Since there is no theoretical base described for a questionnaire design so it is difficult to guide someone about a flawless questionnaire. However, one can make an effective questionnaire by looking into essential elements. There are a few things that should be addressed in every questionnaire to get the purpose of the questionnaire.
You may be astonished that what are the essential elements. No worries, today these elements will be discussed for you in this blog. Before going further first understand that this blog aims to provide you with key attributes of a well-designed questionnaire and a framework for developing a questionnaire.
Let’s start it without wasting any time.
How to design a questionnaire
There are some techniques and philosophies to develop a survey questionnaire. The complete process and the essential elements are mentioned below. Besides the most important elements are also discussed in detail.
- What information is needed?
- Choose the respondents
- Method to reach the targeted respondents?
- Design question content
- Develop the question-wording.
- Put questions into a meaningful order and format.
- Check the length of the questionnaire.
- Pre-test the questionnaire.
Develop the final survey form.
What information is needed?
In the preliminary, researcher must focus on two questions. What are the objectives of the research and what information he or she is seeking? After that just note the information that you would like to ask from your respondent. Normally the researcher has some idea about the required information.
Choose the respondents
The second step is related to demographics, the researcher needs to target a particular group or population on which the results will be generalized. This also includes age, education, profession, etc.
Method to reach the targeted respondents?
Once you are done with the respondent’s selection you need to decide on a specific method of data collection. The common options are:
- Personal interviews
- Group or focus interviews
- Mailed questionnaires
- Telephone interviews.
You can select any method which is feasible and most suitable for your research.
Design question content
The most important step is drafting the questions. You need to be more careful in terms of the question selection. You have to properly check whether the question is contributing to the objective of the research or not.
There are two types of research questions in the survey questionnaire open-ended and close-ended. It depends upon the researcher which method he or she would like to adopt. This is also a strategic development of the questionnaire by looking into the target audience and formatting the question accordingly.
Now you have learned the process of questionnaire development and surely now you can draft a questionnaire for your research. You have to remember your purpose of research and keep asking yourself what is to research.
The qualities of a good questionnaire
The design of a questionnaire mainly focuses on what type of data is being collected by the researcher and there are two types of information researchers seeks for:
- Exploratory information: Such type of information is associated with qualitative research where the researcher develops hypotheses on a subject.
- Quantitative information: This is number-based information and the researcher test the already developed hypotheses and it is associated with quantitative research.
Exploratory questionnaire
You have already understood the exploratory data or information but now how we can design an exploratory questionnaire? In this context, when data cannot be statistically evaluated here one can use the informal questionnaire.
Let’s take an example If you are researching “how purchasing decisions are made?” for this topic if you are going for a formal questionnaire then you cannot explore the complete information. Because the formal questionnaire has certain limitations. Instead of it, you can go for an informal one and set at least ten open-ended questions and probes to trigger the respondent and probe as much as you can.
Formal standardized questionnaires
If your data is much more capable of statistical analysis then you have to follow the formal questionnaire designed which includes:
- The wording and order of questions should be in a prescribed manner.
- Properly defined and explained questions to get a proper response.
- The format of the questionnaire should be prescribed that feels a rapid flow.
- Clear-worded questions and responses should also be clearly identified.
Closing questions
It has been observed that the respondent became careless when it is getting closer to the end of the questionnaire. Here the researcher has to be sharp and try to present the most efficient question earlier and the less efficient questions at the end.
The researcher should focus on the layout and presentation of the questionnaire or interview. It must not confuse the respondent to select the particular option and enough space for open-ended questions to express his or her response.
