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A questionnaire is a
research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...
instrument that consists of a set of
question A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammar, grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are inte ...
s (or other types of prompts) for the purpose of gathering
information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...
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 The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...
in 1838. Although questionnaires are often designed for
statistical Statistics (from German: ''Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industria ...
analysis of the responses, this is not always the case. Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys 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. However, such standardized answers may frustrate users as the possible answers may not accurately represent their desired responses. 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 group Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as edu ...
s conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be concretely feasible.


History

One of the earliest questionnaires was
Dean Milles' Questionnaire Rev. Jeremiah Milles (1714–1784)
Bodleian Library, Oxford. Accessed 26 November 2016.
of 1753.


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)


Examples

* A
food frequency questionnaire Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) is a dietary assessment tool delivered as a questionnaire to estimate frequency and, in some cases, portion size information about food and beverage consumption over a specified period of time, typically the past m ...
(FFQ) is a questionnaire the type of diet consumed in people, and may be used as a research instrument. Examples of usages include assessment of intake of vitamins or toxins such as
acrylamide Acrylamide (or acrylic amide) is an organic compound with the chemical formula CH2=CHC(O)NH2. It is a white odorless solid, soluble in water and several organic solvents. From the chemistry perspective, acrylamide is a vinyl-substituted primary ...
.


Questionnaire construction


Question type

Usually, a questionnaire consists of a number of questions that the respondent has to answer in a set format. A distinction is made between open-ended and closed-ended questions. An open-ended question asks the respondent to formulate his own answer, whereas a closed-ended question asks the respondent to pick an answer from a given number of options. The response options for a closed-ended question should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive. Four types of response scales for closed-ended questions are distinguished: * Dichotomous, where the respondent has two options. The dichotomous question is generally a "yes/no" close-ended question. This question is usually used in case of the need for necessary validation. It is the most natural form of a questionnaire. * Nominal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two unordered options. The nominal scale, also called the categorical variable scale, is defined as a scale used for labeling variables into distinct classifications and does not involve a quantitative value or order. * Ordinal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two ordered options * (Bounded)Continuous, where the respondent is presented with a continuous scale A respondent's answer to an open-ended question is coded into a response scale afterward. An example of an open-ended question is a question where the testee has to complete a sentence (sentence completion item). Mellenbergh, G.J. (2008). Chapter 10: Tests and Questionnaires: Construction and administration. In
H.J. Adèr HJ may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics * Hall–Janko group, a mathematical group * U.S. code for a cryptographic key change; see cryptoperiod Other uses

* List of Latin-script digraphs#H, , a two-letter combination used in ...
&
G.J. Mellenbergh Gideon Jan (Don) Mellenbergh (9 August 1938 – 27 March 2021) was a Dutch psychologist, who was Professor of Psychological methods at the University of Amsterdam, known for his contribution in the field of psychometrics, and Social Research Me ...
(Eds.) (with contributions by D.J. Hand), Advising on Research Methods: A consultant's companion (pp. 211–236). Huizen, The Netherlands: Johannes van Kessel Publishing.


Question sequence

In general, questions should flow logically from one to the next. To achieve the best response rates, questions should flow from the least sensitive to the most sensitive, from the factual and behavioural to the attitudinal, and from the more general to the more specific. There typically is a flow that should be followed when constructing a questionnaire in regards to the order that the questions are asked. The order is as follows: # Screens # Warm-ups # Transitions # Skips # Difficult # Classification Screens are used as a screening method to find out early whether or not someone should complete the questionnaire. Warm-ups are simple to answer, help capture interest in the survey, and may not even pertain to research objectives. Transition questions are used to make different areas flow well together. Skips include questions similar to "If yes, then answer question 3. If no, then continue to question 5." Difficult questions are towards the end because the respondent is in "response mode." Also, when completing an online questionnaire, the progress bars lets the respondent know that they are almost done so they are more willing to answer more difficult questions. Classification, or demographic question should be at the end because typically they can feel like personal questions which will make respondents uncomfortable and not willing to finish survey.


Basic rules for questionnaire item construction

* Use statements that are interpreted in the same way by members of different subpopulations of the population of interest. * Use statements where persons that have different opinions or traits will give different answers. * Think of having an "open" answer category after a list of possible answers. * Use only one aspect of the construct you are interested in per item. * Use positive statements and avoid negatives or double negatives. * Do not make assumptions about the respondent. * Use clear and comprehensible wording, easily understandable for all educational levels * Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. * Avoid items that contain more than one question per item (e.g. Do you like strawberries and potatoes?). * Question should not be biased or even leading the participant towards an answer. * Incorporate research questions like
MaxDiff The MaxDiff is a long-established mathematical theory with very specific assumptions about how people make choices: it assumes that respondents evaluate all possible pairs of items within the displayed set and choose the pair that reflects the max ...
and
Conjoint {{Unreferenced, date=December 2009 The conjoint was a basic medical qualification in the United Kingdom administered by the United Examining Board. It is now no longer awarded. The Conjoint Board was superseded in 1994 by the United Examining Board ...
to help collect actionable data


Multi-item scales

Within
social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...
research and practice, questionnaires are most frequently used to collect
quantitative Quantitative may refer to: * Quantitative research, scientific investigation of quantitative properties * Quantitative analysis (disambiguation) * Quantitative verse, a metrical system in poetry * Statistics, also known as quantitative analysis ...
data using multi-item
scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...
with the following characteristics: * Multiple statements or questions (minimum ≥3; usually ≥5) are presented for each
variable Variable may refer to: * Variable (computer science), a symbolic name associated with a value and whose associated value may be changed * Variable (mathematics), a symbol that represents a quantity in a mathematical expression, as used in many ...
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 :''Concerning rating scales as systems of educational marks, see articles about education in different countries (named "Education in ..."), for example, Education in Ukraine.'' :''Concerning rating scales used in the practice of medicine, see arti ...
. One very frequently-used rating scale is a
Likert scale A Likert scale ( , commonly mispronounced as ) is a psychometric scale commonly involved in research that employs questionnaires. It is the most widely used approach to scaling responses in survey research, such that the term (or more fully the ...
. * 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 Psychometrics is a field of study within psychology concerned with the theory and technique of measurement. Psychometrics generally refers to specialized fields within psychology and education devoted to testing, measurement, assessment, and ...
scale. * The following types of reliability and validity should be established for a multi-item scale: internal reliability,
test-retest reliability Repeatability or test–retest reliability is the closeness of the agreement between the results of successive measurements of the same measure, when carried out under the same conditions of measurement. In other words, the measurements are taken ...
(if the variable is expected to be stable over time),
content validity In psychometrics, content validity (also known as logical validity) refers to the extent to which a measure represents all facets of a given construct. For example, a depression scale may lack content validity if it only assesses the affective dim ...
,
construct validity Construct validity concerns how well a set of indicators represent or reflect a concept that is not directly measurable. ''Construct validation'' is the accumulation of evidence to support the interpretation of what a measure reflects.Polit DF Beck ...
, and
criterion validity In psychometrics, criterion validity, or criterion-related validity, is the extent to which an operationalization of a construct, such as a test, relates to, or predicts, a theoretical representation of the construct—the criterion. Criterion valid ...
. *
Factor analysis Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved variables called factors. For example, it is possible that variations in six observed ...
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: * 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.


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. 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. 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. 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.Moser, Claus Adolf, and Graham Kalton. "Survey methods in social investigation." Survey methods in social investigation. 2nd Edition (1971).


See also

*
Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Individual states can add their own questions to the survey instrument, which consists of a core set of questions on certain topics like car safety, obesity, or exercise. States get funding from the federal government to administer these que ...
*
Computer-assisted personal interviewing Computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) is an interviewing technique in which the respondent or interviewer uses an electronic device to answer the questions. It is similar to computer-assisted telephone interviewing, except that the inter ...
* Enterprise Feedback Management *
Quantitative marketing research Quantitative marketing research is the application of quantitative research techniques to the field of marketing research. It has roots in both the positivist view of the world, and the modern marketing viewpoint that marketing is an interactive ...
*
Questionnaire construction Questionnaire construction refers to the design of a questionnaire to gather statistically useful information about a given topic. When properly constructed and responsibly administered, questionnaires can provide valuable data about any given subj ...
*
Statistical survey Survey methodology is "the study of survey methods". As a field of applied statistics concentrating on human-research surveys, survey methodology studies the sampling of individual units from a population and associated techniques of survey da ...
* Structured interviewing *
Web-based experiments A web-based experiment or Internet-based experiment is an experiment that is conducted over the Internet. In such experiments, the Internet is either "a ''medium'' through which to target larger and more diverse samples with reduced administrative ...
* Position analysis questionnaire * Abnormal construction


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. * * 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


Harmonised questions
from the UK
Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for th ...
* Hints for designing effective questionnaires - from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation {{Authority control Questionnaire construction Types of polling