QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

Learning Objectives

 Discuss the attributes of an effective

questionnaire
 Describe the questionnaire design process and
discuss the major considerations in each phase
 Identify common problems in questionnaires
 Discuss key considerations in questionnaire
organization and layout
 Explain the process of pre-testing a
questionnaire domestically and globally
Get This!
Are People Tired of Filling Out Questionnaires?

 There are claims that the public has grown tired of market
research questionnaires and would rather be left alone
 In the United Kingdom a large portion of the population is
cynical about surveys, does not trust guarantees about
confidentiality, and is unable to distinguish between
research and selling
 Marketing researchers have to come up with a scheme to
motivate targeted respondents
 One possibility is to follow the lead of some U. S. research
agencies and make it a standard practice to pay
respondents
 A second way to handle is to improve questionnaire design
and interviewer techniques
Now Ask Yourself

 Should the research industry pay respondents to

deal with their weariness of filling out surveys?
 Do you believe improved training in
questionnaire design and interview techniques
will resolve the respondent fatigue issue?
 What are some other ways to address respondent
fatigue?
Attributes of Effective Questionnaires
 Questionnaire. A formal set of questions or
statements designed to gather the information
from respondents that will accomplish the goals
of the research project
 Used to measure people’s attitudes, behavior,
and feelings toward anything. Also used to
provide a uniform structure that allows
responses to be analyzed and compared.
 Questionnaires should:
– Be user-friendly
– Look professional
 – Be valid
– Be attractive and motivational in nature
– Encourage respondents to answer honestly and accurately
 Often used to guide a company’s strategic planning.
 Construction can be divided into three general phases:
– Pre-Construction
– Questionnaire Construction
– Post-Construction
Pre-Construction

 Determine Questionnaire Objectives

 Target Respondent Characteristics
 Resource Constraints
 Decide On Data Collection Method
Questionnaire Construction

Question Format
 Open-Ended Questions. Do not provide
response choices
 Closed-Ended Questions. . Supply a
certain number of responses from which
respondents are expected to choose
– Dichotomous Questions
– Multiple-choice Questions
Open-Ended Questions
 Advantages
– Freedom of response
– Sensitive to respondents’ desire for expression
– Well-suited for exploratory studies
– Suitable for certain types of questions
 Disadvantages
– Interpretation of the responses can bias the findings
– Researchers must form representative categories that
encompass all responses
– May discourage respondents from completing the
questionnaire
– Coding open-ended questionnaires can be expensive and
time-consuming
Close-Ended Questions
 Advantages
– Easy to administer
– Reduce interpreter bias
– Tend to motivate respondents to complete surveys
– Simplify coding and tabulating efforts
– Prompts choices prompts respondents to ponder alternatives
they might not otherwise consider
 Disadvantages
– Extensive effort required in questionnaire construction to
create an exhaustive list of choices or a short list of the most
likely choices
– The list can have an inhibiting effect on respondents
– Relying on the respondent to know whether to “select one” or
“check all that apply”
Dichotomous Questions
 Closed-ended questions that only offer two
response choices
 Used to understand respondent’s demographic
composition or behavioral inclination
 Strengths
– Usually do not require much time or thought on the part
of the respondents
– Minimize interpreter bias
– Simplify coding and analysis process
 Shortcomings
– Omission of intermediate points
Multiple-Choice Questions
 Multichotomous questions, are Closed-Ended
questions that give respondents several choices
 Strengths
– Reduce interpreter bias
– Easy to complete
– Simple to code and analyze
– Free of bias in grading
– More valid and reliable than open-ended questions
 Main problem
– Researchers must create carefully worded questions and
exhaustive lists of choices to ensure that responses are
representative
Number of Response Choices Per Question

 What type of information are we seeking

from the respondent?
 To what extent are respondents able to
discriminate among the choices?
 What is the cut-off point for the number of
response choices?
 What survey method will we use to deliver
the questions?
Questionnaire Wording

Item Nonresponse. When a respondent who

agrees to participate in a study refuses to respond
to certain questions.
 Are the instructions easy to understand?
 Are all of the questions easy to understand?
 Delphi Technique. Uses a panel or experts to
determine the appropriate content of the survey
 Are the wordings appropriate for the target
respondents?
 Do any questions lead or bias respondents?
 Is there more than one way to interpret the
questions?
 Are there any double-barreled questions?
 Are there both positively and negatively worded
questions?
 Are the questions stated as succinctly as
possible?
 Are alternatives in questions explicitly stated?
 Are assumptions explicitly stated?
Questionnaire and
Layout of Questionnaire

 Introduction is most important part of questionnaire

 Initial questions should be captivating, general, clearly
stated, and easy to answer
 First few questions should make the respondent feel good
and proud of his or her response
 Questions on a particular topic should be grouped together
and in a logical fashion before the questionnaire moves on
to another topic
 Use good-quality materials that present a professional
image
 Avoid overcrowding a questionnaire
 Make sure there are no misspelling or errors in grammar
 Don’t make the questionnaire too long
 Place the majority of questions that relate to the research
objectives in the middle of the survey
 Place difficult questions toward the end of the survey
 Place controversial, embarrassing, or emotionally charged
questions toward the middle or end of the survey
 Place demographic or lifestyle questions toward the end of
the survey
 Conclude the survey by thanking respondents for their time
Obtain Client Approval

Many times researchers will conduct studies for

an individual or organization that is external from
their company
It is extremely necessary to share a draft of the
questionnaire with the client to allow feedback
prior to implementing it
This may cause multiple iterations, but it is
important for the client to approve the final
questionnaire that will ultimately be used
Post-Construction

Pre-Test The Questionnaire. Pre-Testing involves a

trial run of a questionnaire with a small sample from
the target population to detect any problems
1. Personal Interviews
• Protocol Analysis. Respondents think aloud while
responding to each question
• Debriefing. Interview conducted after respondents
have completed the questionnaire
1. Administering the survey to a small sample in an
environment as similar as possible to the one in which
the questionnaire will ultimately be administered
Questionnaire Problems

 Ambiguous questions
 Ambiguous word meanings
 Leading questions or phrases
 Level of question difficulty
 Unbalanced response categories
 Missing response categories
 Missing questions
 Need for and relevance of individual
questions
 Questions that bias responses
 Non-response rates
 Perceptions of pictures
 Degree of attention
Revise Questionnaire Based On Pre-Test Results

 Undoubtedly, it will be necessary for the researcher

to make changes to the questionnaire based on the
findings during the pre-test
 If several changes are made during the pre-test it
may be necessary to pre-test the questionnaire a
second time
 After pre-testing is compete, researchers should
tabulate the data and run some simple statistical
tests to get a preliminary indication of what to expect
from administering the full-scale test
Administer Questionnaire And Tabulate Results

At this point, researchers should:

• Administer the questionnaire to targeted

respondents
• Code the information
• Tabulate the data
• Run appropriate statistical tests to look for
relationships and differences among variables
Net Impact

The Internet can enhance questionnaire design:

 Help the marketing manager determine
questionnaire objectives
 Assist the researcher in better understanding
the characteristics of the target market
 Help in pre-testing of the final questions
 Provide an additional alternative in data
collection
Decision Time!

 Who should take charge of the

questionnaire design task--you, the
ultimate user of the information, or the
marketing researcher?
 How closely do you think you should work
with the researcher to ensure that the right
type of data is collected?
End of Presentation