Chapter 6

Questionnaire Design

Questionnaire method; Types of Questionnaires; Process of

Questionnaire Designing; Advantages and Disadvantages of
Questionnaire Method
Data Collection Instruments

Projective Techniques
 Methods
Questionnaire and Schedule –
● With the help of this type of method, data is
collected by getting questionnaires completed
by the various respondents.
● This method of questionnaire and schedule is
generally employed in order to collect the
primary data in a very systematic manner.
● questionnaire can be defined as a schedule
having a number of coherent questions related
to the topic which is being studied.
 Methods
● A questionnaire acts as a formulated series of
the questions and helps in the collection of the
information directly by the investigator himself.
● A schedule can be defined as the collection of
the details in a tabulated form and can be
sometimes identical to the questionnaire.
● You can do a survey/research using using
questionnaire. Or schedule.
 Questionnare vs schedule
● Sent by mail etc, no further
assistance from sender
● Cheap and economical
● Non response high
● Slower response
● Personal contact not possible
● Literate and cooperative
respondents
● Wider and more representative
sample distribution
● Risk of incomplete information
● Stress on quality of
questionnare
● Questionrre must be framed
properly and attractively
● Filled by researcher
● Money spent to meet people
● Non response very low, danger
of interview bias
● Good response as filled by
researcher
● Personal contact possible
● Illiterate also
● Difficulty in sending over wide
area
● Can get complete perspective
● Depends on honesty of
researcher
● Dependens on competence of
researcher and enumerator
 Types of Questionnaire
● 1. Structured questionnaire –
● • Consists of definite, concrete and pre ordinate
questions.
● • Has some additional questions as well, limited to those
necessary for the classification of the inadequate answers.
● • Is segmented in nature.
● • Provides information under given titles and the sub
titles.
● • Helps in getting accurate response and apt information.
● • Saves time and also the energy.
 Types of Questionnaire
2. Non Structured questionnaire –
● • Is very simple in nature.
● • Is non segmented.
● • Has no sub division.
● • Can be used for very simple types of studies.
 Types of Questionnaire
3. Codified questionnaire –
• Expected answers are given in the code numbers.
• Very easy for carrying out the processing.
• Very suitable and also very convenient for the informant.
.
 Types of Questionnaire
● 4. Un Codified questionnaire –
● • Very simple in nature.
● • Consist of no codification.
● • Codification may be sometimes made at the
time of compilation but only if it is necessary.
 LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT
● A level of measurement is the precision by
which a variable is measured.

● Nominal
● Ordinal
● Interval
● Ratio
 Nominal
● The nominal level of measurement describes
variables that are categorical in nature.
● The characteristics of the data you're collecting fall
into distinct categories.
● If there are a limited number of distinct categories
(usually only two), then you're dealing with a discrete
variable.
● If there are an unlimited or infinite number of distinct
categories, then you're dealing with a continuous
variable.
● Nominal variables include demographic
characteristics like sex, race, and religion.
● Examples: MEAL PREFERENCE:
●
All of these scales are mutually exclusive (no overlap)
and none of them have any numerical significance.
 Ordinal
● The ordinal level of measurement describes
variables that can be ordered or ranked in
some order of importance.
● It describes most judgments about things, such
as big or little, strong or weak.
● Most opinion and attitude scales or indexes in
the social sciences are ordinal in nature.
● Examples:
● RANK: 1st place, 2nd place, ... last place
● Ranking an experience as a "nine" on a scale
of 1 to 10 tells us that it was higher than an
experience ranked as a "six."
 Interval
● The interval level of measurement describes
variables that have more or less equal intervals,
or meaningful distances between their ranks.
● An example of an interval scale is temperature,
either measured on a Fahrenheit or Celsius
scale.
 Ratio
● The ratio level of measurement describes variables that have
equal intervals and a fixed zero (or reference) point.
● Ex – weight, length, time
● Not used for management
● It is possible to have zero income, zero education, and no
involvement in crime, but rarely do we see ratio level variables
in social science since it's almost impossible to have zero
attitudes on things, although "not at all", "often", and "twice as
often" might qualify as ratio level measurement.
 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY
● Reliability is the degree to which an assessment tool
produces stable and consistent results.
● Reliability means that the findings would be consistently
the same if the study were done over again.
● Validity refers to the truthfulness of findings; if you really
measured what you think you measured, or more
precisely, what others think you measured.
● Again, think of a typical multiple choice exam in college;
does it really measure proficiency over the subject matter,
or is it really measuring IQ, age, test-taking skill, or study
habits?
● A study can be reliable but not valid, and it cannot be valid
without first being reliable.
 Methods to measure reliability
● There are four good methods of measuring
reliability:
● test-retest
● multiple forms
● inter-rater
● split-half
 Methods
● Test-retest technique is to administer your test, instrument,
survey, or measure to the same group of people at different
points in time.
● Multiple forms technique it's simply the scrambling or mixing
up of questions on your survey
● Inter-rater reliability is most appropriate when you use
assistants to do interviewing or content analysis for you.
● Split-half reliability is estimated by taking half of your test,
instrument, or survey, and analyzing that half as if it were the
whole thing.
 METHODS OF MEASURING VALIDITY

● Validity refers to how well a test measures what it is

purported to measure.
● Face validity a "take my word for it" kind of validity.
Eg face value -brand ambassadors
● Content validity If the researcher has focused in too closely
on only one type or narrow dimension of a construct or concept,
then it's conceivable that other indicators were overlooked
● eg- Content validity is concerned with a test’s ability to include
or represent all of the content of a particular construct. The
question “1 + 1 = ___” may be a valid basic addition question.
Does content of question justify the student is good in Maths?
 METHODS OF MEASURING VALIDITY
● Criterion validity is using some standard or benchmark that is
known to be a good indicator.
● eg-is used to predict future or current performance - it
correlates test results with another criterion of interest.
( CAT scores and semester results)
● Construct validity Construct validity defines how well a test
or experiment measures up to its claims.
● Predictive Validity. In order for a test to be a valid
screening device for some future behavior, it must have
predictive validity.
● eg- The SAT is used by college screening committees as
one way to predict college grades. The GMAT is used to
predict success in business school.
 How to make Google Docs
Questionnaire
How to Build an Online Survey with Google Docs - Creating your survey

Go to DRIVE.
Once you have clearly formulated your questions and some possible choices for your users, it’s time
to log in to Google Docs using your account. In the Google Docs dashboard, find “New”and then click
the drop down arrow. You should see “Form.”
After clicking on it, this is an example of what you should see:
When you click on this button, Google docs will show different themes or background for your survey.
[FIELD: Untitled Form] -> Fill this field with the title of your form.
+Add Item -> Add your question and select your question type
 Check Responses

Go to Responses
Summary of Responses

Can also change theme

Questions- Multiple choice

or checkboxes
● Question: Which one of the following do you think increases a
person’s chance of having a heart attack the most? (Check one.)
● [ ] Smoking [ ] Being overweight [ ] Stress
● Principle: Encourage the respondent to consider each possible
response to avoid the uncertainty of whether a missing item may
represent either an answer that does not apply or an overlooked item.
● Solution: Which of the following increases the chance of having a
heart attack?
● Smoking: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
● Being overweight: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
● Stress: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
● Question: Have you had pain in the last week?
● [ ] Never [ ] Seldom [ ] Often [ ] Very often
● Principle: Make sure question and answer options match.
● Solution: Reword either question or answer to match.
● How often have you had pain in the last week?
● [ ] Never [ ] Seldom [ ] Often [ ] Very Often

● Question: Are you against drug abuse? (Circle: Yes or No)

● Principle: Write questions that will produce variability in the
responses.
● Solution: Eliminate the question.
● Question: Which one of the following do you think increases a
person’s chance of having a heart attack the most? (Check
one.)
● [ ] Smoking [ ] Being overweight [ ] Stress
● Principle: Encourage the respondent to consider each possible
response to avoid the uncertainty of whether a missing item
may represent either an answer that does not apply or an
overlooked item.
● Solution: Which of the following increases the chance of having
a heart attack?
● Smoking: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
● Being overweight: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
● Stress: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
Branching Questionnare
Process of Questionnare Design