Considerations in construction of questionnaire

Based on Bailey (1994), I formulate the following items on considerations in drafting questionnaires in Research works:

 

1. Relevance to respondent and to your study
2. Wording in questionnaire:
• Double-barreled questions
• Ambiguous questions
• Wording level
• Abstract vs factual questions
• Leading questions
• Sensitive questions
3. Closed-ended vs Open-ended questions
4. Response-category design for open-ended and closed-ended questions
• Number of categories
• Ordinal variables
• Interval scales
5. Question order and use of contingency questions
6. Instructions for interviewers and respondents
7. Introductory statement (including use of cover letter)
8. Pretesting, mainly using captive audience

 

Related lecture notes:

Note 1

 

 

 

Note 2

 

 

 

 

References

1. Bailey, K.D. (1994) "Chapter 6: Questionnaire Construction", Methods of Social Resarch, Free Press.
2. On questionnaire design: http://www.fao.org/docrep/W3241E/w3241e05.htm