Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a set of questions (or other types of prompts) for the purpose of gathering information from respondents through survey or statistical study. A research questionnaire is typically a mix of close-ended questions and open-ended questions. Open-ended, long-term questions offer the respondent the ability to elaborate on their thoughts. The research questionnaire was developed by the Statistical Society of London in 1838.^[1][2]

Although questionnaires are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case.

Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of survey tools in that they are cheap, do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data.^[3] However, such standardized answers may frustrate users as the possible answers may not accurately represent their desired responses.^[4] Questionnaires are also sharply limited by the fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and respond to them. Thus, for some demographic groups conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be concretely feasible.^[5]

History

One of the earliest questionnaires was Dean Milles' Questionnaire of 1753.^[6]

Types

A distinction can be made between questionnaires with questions that measure separate variables, and questionnaires with questions that are aggregated into either a scale or index. Questionnaires with questions that measure separate variables, could, for instance, include questions on:

• preferences (e.g. political party)
• behaviors (e.g. food consumption)
• facts (e.g. gender)

Questionnaires with questions that are aggregated into either a scale or index include for instance questions that measure:

• latent traits
• attitudes (e.g. towards immigration)
• an index (e.g. Social Economic Status)

Questionnaire construction

Multi-item scales

Within social science research and practice, questionnaires are most frequently used to collect quantitative data using multi-item scales with the following characteristics:^[12]

• Multiple statements or questions (minimum ≥3; usually ≥5) are presented for each variable being examined.
• Each statement or question has an accompanying set of equidistant response-points (usually 5–7).
• Each response point has an accompanying verbal anchor (e.g., "strongly agree") ascending from left to right.
• Verbal anchors should be balanced to reflect equal intervals between response-points.
• Collectively, a set of response-points and accompanying verbal anchors are referred to as a rating scale. One very frequently-used rating scale is a Likert scale.
• Usually, for clarity and efficiency, a single set of anchors is presented for multiple rating scales in a questionnaire.
• Collectively, a statement or question with an accompanying rating scale is referred to as an item.
• When multiple items measure the same variable in a reliable and valid way, they are collectively referred to as a multi-item scale, or a psychometric scale.
• The following types of reliability and validity should be established for a multi-item scale: internal reliability, test-retest reliability (if the variable is expected to be stable over time), content validity, construct validity, and criterion validity.
• Factor analysis is used in the scale development process.
• Questionnaires used to collect quantitative data usually comprise several multi-item scales, together with an introductory and concluding section.

Questionnaire administration modes

Main modes of questionnaire administration include:^[9]

• Face-to-face questionnaire administration, where an interviewer presents the items orally.
• Paper-and-pencil questionnaire administration, where the items are presented on paper.
• Computerized questionnaire administration, where the items are presented on the computer.
• Adaptive computerized questionnaire administration, where a selection of items is presented on the computer, and based on the answers on those items, the computer selects the following items optimized for the testee's estimated ability or trait.

Questionnaire translation

Questionnaires are translated from a source language into one or more target languages, such as translating from English into Spanish and German. The process is not a mechanical word placement process. Best practice includes parallel translation, team discussions, and pretesting with real-life people,^[13][14] and is integrated in the model TRAPD (Translation, Review, Adjudication, Pretest, and Documentation).^[15] A theoretical framework is also provided by sociolinguistics, which states that to achieve the equivalent communicative effect as the source language, the translation must be linguistically appropriate while incorporating the social practices and cultural norms of the target language.^[16]

Besides translators, a team approach is recommended in the questionnaire translation process to include subject-matter experts and persons helpful to the process.^[15][17] For example, even when project managers and researchers do not speak the language of the translation, they know the study objectives well and the intent behind the questions, and therefore have a key role in improving questionnaire translation.^[18]

Concerns with questionnaires

While questionnaires are inexpensive, quick, and easy to analyze, often the questionnaire can have more problems than benefits. For example, unlike interviews, the people conducting the research may never know if the respondent understood the question that was being asked. Also, because the questions are so specific to what the researchers are asking, the information gained can be minimal.^[19] Often, questionnaires such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, give too few options to answer; respondents can answer either option but must choose only one response. Questionnaires also produce very low return rates, whether they are mail or online questionnaires. The other problem associated with return rates is that often the people who do return the questionnaire are those who have a very positive or a very negative viewpoint and want their opinion heard. The people who are most likely unbiased either way typically do not respond because it is not worth their time.

One key concern with questionnaires is that they may contain quite large measurement errors.^[20] These errors can be random or systematic. Random errors are caused by unintended mistakes by respondents, interviewers, and/or coders. Systematic error can occur if there is a systematic reaction of the respondents to the scale used to formulate the survey question. Thus, the exact formulation of a survey question and its scale is crucial, since they affect the level of measurement error.^[21]

Further, if the questionnaires are not collected using sound sampling techniques, often the results can be non-representative of the population—as such a good sample is critical to getting representative results based on questionnaires.^[22]

See also

• Survey methodology
• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
• Computer-assisted personal interviewing
• Enterprise Feedback Management
• Quantitative marketing research
• Questionnaire construction
• Structured interviewing
• Web-based experiments
• Position analysis questionnaire

Further reading

• Foddy, W. H. (1994). Constructing questions for interviews and questionnaires: Theory and practice in social research (New ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Gillham, B. (2008). Developing a questionnaire (2nd ed.). London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
• Leung, W. C. (2001). "How to conduct a survey". Student BMJ. 9: 143–5.
• Mellenbergh, G. J. (2008). Chapter 10: Tests and questionnaires: Construction and administration. In H. J. Adèr & G. J. Mellenbergh (Eds.) (with contributions by D. J. Hand), Advising on research methods: A consultant's companion (pp. 211–234). Huizen, The Netherlands: Johannes van Kessel Publishing.
• Mellenbergh, G. J. (2008). Chapter 11: Tests and questionnaires: Analysis. In H. J. Adèr & G. J. Mellenbergh (Eds.) (with contributions by D. J. Hand), Advising on research methods: A consultant's companion (pp. 235–268). Huizen, The Netherlands: Johannes van Kessel Publishing.
• Munn, P., & Drever, E. (2004). Using questionnaires in small-scale research: A beginner's guide. Glasgow, Scotland: Scottish Council for Research in Education.
• Oppenheim, A. N. (2000). Questionnaire design, interviewing and attitude measurement (New ed.). London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
• Robinson, M. A. (2018). Using multi-item psychometric scales for research and practice in human resource management. Human Resource Management, 57(3), 739–750. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21852 (open-access)

Questionnaire are of different types as per Paul: 1)Structured Questionnaire. 2)Unstructured Questionnaire. 3)Open ended Questionnaire. 4)Close ended Questionnaire. 5)Mixed Questionnaire. 6)Pictorial Questionnaire.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Questionnaires.

Look up questionnaire in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Harmonised questions from the UK Office for National Statistics
• Hints for designing effective questionnaires - from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation