QUESTIONNAIRE

DEVELOPMENT

QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT
A questionnaire is a research instrument
consisting of a series of questions pertaining to
same research area and addressing same issue.
A question in a questionnaire is used to express
a request for information and used as a tool for
the purpose of gathering information from
respondents. They are often designed for
statistical analysis of the responses.
The questionnaire was invented by the Statistical
Society of London in 1838. A copy of the research
instrument was published in the Journal of the
Statistical Society, Volume 1, Issue 1, 1838, pages
513.

QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

Questionnaire Design Procedure :

1. Convert the research objectives into the
information needed
2. Select method of administering the
questionnaire
3. Decide about the content of the questions
4. Frame the questions so as to motivate the
respondents to answer
5. Determine the type of questions
6. Conduct pilot testing of the questionnaire
7. Standardise the questionnaire
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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

Convert the research objectives into the

information areas
1. Spell out clearly the specific research questions
that the study will address.
2. Convert
these questions
into
statements of
objectives.
3. Define the variables to be studied.
4. Identify the direction of the relation about the
variables
under study in the form of hypothesis.
5.

Specify the information required for the study.

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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

Research topic : Study of usage of plastic bags in

Research
Delhi
NCR Research Variables Informatio Population
questions

objectives

to
be
studied
What
is 1.To
1.Usage
the nature identify
behaviour.
of
plastic the
2.Demogra
bag usage different
phic
amongst
uses
of details
people
in plastic
Delhi
bags
NCR ?
2.To
find
out
the
method of
disposal of
plastic
bags
3.To
find
out
the

n
required
1.Uses
of
plastic
bags.
2.Disposal
of
plastic
bags.

to
be
studied
1.Consume
rs
2.Retailers

QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT
Method of administration : Once the researcher
has identified his information area, he needs to
specify how the information should be collected.
The Content of the questionnaire
Once the information required and the mode of
administration is decided, it is now required to
determine the matter to be included as the
questions for extracting the required information.
For example, if one is studying the usage of plastic bags,
then demographic questions on age group, occupation,
education and gender might make sense but questions
related to marital status, family size and the state to which
the respondent belongs are not required as they have no
direct relation with the usage or attitude towards plastic
bags.
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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

Motivating the respondent to answer

The questionnaire should be designed in a manner
that it involves the respondent and motivates
him/her to give comprehensive information.
There might be two kinds of hindrances for active
participation :
The respondent might not be able to respond in the
right manner.
The respondent might be unwilling to part with the
information.

Determining the type of questions : The

researcher here decides on response categories that is
whether the response options would be given to the
respondents or will they be left open to be completed by
the respondents in his/her own words.
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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

Open-ended questions
These are termed open ended and are also referred
to as unstructured questions or free answer
questions. The researchers suggest no alternative.
Some illustrations of this type are listed below :
What is your age?
How would you evaluate the work done by
present government?
I like Nescafe because
--------------------------------------------------- My career goal is to
------------------------------------------------------ I think the quality of Maruti cars are
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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

Close-ended questions
In these questions, both the question and response
formats are structured
and
defined. The
respondent needs only to select the option(s) that he
feels are expressive of his opinion. There are three
kinds of formats (1)dichotomous questions,
(2)multiple choice questions and (3)questions
having a scaled response.

Dichotomous

question

These are
restrictive alternatives and provide the respondents
only with two answers. These could be Yes or No,
Like or Dislike, Similar or Different
Are you diabetic? Yes/No
Have you read the Ramayan? Yes/No
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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

Multiple-choice questions

Unlike
dichotomous questions, the respondent is given a
number of response alternatives here. The
respondent is asked to choose one that he feels
most applicable.
Q. Will you consider selling food products in your
store?
Probably in the next one year
Probably not in the next one year
Definitely in the next one year
Not yet decided

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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

Likert scale - This scale is based on

interval level of measurement.
The questions are formulated by
assigning
numerical
values
to
response categories.
Likert scale is used for the
quantification of subjective variables
and attitudes .

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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT
Q. Given below are statements related to your
organisation. Please indicate your
agreement/disagreement with each :
SDA-1,
DA-2, N-3,
A-4, 1 2 3 4 5
SA-5
1.The people in my company

know
their
roles
very
clearly
1.I want to complete my

current task by hook or by

crook
1.Existing systems are very

effective
1.I feel the need for the

organisation to change
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1.Top
management
is

QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT
Criteria for question designing
1. Clearly specify the issue By reading the question, the
person should be able to clearly understand the information required.
Q. Which newspaper do you read?
(Incorrect)
Which newspaper or newspapers did you personally read at home
during last 3 months? In case of more than one newspaper, please list
all these you read.
(correct)

2. Use simple terminology - The researcher must take care to

ask questions in a language that is understood by the population
under study.
Q. Do you think thermal wear provides immunity?
(Incorrect)
Do you think that thermal wear provides you protection from
the cold ?
(correct)

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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT
3. Avoid ambiguity in questioning - The words used in
the questionnaire should mean the same thing to all those
answering the question.
Q. How often do you visit Pizza Hut?
Never /occasionally/sometimes/often/regularly
(Incorrect)
These are ambiguous measures, as occasionally in the
above question might be three to four times in a week for
one person, while for another it could be three times in a
month. A much better wording would be following :
Q. In a typical month, how often do you visit Pizza
Hut?
Less than once/ 1 or 2 times/ 3 or 4 times/more than
4 times
(Correct)
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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT

4. Avoid leading questions - Any question that

provides a clue to the respondents indicating the way
in which one wants them to answer is called a leading
or biasing question.
Q. Do you think that working mothers should buy
ready-to-eat food when that might contain some
chemical preservative?
Yes/No/Dont know (Incorrect)
The question will mostly generate a negative answer,
as no working mother would like to buy something that
is convenient but might be harmful. Thus it is advisable
to construct a neutral question as follows :
Q. Do you think that working mothers should
buy ready-to-eat food?
Yes/No/Dont know (Correct)
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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT
5. Avoid loaded question
Questions that
address sensitive issue are termed as loaded
questions and the response to these questions
might not always be honest, as the person might
not wish to give the correct answer even when
assured about his anonymity.
Q. Will you take dowry when you get
married? (Incorrect)
Sensitive question like this can be camouflaged in
a variety of ways :
Q. Do you think that most Indian men would
take dowry when they get married?
(Correct)
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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT
6. Avoid double barrelled questions - The questions
that have two separate options separated by an or or an
and. The example of such question is given below :
Q. Did the training you go through make you
feel more motivated and effective in your job ?
(Incorrect)
Here when the answer is no, then we do not know
whether he is not motivated or whether he is not effective
at this job or both. Thus to obtain required information,
we must split it into separate questions.
Q. Did the training you go through make you
feel motivated at your job? and
(Yes/No)
Did the training you went through make you more
effective at your job?
(Yes/No)
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QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT
Reliability
Reliability is the degree to which a research instrument
produces stable and consistent results.
If findings from the research are replicated consistently
they are considered reliable.
Reliability also applies to individual measures. When
people take a vocabulary test two times, their scores on
the two occasions should be very similar. If so, the test
can then be described as reliable.
There are two types of reliability :
(1) Internal reliability - This assesses the consistency
of results across items within a test.
(2) External reliability - This refers to the extent to
which a measure varies from one condition to another.
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Test for Internal Reliability

Split-half method
1. This method is designed to correlate the result of half of the
items with the result of other half of research instrument.
2. The questions are divided in half in such a way that any two
questions intend to measure the same aspect fall into two
halves.
3. The scores obtained by administering the two halves are
correlated. The reliability is calculated by using the
product moment correlation between scores obtained
from the two halves.
4. Because the correlation is calculated on the basis of only
half of the items of the instrument, it needs to be
correlated to assess reliability of the whole which is known
as stepped-up reliability. The stepped-up reliability for
the whole instrument is calculated by a statistical
procedure known as Spearman-Brown formula.

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Test for Reliability

of Product moment
Computation

correlation (r) and Spearman-Brown

correlation coefficient(R) :

r = [( x x2) ( y - y 2 )] [
{( x x)2( y - y )2]
Where
x=XX
y=YY
R = (Spearman-Brown formula for
determining reliability of
wholeinstrument)

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Test for Reliability

Cronbachs
alpha ,r/

r/ = . [ 1 (12 )/ ( 22 )]
Where,
K = Total number of items in the list
1 = Variance of individual items
2 = Variance of total test scores

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