UNIT 3 QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD

Structure
3.0 Introduction
3.1 Objectives
3.2 Definition and Description of Questionnaires
3.3 Types of Questionnaires
3.3.1 Structured Questionnaires
3.3.2 Unstructured Questionnaires
3.3.3 Semi-structured Questionnaires

3.4 Purpose of Questionnaires Studies

3.5 Designing Research Questionnaires
3.6 The Methods to Make a Questionnaire Efficient
3.7 The Types of Questionnaire to be Included in the Questionnaire
3.8 Questionnaires: Why they don’t Work
3.9 Do’s and Don’ts in Designing Questionnaires
3.10 Formulating Questions for Measuring Attitudes
3.11 Measuring Attitudes: Recording Responses
3.12 Questions for Measuring Knowledge
3.13 Advantages and Disadvantages of Questionnaire
3.14 Pilot Test of Questionnaire
3.15 Monitor the Responses
3.16 Analyse the Survey Data
3.17 When to Use a Questionnaire?
3.18 Some Common Mistakes in Using Questionnaires
3.19 Let Us Sum Up
3.20 Unit End Questions
3.21 Suggested Readings

3.0 INTRODUCTION
According to dictionary, Questionnaire is a written or printed form used in gathering
information on some subject or subjects, consisting of a set of questions to be
submitted to one or more persons.
A questionnaire consists of a large number of questions arranged under different
headings and covers the research topic which is being studied by the researcher.
These questions are then sent or read out to the respondent (sample chosen for the
36 study) and the questionnaire is filled in by the researcher or by the respondents
themselves. These responses are then subjected to analysis and the results obtained Questionnaire Method
are tabulated.
A questionnaire thus is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and
other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. The
questionnaire was invented by Sir Francis Galton.
Questionnaires can also be defined as a list of research or survey questions asked
to respondents and designed to extract specific information. It serves 4 basic
purposes, viz.,(i) collect the appropriate data (ii) make data comparable and amenable
to analysis. (iii) minimize bias in formulating and asking questions (iv) to make questions
engaging and varied.
In this unit we will be dealing with questionnaires, their definition and description, the
type of questionnaire, designing of questionnaire, the formulating of questions, the
various do’s and dont’s of adding certain questions etc. The unit will also cover the
format of questionnaire, the structure etc. The unit gives you an idea of when and
how to use questionnaires.

3.1 OBJECTIVES
After completing this unit, you will be able to:
 define questionnaire;
 describe the characteristic features of questionnaire;
 explain how to Design the questionnaire;
 list out the do’s and don’t’s of questions to be added to the questionnaire;
 list the types of questionnaires; and
 analyse the uses and functions of the questionnaire.

3.2 DEFINITION AND DESCRIPTION OF

QUESTIONNAIRES
In survey research where large number of respondents have to be contacted and a
large amount of data has to be gathered, questionnaire as a tool of data collection
appears to be the most suitbale and appropriate. The questionnaires play a central
role in the data gathering process. In order to gather efficient and correct information
and that too economically, the questionnaire has to be worked out very systematically
and designed most appropriately depending on the information needed.
Questionnaires play a central role in the data collection process. Questionnaires
facilitate the coding and capturing of data accurately, and it leads to an overall
reduction in the cost and time associated with data collection and processing.
Questionnaires contain a large number of questions pertaining to the subject matter.
In many questionnaires there are sections that are part of the major topic and these
sections go into details of information on the subject matter. The questionnaires
address the following issues, viz., why the research is being conducted and why the
survey form has been selected for collecting information. Secondly the questionnaire
deals with how the information is going to be used and whether the information will
be accurate and timely. The questionnaires can be sent by post to the respondents
or given peronally by the researcher, and getthe same filled in by self or by the 37
Tools of Data Collection respondent. When sent by post the number of questionnaires returned will be far
less and if it is 66% it may be considered representative.

3.3 TYPES OF QUESTIONNAIRES

Questionnaires are of varied types and depending on the type of survey undertaken
the questionnaire will be of a certain type. Let us see what are the various types of
questionnaires we have. The first one is structured questionnaire, unstructured
questionnaire, and semi structured questionnaires. Let us see in detail each of these
types.

3.3.1 Structured Questionnaires

As the name suggests, these are structured. That is the answers are already given
and the respondent has to tick mark the most suitable answer. In most questionnaire
the responses to most questions are exhaustive and still if a person wants to give a
response aside from the responses mentioned in the questionnaire, there is a column
indicating “any other response, specify”. However all responses are clearly gven and
predetermined and there is very little flexibility to add anything except in rare cases.

3.3.2 Unstructured Questionnaires

In this, the questions are open ended and the answers are not given or predetermined.
And hence the respondent can give whatever response he would like to these
questions. However even though unstructured, the sequence of the questions follow
an order. This sequence is predetermined by the researcher. The answers obtained
are noted down by the researcher or the respondent himself fills it up. Since there
is flexibility to add one’s own thoughts and feelings, these questionnaires elicit very
factual and truthful and descriptive responses.

3.3.3 Semi-structured Questionnaires

These types of questionnaires have a mixed approach. In this some questions are
structured and some are not structured. There is generally a mixed approach.
Structured questionnaires allow for the exploration of patterns and trends which help
to describe what is happening in the L&T context and provide a measure of
respondents’ opinions, attitudes, feelings, and perceptions about issues of particular
concern to the evaluator. They also help to identify patterns and trends that merit
further exploration using qualitative methods.
Self Assessment Questions
1) Explain questionnaire method.
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2) What are the three types of questionnaire?
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 Questionnaire Method
3.4 PURPOSES OF QUESTIONNAIRE STUDIES
1) Descriptive Studies
The task here is to count something. The intent may be to estimate the parameters
(population facts) for certain characteristics of a given population or to survey current
practices in some field or profession.
2) Analytical Studies
In these studies, the investigator is usually interested in comparing characteristics
among two or more populations. Studies in which the interest lies in exploring the
relationship among variables for a single population also qualify as analytical studies.

3.5 DESIGNING RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRES

In any survey the researcher or the organisation concerned which has proposed the
research survey may try to get highly complex information. Though by and large their
efforts will be to get objective answers to the questions, they would like to also get
some feelings, opinions and a few subjective statements on the issues and problems
addressed in the questionnaire. At the same time it must be remembered that the
researcher must be cautious not to project own preconceptions as questions so that
replies are likely to come from like minded individuals, or from people who guess
the meaning, or from those who interpret the questions in their own way and answer
accordingly. It must be kept in mind that replies to open questions are quite messy
and ambiguous and it is not possible to find out what people really meant.

3.6 THE METHODS TO MAKE A QUESTIONNAIRE

EFFICIENT
Questionnaire designers have to look into these factors, namely, the layout, presentation,
the overall appearance and avoid the temptation to ask four questions in one question
etc. To cite an example, if we are conducting a survey on drop outs of children
before reaching class 8, we may have a question as given below:
“Do you think the parents or children responsible for drop outs or whether the
income is low and the children supplement the family income. Here too many
questions and each can be answered separately with different answers.
Here are certain important rules for questionnaire construction which have to be kept
in mind while we construct the questionnaire.
 Give attention to the structure of the questionnaire.
 Start with a straightforward question to get the recipient to start replying.
 Move from the general to the specific in each section (usually).
 Try to ensure some variety in the types of question asked (see below).
 Draw skidpaths if there are alternative routes (of the type ‘if ‘Yes’ go on to
question x’) to make sure that every eventuality is covered. Then choose whether
to leave these in to help people move through the questionnaire.
 Group related topics into modules.
 Make the structure clear to the respondent by using headings. 39
Tools of Data Collection  Choose the question types to fit the purpose. The main options are:
 closed questions – pre-assigned response categories or ‘yes’ and ‘no’ boxes
(make sure that each category is distinct [especially for age ranges] and that all
eventualities are covered – if your response category is not provided what does
this say about the competence of the designers?)
 Open questions – at simplest this may be a ‘Why is this?’ after a closed
question; the intention is that the respondents should reply in their own words
(don’t forget to analyse these and that categorisation/synthesis takes time)
 Use response scales where appropriate. These are a form of closed question.
Most common are:
Some of the important scales that could be made use of include the following:
1) Likert scales: a set of choices to record agreement/disagreement.
2) Guttman scales: statements arranged according to the strength of attitude.
3) Thurstone scales: forced choice to agree/disagree.
4) Semantic differential: seeking quantitative measures by offering scales between
extremes.
While using any of the scales above, it must be remembered that the researcher must
offer clear and consistent instructions for completing the questionnaire (easily forgotten
if questions are considered individually)
The researcher must pay attention to question wording since this is a topic in its own
right. Thus the overall aim of the research questionnaire is to obtain research relevant
information efficiently. For this the researcher requires active co-operation from the
target group. Every effort should be made to get back the maximum questionnaires
that were distributed to respondents, or else the findings may not be possible to
generalise. This ofcourse would take time, planning and attention to detail. However
considering the difficulty in getting the questionnaires back, it has been stated that
two-thirds of the questionnaire if returned back tht could make the research findings
worth the while.
Self Assessment Questions
1) What is purpose of questionnaire in research?
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2) Give important rules for constructs the good questionnaire.
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