questionnaire construction

• open questions


  allows respondents to give their own answers without limitations, generates qualitative data.
• open question

  evaluation

  strengths: respondents can elaborate and give more detailed information.

  limitations: may go off topic with info that is not relevant.

  can be more time consuming.

  harder to analyse than quantitative data.
• closed questions: standard

  allows respondents to select a response that is limited, generates quantitative data.
• closed questions- standard type example

  e.g. yes or no

  male, female, other

  _____ years
• closed questions: standard

  evaluation

  strengths: easy to analyse and compare since all data is numerical.

  allows collection of precise/relevant data.

  limitations: lacks richness, people can't elaborate and give full details about thoughts and feelings.
• closed questions:rating scales


  rating scales - limited responses which are in quantitative format giving quantitative data.
• closed questions- rating scales example

  How often have you felt tearful in the past few weeks?

  0-never

  1-rarely

  2-sometimes

  3-often
• closed questions: rating scales

  evaluation

  strengths: more informative than standard.

  more valid.

  easy to analyse and compare.

  limitation: forced choice.

  none may fit how you feel.

  scale is subjective.
• closed questions:likert rating scales


  likert rating scales - limited responses in a quantitative format giving quantitative data. they use bipolar scale and participants respond to a given statement
• closed questions: likert rating scale example

  I find it hard to ignore distractions.

  1-strongly agree

  2-agree

  3-not sure

  4-disagree

  5-strongly agree
• closed questions: likert rating scales

  evaluation

  strengths: includes not sure so no forced choice.

  can break down strength of an opinion.

  limitation: subjective
• Designing interviews and questionnaires


  How the researcher constructs the study.
• Designing interviews and questionnaires - avoiding complex terminology


  Participants may not understand the terms used and if feeling to embarrassed to ask for an explanation, or unable to in a questionnaire they may guess the meaning resulting in inaccurate responses.
• Designing interviews and questionnaires - rewording questions


  Using a skilled interviewer means questions that participants don't understand can be reworded, this should be in a way that doesn't change the questions meaning so responses can be compared to other participants.
• Designing interviews and questionnaires - leading questions


  These bias the responses in one direction. To avoid this questions should be written in a way that doesn't suggest a 'correct way' of responding.
• Designing interviews and questionnaires - piloting questions


  Running a small scale version of the interview or questionnaire can identify questions that are confusing, give away the aim or don't produce a useful/detailed response. These can then be changed before the larger-scale study.