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How To Design A Questionnaire PDF
How To Design A Questionnaire PDF
Objectives in designing
questionnaires
There are two main objectives in design-
ing a questionnaire:
● To maximise the proportion of subjects
answering our questionnaire—that is,
the response rate.
● To obtain accurate relevant informa- dependent factors include the students’ be a tendency for some to tick either
tion for our survey. level of relevant knowledge, skills, and “agree” or “disagree” to all the questions.
To maximise our response rate, we have attitudes. The independent factors might Additional contradictory statements may
to consider carefully how we administer include students’ learning styles, GCSE be used to detect such tendencies.
the questionnaire, establish rapport, and A level grades, socioeconomic status,
explain the purpose of the survey, and ethnicity, etc. Confounding variables Wording of individual questions
remind those who have not responded. might include the types and quality of The way questions are phrased is impor-
The length of the questionnaire should be teaching in each medical school. tant and there are some general rules for
appropriate. In order to obtain accurate Sometimes, additional questions are constructing good questions in a ques-
relevant information, we have to give some used to detect the consistency of the sub- tionnaire.
thought to what questions we ask, how we ject’s responses. For example, there may
ask them, the order we ask them in, and the Use short and simple sentences
general layout of the questionnaire. Box 1: Advantages of open or closed Short, simple sentences are generally less
format confusing and ambiguous than long,
Deciding what to ask complex ones. As a rule of thumb, most
As discussed in last month’s issue, there Open format sentences should contain one or two
are three potential types of information: l Allows exploration of the range of possi- clauses. Sentences with more than three
● Information we are primarily interested ble themes arising from an issue clauses should be rephrased.
in—that is, dependent variables. l Can be used even if a comprehensive
● Information which might explain the range of alternative choices cannot be Ask for only one piece of information at
dependent variables—that is, independ- compiled a time
ent variables. Closed—that is, forced choice—format For example, “Please rate the lecture in
● Other factors related to both depend- terms of its content and presentation”
l Easy and quick to fill in
ent and independent factors which may asks for two pieces of information at the
distort the results and have to be l Minimise discrimination against the less same time. It should be divided into two
adjusted for—that is, confounding vari- literate (in self administered question- parts: “Please rate the lecture in terms of
ables. naire) or the less articulate (in interview (a) its content, (b) its presentation.”
Let us take as an example a national questionnaire)
survey to find out students’ factors pre- l Easy to code, record, and analyse results Avoid negatives if possible
dicting the level of certain knowledge, quantitatively Negatives should be used only sparingly.
skills, and attitudes at the end of their l Easy to report results For example, instead of asking students
undergraduate medical course. The whether they agree with the statement,
“Small group teaching should not be approach: “Please tick one or more of the Minimise bias
abolished,” the statement should be following items which correspond to how People tend to answer questions in a way
rephrased as, “Small group teaching you have answered degree examination they perceive to be socially desired or
should continue.” Double negatives questions in the past.” In the list of items, expected by the questioner and they
should always be avoided. include “copy from other students” as often look for clues in the questions.
one of many items. Thirdly, the everybody Many apparently neutral questions can
Ask precise questions approach: “As we all know, most medical potentially lead to bias. For example, in
Questions may be ambiguous because a students have copied other students’ the question, “Within the past month,
word or term may have a different mean- answers in degree exams. Do you happen how many lectures have you missed due
ing. For example, if we ask students to to be one of them?” Fourthly, other people to your evening job?” students may per-
rate their interest in “medicine,” this term approach. This approach was used in the ceive the desired responses to be “never”
might mean “general medicine” (as recent medical student survey.3 In this to the first question. This question could
opposed to general surgery) to some, but survey, students were given the scenario, be rephrased as, “Within the past month,
inclusive of all clinical specialties (as “John copies answers in a degree exam how many times did your evening job
opposed to professions outside medicine) from Jean.” They were then asked, “Do commitment clash with lectures? How
to others. you feel John is wrong, what penalty many times did you give priority to your
Another source of ambiguity is a fail- should be imposed for John, and have evening job?”
ure to specify a frame of reference. For you done or would you consider doing Take another example. The question,
example, in the question, “How often did the above?” “Please rate how useful the following text-
you borrow books from your library?” the
time reference is missing. It might be Box 2: Types of closed (forced choice) format
rephrased as, “How many books have you
borrowed from the library within the past Choice of categories
six months altogether?” For example, “What is your marital status?”
[ ] Single
[ ] Married
Ensure those you ask have the [ ] Divorced
necessary knowledge [ ] Widowed
For example, in a survey of university lec-
turers on recent changes in higher edu-
Likert style scale
cation, the question, “Do you agree with
For example, “Statistics is an interesting subject”
the recommendations in the Dearing
report on higher education?” is unsatis- Strongly disagree Disagree Cannot decide Agree Strongly agree
factory for several reasons. Not only does
it ask for several pieces of information at
Differential scales
the same time as there are several recom- For example, “How would you rate the presentation?”
mendations in the report, the question
also assumes that all lecturers know about Extremely interesting 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Extremely dull
the relevant recommendations.
It may also be diagrammatic:
Level of details
It is important to ask for the exact level of Extremely interesting Extremely dull
details required. On the one hand, you
might not be able to fulfil the purposes of
the survey if you omit to ask essential Checklists
details. On the other hand, it is important For example, “Circle the clinical specialties you are particularly interested in”
to avoid unnecessary details. People are
less inclined to complete long question- General medicine Obstetrics and gynaecology
naires. This is particularly important for
confidential sensitive information, such General surgery Orthopaedics
as personal financial matters or marital
Ophthalmology Accident and emergency
relationship issues.
Paediatrics General practice
Sensitive issues
It is often difficult to obtain truthful
Ranking
answers to sensitive questions. Clearly,
For example, “Please rank your interests in the following specialties”
the question, “Have you ever copied (1= most interesting, 8=least interesting)
other students’ answers in a degree
exam?” is likely to produce either no General medicine Obstetrics and gynaecology
response or negative responses. Less
direct approaches have been suggested.2 General surgery Orthopaedics
Firstly, the casual approach: “By the way,
do you happen to have copied other stu- Ophthalmology Accident and emergency
dents’ answers in a degree exam?” may be
used as a last part of another decoy ques- Paediatrics General practice
tion. Secondly, the numbered card