Designing Your Questionnaire 1 Clarify Your Objectives Being

Designing Your Questionnaire 1 � Clarify Your Objectives ○ Being clear about what information you want from the survey will make the questions easier to write � Define Your Sample ○ Think carefully about the group(s) to whom the questionnaire is given. How big will the sample be? � Choose your questions ○ Think about whether you want closed questions, open questions or a mixture of both

Designing Your Questionnaire 2 � Structure your questionnaire ○ Include an introduction explaining its purpose ○ Give clear instructions on how to fill it in ○ Keep questions simple and unambiguous ○ Be consistent in your approach (not a mixture of tick boxes, circling answers etc. ) ○ Arrange questions in a logical order ○ Include a thank you at the end

Questionnaire Questions � Two broad types of question can be identified: ○ Closed Questions ○ Open Questions

Closed Questions � A closed question is a question for which the researcher provides a suitable list of responses, limiting the respondent to preset choices. � Do you listen to hip-hop music? a) Yes b) No

Closed Questions 2 � Alternatively, a closed question can allow the respondent the opportunity to choose an answer from a predefined list: What kind of music do you listen to most? : a) Heavy Metal b) Hip-Hop c) Dance music d) Garage �

Closed Questions 3 � Another variation is to attempt to measure a respondent’s attitude towards a particular subject: Hip-Hop music causes violence among its audience: 1)Strongly agree 2)Agree 3)Neither agree nor disagree 4)Disagree 5)Strongly disagree

Closed Questions 4 Alternatively: Describe your opinion of hip-hop music Violent 1 2 3 4 5 Non-violent Sexist 1 2 3 4 5 Non-sexist Racist 1 2 3 4 5 Non-racist

Closed Questions 5 These examples are variations on a similar theme. � Their defining characteristic is that they allow the respondent very little scope in which to develop an answer beyond the categories selected � As such, the primary purpose of closed question tends to be the collection of quantitative data �

Open Questions � In open questions, the researcher doesn’t provide the respondent with a set of answers from which to choose � Rather, the respondent is allowed to answer questions in their own words � This means that the primary purpose of this type of question is to collect qualitative data

Pilot the Questionnaire � Before using the questionnaire in earnest, pilot it with 1 or 2 respondents to uncover potential problems in the questionnaire and in the analysis � Use the results of the pilot to adapt and improve your questionnaire