and inarticulate respondents Advantages and Disadvantages Closed-ended questions Disadvantages Can draw misleading conclusions because of limited range of options Researcher / interviewer cannot deal with qualifications to responses e.g. "Yes, but.." or "It depends" where only Yes/No are given as options Advantages and Disadvantages Open-ended questions Advantages Greater freedom of expression No bias due to limited response range Respondent can qualify their answers Advantages and Disadvantages Open-ended questions Disadvantages Time consuming to code information collected Researcher / interviewer may misinterpret (and therefore misclassify) a result The Layout of the Questionnaire Provide clear instruction Group questions on the same topic together Allow adequate space between questions so that you can write down any comments made (but don't waste too much paper!!) Write the questions themselves in lower case (i.e. like this writing) Write the INSTRUCTIONS in UPPER CASE (i.e. capital letters) Print clearly Instructions in Questionnaire General instructions

Question instructions

Instructions in Questionnaire

General instructions At the beginning of the questionnaire: Indicate that who you are and why you are doing the survey. You should also have a letter from your lecturer or supervisor to authenticate this.

Confidentiality and/or anonymity Address the issues of by including a sentence at the beginning such as "All of the information you give me will be treated as completely confidential and it will not be possible for anyone to identify the information you give me when I write up the project report".

(If applicable) indicate how the person was selected to receive the questionnaire. Indicate how it is to be answered, for example, "Please answer all of the questions which apply, and leave the remainder blank" How to return the questionnaire (if not being delivered in person)

Question instructions At the beginning of each part: Ensure that each part (block of similar questions) or each question has a clear instruction on how to respond. Indicate the form of the answer expected (e.g. numeric, tick-box, rank etc.) and how many answers are expected, by using "most relevant", "one only" or "all which apply"

Routing (skip and jump) instructions Where respondents' answers to an earlier question affects subsequent sets of questions, ensure that the route which they should take is clearly specified, for example, "If NO, please go to Question 15" Ordering of Question Respondents may refuse to co-operate if your survey begins with awkward or embarrassing questions. Piloting Your questionnaire Before you send out any questionnaire, you should "pilot" it (i.e. test it) to check that it is going to function effectively. There are a number of reasons why it is important to pilot a questionnaire: To test how long it takes to complete

To check that the questions are not ambiguous To check that the instructions are clear To allow you to eliminate questions that do not produce usable data

Ideally it should be piloted on a group similar to the one that will form the population of your study. Checklist for Questionnaire Construction Before you "pilot" your questionnaire, try going through the following checklist to spot whether any of these common mistakes apply to your own questionnaire: Have you avoided all leading questions?

Is the question as specific as possible? Avoid using words like "occasionally", "regularly", "often"

Are the questions going to be understood by all respondents? Avoid the two extremes of vocabulary (a) technical jargon; (b) slang or colloquialisms Is each question applicable to all respondents? If not, you will need a "filtering" question first

Are any of your questions double-barrelled? Thank you