Self report design

• Questionnaires and interviews should aim to be systematic and objective.
• The way questions are designed is important as it can largely impact the type, variety and validity of the responses that you get

  • For example, we might consider the following things:

  1. Being mindful of when it is appropriate to ask open or closed questions
  2. Avoiding any leading questions
  3. Ensuring questions are clear and easy to understand
  4. Considering the sequence of questions
  5. Being aware of body language and listening skills in interviews
  6. Considering the best place to carry out interviews
• Rating scales: a five (or seven) point scale that asks respondents to identify a value that represents their strength of feeling about a particular topic

  e.g. How entertaining do you find Zombie films?
• Likert scales: a five (or seven) point scale which is used to allow the individual to express how much they agree or disagree with a particular statement.

  e.g. Zombie films can have an educational value
• Fixed choice options: includes a list of possible options and respondents are required to tick those that apply to them.

  e.g. For what reasons do you watch Zombie films? (insert multiple options below)
• When writing questions there are 3 guiding principles:

  1. Clarity
  2. Bias
  3. Analysis
• In addition to clarity, bias and analysis being taken into account, a good questionnaire will also consider other things:

  1. Filler questions
  2. Sequence for the questions
  3. Sampling techniques
  4. Pilot study
• Clarity: should be written so respondent understands what they are being asked

  • No ambiguity
  • Avoid double-barrelled questions and double negatives
  • Avoid jargon
• Bias: questions that might lead respondents to be more likely to give a particular answer.

  • No leading questions
  • Social desirability could be a problem here
• Analysis: written so that answers are easy to analyse

  • Closed questions
• Filler questions: irrelevant questions to distract from main purpose of survey – this could reduce demand characteristics
• Sequence for the questions: starting with easier questions and saving harder one until later
• Sampling techniques: considering the way respondents are selected
• Pilot study: testing questions on small group so that they can be refined
• Designing a questionnaire:

  1. Know the exact aim of the study
  2. Short and to the point
  3. Do a pilot study
  4. Incentives
  5. Appearance of the questionnaire
  6. Ordering of the questions... simple questions first (age, gender)
  7. Measurement scales (strongly agree - strongly disagree)
• Designing interviews

  • Most interviews will have:

  1. An interview schedule that outlines a list of questions that the interviewer intends to cover
  2. This should be standardised to reduce interviewer bias
  3. Notes tend to be taken OR it may be recorded and analysed later
• Interviews tend to involve single participants (although group interviews are sometimes appropriate). In the case of one-to-one interviews the interview should:

  1. Be in a quiet room away from other people
  2. Begin with neutral questions to make interviewee feel relaxed and built rapport
  3. Interviewees should be reminded answers will be treated in confidence
  4. Interviewees should be reminded about other ethical issues