u 501 questionnaire design 280409

7/31/2019 u 501 Questionnaire Design 280409

1/25

Introduction to QuestionnaireDesign

Dr Christine ThomasDr Rachel Slater U501 Workshop, 28 th April 2009


2/25

Workshop objectives By the end of this session you will be able to:

Understand why questionnaires are used and when touse them Understand the process of constructing a

questionnaire

Acknowledge the key features of good questiondesign


3/25

Questionnaire design in thecontext of the survey process Research aim and research questions Identify the population and sample Decide how to collect replies Design your questionnaire

Run a pilot survey Carry out main survey Analyse the data Report findings and dissemination


4/25


5/25

Questionnaire design in thecontext of the survey process Research aim and research questions Identify the population and sample Decide how to collect replies

Design your questionnaire Run a pilot survey Carry out main survey

Analyse the data

Write up findings and dissemination


6/25

What is a questionnaire A research tool for data collection

Its function is measurement (Oppenheim, 1992) The term questionnaire used in different ways: often refers to self-administered and postal

questionnaires (mail surveys)

some authors also use the term to describe interviewschedules (telephone or face-to-face)


7/25

Why would you use a

questionnaire?


8/25

Why use a questionnaire? Target large amount of people

Use to describe, compare or explain Can cover activities and behaviour, knowledge,attitudes, preferences

Specific objectives, standardised and highly structured

questions Used to collect quantitative data information that can

be counted or measured


9/25

Strengths

andlimitations


10/25

Strengths Can target large number of people Reach respondents in widely dispersed locations

Can be relatively low cost in time and money Relatively easy to get information from people quickly Standardised questions Analysis can be straight-forward and responses pre-coded Low pressure for respondents Lack of interviewer bias

(possibility of ghost interviewer effect)


11/25

Limitations Low response rate and consequent bias and confidence

in results Unsuitable for some people

e.g. poor literacy, visually impaired, young children Question wording can have major effect on answers

Misunderstandings cannot be corrected


12/25

Limitations No opportunities to probe and develop answers No control over the context and order questions are

answered No check on incomplete responses Seeks information only by asking, can we trust what

people say? e.g. issues with over-reporting


13/25

Maximising the response rate

If you were sending out a questionnaire,what would you do to maximise theresponse rate?

In groups of 3 or 4, 5 minutes


14/25

Techniques for minimising non-response Good design

Thoughtful layout, easy to follow, simple questions,appearance, length, degree of interest andimportance, thank people for taking part

Pre-notification Explanation of selection Sponsorship, e.g. letter of introduction / recommendation Cover letter


15/25

Techniques for minimising non-response

Incentives Small future incentives, e.g. prize draw Understanding why their input is important

Reminders Confidentiality Anonymity Pre-paid return envelopes


16/25

Clear specification


17/25

Political questionnaire exerciseIn groups of 3 or 4, spend 15 minutes

What research question(s) do you think thequestionnaire is trying to answer?

What are you reactions to: The question wording and structure?

The answer options? Which are open questions and which are closed

questions? How could the questions be improved?


18/25

Question wording things to avoid Abbreviations Alternative meanings (tea, cool, dinner) Ambiguity and vague wording (fairly, generally, you the

respondent, household, family?) Doubled barrelled do you speak English or French?

Double negatives Inappropriate categories


19/25

Question wording things to avoid Leading questions Memory issues Social desirability Question complexity


20/25

Question wording other thingsto think about

Missing categories include other, dont know andnot applicable Sensitive questions Simple language not technical or slang

Question ordering Open or closed questions?

Closed question choice of alternative replies Open question written text (or spoken answers)


21/25

Open and closed questions(from Oppenheim, 1992)Strength LimitationOPEN Freedom & spontaneity of

answer Time-consuming

Opportunity to probe Coding more problematic

Useful for testing hypothesisabout ideas or awareness

More effort from respondents

CLOSED Requires little time Loss of spontaneous responses

No extended writing Bias in answer categories

Low costs Sometimes too crude

Easy to process May irritate respondents

Make group comparisonseasy

Useful for testing specifichypothesis


22/25

Hypotheses and variables

A hypothesis is a proposition to be tested or a tentativestatement of a relationship between two variables(Neumann, 2000)

a tentative answer to a research question Attendance at research training workshop

(independent variable) influences students probationmarks (dependant variable)

Directional (one-tailed) and non-directional (two-tailed) The dependant variable alters as a consequence of the

independent variable its value is dependant on this


23/25

Create a questionnairework in groups of 3 or 4

Research Question Why do people recycle?

Develop 10 hypotheses (take no more than 10 minutes)and state the independent and dependant variables, e.g. Recycling behaviour (dep var) is affected by age (indep var) People with higher incomes (indep var) recycle more (dep var)

Using the hypotheses you have devised, write questionsfor a questionnaire. You should normally have morethan one question for each hypothesis (20 minutes)

Feedback (10 minutes)


24/25

Readings

Oppenheim, A.N. (1992) Questionnaire Design, Interviewing and Attitude Measurement. Pinter Publishers, London.

Moser, C. and Kalton, G. (2001) Survey Methods in SocialInvestigation. Ashgate, Aldershot.

Foddy, W. (1994) Constructing Questions for Interviews andQuestionnaires. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

De Vaus, D.A. (1990) Surveys in Social Research. Allen andUnwin, London.

Hoinville, G and Jowell, R. (1982) Survey Research Practice.Heinemann, London.

Fink, A. (Ed.)(1995) The Survey Kit. Sage, London. Fowler, Floyd J. (2002) Survey Research Methods. Sage, London


25/25

Other resources Doing Political Research DVD (OU) ESRC offer courses in questionnaire design (and

statistical analysis) through CASS (Courses in AppliedSocial Surveys). See:http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/research/resources/CASS.aspx http://www.s3ri.soton.ac.uk/cass/programme.php

The Open universitys OpenLearn survey research http://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4197&topic=all

AACS (OU) run SPSS training courses
http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/research/resources/CASS.aspxhttp://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/research/resources/CASS.aspxhttp://www.s3ri.soton.ac.uk/cass/programme.phphttp://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4197&topic=allhttp://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4197&topic=allhttp://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4197&topic=allhttp://labspace.open.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4197&topic=allhttp://www.s3ri.soton.ac.uk/cass/programme.phphttp://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/research/resources/CASS.aspxhttp://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/research/resources/CASS.aspx

u 501 questionnaire design 280409

Documents