Collect Your Data Through a Questionnaire or a Survey
So you have decided that you are going to do some research, and you’re going to collect your data through a questionnaire or a survey, it’s the same thing. What do you need to know?
I Have Worked as a University Lecturer
I have worked as a university lecturer for many years. I’ve marked many, many research projects and dissertations.
What Do We Need to Know When We Design Our Questionnaire
What do we need to know when we design our questionnaire? Knowing how to design a questionnaire or a survey is an important skill for beginner researchers and advanced researchers as well.
A Questionnaire Is an Instrument
A questionnaire is basically a series of written questions in a fixed rational order. And A questionnaire is an instrument really that is used to collect answers to questions and to collect factual data. Questionnaires are often used in research projects and dissertations, as well as marketing.
How Will It Be Administered
So the first question that should come up in your mind when designing the questionnaire is how it will be delivered. There are various methods through which one can deliver his/her questionnaire and you have to determine the most suitable one for your project.
The Two Main Methods
These include self-administered questionnaires, which means that the respondent is the one filling out the questionnaire themselves, and instigator/questionnaire administered by the interviewer. There are advantages and disadvantages of using any of the two types of questionnaire; hence, you need to choose the best among the two for your study.
Advantages of Self-Administered Questionnaire
The advantages of self-administered questionnaires are: They are cheap and easy to administer, it allows for answers to be anonymous, questionnaires can be completed at the respondent’s convenience, and there’s no influence by the interviewer. However, there are also disadvantages.
Having a Low Response Rate
These include having a low response rate because not everybody will complete it, the questions could be misunderstood, participation by illiterate people or people with language barriers is difficult. Likewise, there are pros and cons to using questionnaires that are completed by you, the interviewer.
Participation by Illiterate People Is a Lot Easier
Benefits include, participation by illiterate people is a lot easier because you’re completing it for them, the interviewees or the respondents can ask for clarification if they are unsure about what the questions mean, you can collect answers really quickly, and the response rate is likely to be higher.
There Could Be Some Interviewer Bias
However, there are limitations too, and these include that there could be some interviewer bias, it does require a lot of time and effort when you’re completing them all yourself, and it can be difficult if you have any sensitive issues that you’re addressing.
You Need to Decide How Will You Design It
Okay, so once you’ve decided whether you will complete the questionnaire or they will complete the questionnaire, you need to decide how you will design it. I suggest that you start off by asking yourself these questions. What are the goals of the questionnaire? In other words, what do you hope to accomplish?
What Format Would You Like to Use
What format would you like to use and why? Do you want to use paper? Are you going to conduct your research through the Internet or by phone? Which questions should you ask to get the necessary information? What would be the most appropriate answers to your questions? How will you structure your questionnaire? What will the layout be like?
Test This Questionnaire on a Few People
Once you have a draft, I strongly recommend that you test this questionnaire on a few people. This way, you can check that people understand the questions and that it’s clear for them. And then, if there are any issues, you correct these before you conduct your final research.
Make Sure That Your Questions Are Relevant
So some of the most important things that you want to make sure, and these are actually mistakes that you’ve seen a lot when I have March students work, you want to make sure that your questions are relevant. I’ve seen so many students who design questionnaires and they ask people, what is your age, but throughout the whole project there’s nothing about age.
Do You Need to Know Their Age
They don’t talk about people’s age, or maybe they do, maybe they tell me this is how old people are, but it’s got no relevance. So think about your questions. Do you need to know their age? No, but then again, don’t ask them, since it doesn’t necessarily have to be there. Consider your questions before you pose them.
Have the Information That They Need
Also think about whether the people who are completing your questionnaire have the information that they need. So for example, um, if you’re asking them about what grades you got when you sat your exams when you were age 16, and you’re asking people who are older, they might not remember that information.
Do Respondents Understand What Are You Asking
So have a think about what questions you’re asking, whether they’re going to know the answers in their head, or whether they might need some resources or need to check something in order to be able to complete your questionnaire. And think about, do respondents understand and can they interpret what you are asking?
That’s Where Your Test Comes In
And that’s where your test comes in, and that’s so important, and most people do not do a test. They just hand out their surveys, and the problem is if you have questions that people don’t fully understand, their answers are not going to be accurate.
For Other People It Doesn’t
They might answer incorrectly, they might answer in a way that is not actually what they would answer if they could understand the question. So it can be difficult because sometimes you write something down and in your head it absolutely makes sense, but maybe for other people it doesn’t.
People Who Do Not Have English as a First Language
And this is especially the case if you have people who do not have English as a first language, because sometimes they might not understand certain phrases or certain terminology. This is also especially the case if you are using jargon, specific terminology.
Let’s Say Aviation
So if you are studying something specific, let’s say aviation, because I’ve taught lots of aviation students in my time, and in aviation there are so many acronyms, abbreviations, terminology that unless you work in aviation you probably don’t know.
Take a Step Back
So you need to take a step back from whatever it is that you are studying and think about, okay, if I’m asking people who are not doing my course, who don’t have the knowledge I have, will they understand this?
Open-Ended Questions and Closed Questions
Okay, so the next thing you want to think about is what types of questions you will have, and there are two main types of questions. These are open-ended questions and closed questions. Now, there are pros and cons to both, and you want to have a think about what you think is most appropriate for your research.
Questions That Do Not Have a Fixed Response
So open-ended questions are questions that do not have a fixed response, i.e., the person is free to answer as they wish. An example of an open-ended question could be, what do you look for most in a job, or, is there anything else you would like to add about the product.
Open-Ended Questions Can Be Really Good
Open-ended questions can be really good because they have a wide range of responses and information that can be obtained. Answers are based on the respondent and not the researcher’s frame of reference, so they’re more reliable.
Too Many Possible Responses to Be Listed
Often there is a lack of influence, and the researcher can help to interpret closed end questions. For example, you might have a question that says why. This is useful when there are too many possible responses to be listed, or maybe they’re unknown.
It Does Take a Bit More Effort
However, there are disadvantages too. This includes the ability and/or willingness of the respondent to answer. Writing such a lengthy response requires extra work as compared to simply ticking a box. Responding to questions can become difficult for the researcher as far as giving quick responses and summaries are concerned. The entire process is also very time consuming.
Long Open-Ended Answers Can Be Difficult to Analyze and Code
You’ve got to go through, read the answers, and work out how you analyze this. Long open-ended answers can be difficult to analyze and code. Open-ended questions also require respondents to be able to read and write appropriately, and respondents may miss important things.
Closed Questions Do Have Fixed Responses
On the other hand, closed questions are questions that do have fixed responses. An example could be, what do you look for most in a job, and there are set responses to choose from. Now, of course, there are pros and cons to choosing closed questions too.
Some of the Benefits
Some of the benefits include, they are easy to understand, closed questions often require less effort when completing the questionnaire, it’s easier, it’s easier to analyze too and put into tables and graphs when you’ve collected all your data, there’s less interviewer bias because there’s less to interpret, and it can be less time consuming.
The Answers Are Directly Comparable
Furthermore, the answers are directly comparable from respondent to respondent. Disadvantages of this approach include that there are fewer chances for self-expression or making longer answers and sometimes the pre-formulated answers may not be relevant for what the respondent wants to say.
Scaled Questions
And there is one other type of question that I would like to mention, and these are scaled questions. Scaled questions can be really useful, and these are quite simple when we have a scale. And Scaled questions can be good because they are easy to code. And you can use statistical tools to get some high quality quantitative data collection and analysis.
Scaled Questions Can Take Lots of Different Forms
The main problem that researchers tend to encounter with scaled questions is that respondents don’t always fully understand how to answer the question. Now, scaled questions can take lots of different forms.
How Satisfied Are You
You could have a how satisfied are you type of question, and you could have very satisfied. Quite satisfied, satisfied, not very satisfied, very dissatisfied, for example. Or you could say, on a scale of one to ten, how much do you agree with this statement. 10 is very much agree, one doesn’t agree.
Usually People Will Use a Likert Scale
There are lots of different examples, and usually people will use a Likert scale for this. There are plenty of options to do this in, but the crucial factor is to ensure that it is clearly done and people get the message.
Putting All of This Together
Well, we have figured out the mode for our questionnaire. We have chosen the types of questions that we will be asking. Now comes the part where we figure out how to put all of this together.
Try To Get as Many Correct Responses as Possible
The main thing about making a questionnaire for you is that you will be able to get as many correct responses as possible. In other words, you may want to make the questionnaire so simple to understand for those who will be answering it.
One Question at a Time
My suggestion is that you ask only one question at a time. There is no need to combine several questions as it will make things complicated for you. Try to be precise, specific, appropriate, objective and simple while writing your questions. You should begin with a qualifying question.
Are You a Student
So let’s say my study is about students, I only want to hear from students, so I need a qualifying question to say, are you a student? And if you’re not, thanks for offering, doubt but I don’t need your input, and you don’t complete the questionnaire.
Have You Been to the Maldives
Perhaps I am doing a study about people who have traveled to the Maldives. My qualifying question would be, have you been to the Maldives? Yes, please continue. No, thanks, but no thanks. Towards the beginning of your questionnaire, you will probably also want something about informed consent.
It Is Really Important That You Do Get Consent
Now, it is really important that you do get consent, that the person who you are asking to complete your questionnaire has agreed to do so. Now, I know that seems a bit obvious, especially if they have filled out and taken the boxes etc. themselves, but oftentimes your university or your college will actually require this.
A Really Short Statement
So I recommend that at the top of your survey you just have a really short statement to say what, what this research is, why you’re doing it, and are you happy to take part, and usually they will take a box or sign their name or something like that.
Your Opening Questions
You also want to think about your opening questions. We don’t want to scare people off, so you probably want to start with something that’s fairly simple, fairly easy to understand, and then as you go through your survey or your questionnaire, you want it to flow logically.
Some Kind of Logical Order
So try to have some kind of logical order. So if you are asking people about a specific thing and you have a few questions in that area, maybe put them together instead of splitting them up throughout the survey. Hopefully that makes some sense without giving a specific example.
Think About Your Layout
And then you will also want to think about your layout. You don’t want to squash it too close together. You don’t want your font to be too small that it’s hard to understand and hard to read.
If It’s an Online Survey
If it is an online survey, you will probably have a specific layout, so if you’re using Google Forms or Survey Monkey, or any other website like that, you should consider visiting those websites first before you dive right into designing the survey to see if you approve of their layout and all that jazz.
Make Sure It’s Clear and Simple
But just think about how much you put on one page. How it lay, you know, how it looks, and just make sure it’s clear and simple. You might want to use colors, you might want to use bold. You might want to put boxes, things like this.
Your Research Methodology Chapter
And then once you have all of this, you are good to go, and you need to write it up. Why you’ve designed it in the way that you have, in your research methodology chapter.
