Chap – 9: Designing Data Collection Forms

Definition:
A Questionnaire is a structured technique for
data collection that consists of a series of questions,
written or verbal, that a respondent answers.
Typically, a questionnaire is only one element of a
data collection package that might also include:
Fieldwork procedures, such as instructions for
selecting, approaching, and questioning respondents.
Some reward, Gift, or payment offered to
respondents; and
Communication aids, such as maps, pictures,
advertisements, and products as in personal
interviews and return envelops in mail surveys.
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Objectives of Questionnaires
• Any questionnaires have three specific objectives:
• It must translate the information needed into a set of
specific questions that the respondents can and will
answer.
• Developing questions that respondents can and
will answer yield the desired information is
difficult.
• Two apparently similar ways of posing a question
may yield different information.
• Hence, this objective is a challenge.
• A questionnaire must uplift, motivate, and encourage
the respondent to become involved in the interview,
to cooperate, and to complete the interview.
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 • In designing a questionnaire, the researcher should
strive to minimize respondent fatigue, boredom,
incompleteness, and nonresponsive.
• A well-designed questionnaire can motivate the
respondents and increase the response rate.
• A questionnaire should minimize response
error.
• A questionnaire can be a major source of response
error.
• Minimizing this error is an important objective of
questionnaire design.

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 • Questionnaire Design Process
• Specify the information needed

Specify the type of interviewing method

•
•
• Determine the content of individual question
•
• Design the questions to overcome the respondent’s inability and unwillingness to answer
•
• Decide on the question structure.
•
• Determine the question wording
•
•
Arrange the questions in proper order
•
• Identify the form and layout
•
• Reproduce the questionnaire.
•
• Eliminating bugs by pretesting.

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1) Specify Information Needed
• The information needed becomes more and more clearly defined.
• It is helpful to review components of the problem and the approach,
particularly the research questions, hypotheses and the information
needed.
• To further ensure that the information obtained fully addresses all the
components of the problem, the researcher should prepare a set of
dummy tables.
• It is also important to have a clear idea of the target population.
• The characteristics of the respondent group have a great influence on
questionnaire design.
• Questions that are appropriate for college students may not
appropriate for housewives.
• Understanding is related to respondent socioeconomic characteristics.
• Furthermore, poor understanding is associated with a high incidence
of uncertain or no-opinion responses.
• The more diversified the respondent group, the more difficult it is to
design a single questionnaire that is appropriate for the entire group.

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Type of Interviewing Method
• An appreciation of how the type of
interviewing method influences questionnaire
design can be obtained by considering how
the questionnaire is administered under each
method.
• In personal interviews, respondents see the
questionnaire and interact face to face with
the interviewer.

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• Thus, lengthy, complex, and varied questions can be
asked.
• In telephone interviews, the respondents interact with
the interviewer, but they do not see the telephone
interviewers, the respondents interact with the
interviewer, but they do not see the questionnaire.
• This limits the type of questions that can be asked to
short and simple ones.
• Mail questionnaires are self-administered, so the
questions must be simple and detailed instruction must
be provided.
• In computer-assisted interviewing (CAPI and CATI),
complex skip patterns and randomization of questions
to eliminate order bias can be easily accommodated.

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• Internet questionnaires share many of the
characteristics of CAPI, but e-mail questionnaires
have to be simpler.
• Questionnaires designed for personal and
telephone interviews, should be written in a
conversational style.
3) Individual Question Content
• Once the information needed is specified and the
type of interviewing method decided, the next
step is to determine individual question content:
what to include in individual questions.

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Is the Question Necessary?
• Every question in a questionnaire should
contribute to the information needed or serve
some specific purpose.
• If there is no satisfactory use for the data
resulting from a question, that question should
be eliminated.
• In certain situations, however, questions may
be asked that are not directly related to the
information that is needed.
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• It is useful to ask some neutral questions at the
beginning of the questionnaire is sensitive or
controversial.
• Sometimes filler questions are asked to disguise
the purpose or sponsorship of the project.
• Rather than limiting the questions to the brand of
interest, questions about competing brands may
also be included to disguise the sponsorship.
• For example, a survey on personal computers
sponsored by IBM may also include filler
questions related to Dell and Apple.

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• Questions unrelated to the immediate problem
may sometimes be included to generate client
support for the project.
• At times, certain questions may be duplicated for
the purpose of assessing reliability or validity?
5) Are Several Questions Needed Instead of One?
• Once we have ascertained that a question is
necessary, we must make sure that it is sufficient
to get the desired information.
• Sometimes, several questions are needed to
obtain the required information in an
unambiguous manner.
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• “Do you think Coca-Cola is a tasty and
refreshing soft drink?” (incorrect)
• A “yes” answer will presumably be clear, but
what if the answer is “no”? Does this mean
that the respondent thinks that Coca-Cola is
not tasty, that it is not refreshing, or that it is
neither tasty nor refreshing?
• Such a question is called double –barreled
questions, because two or more questions are
combined into one.
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• To obtain the required information, two distinct
questions should be asked:
• Do you think Coca-Cola is a tasty soft drink?”
• Do you think Coca-Cola is a refreshing soft drink?”

6) Overcoming Inability to Answer

• Researchers are not assuming that respondents can
provide accurate or reasonable answers to all
questions.
• The researcher should attempt to overcome the
respondent’s inability to answer.
• Certain facts limit the respondent’s ability to provide
the desired information.
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• The respondents may not be informed, may not
remember, or may be unable to articulate certain
types of responses.
7) Is the respondent informed?
• Respondents are often asked about topics on
which they are not informed.
• A husband may not be informed about the
expenses for groceries and department store
purchases, if it is the wife who makes these
purchases, or vice versa.
• Research has shown that respondents will often
answer questions even though they are
uninformed.

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• In situations, where not all respondents are likely
to be informed about the topic of interest, filter
questions that measure familiarity, product use,
and past experience should be asked before
questions, about the topics themselves.
• Filter questions enable the researcher to filter
out respondents who are not adequately
informed.
8) Can The Respondent Remember?
• Many things that we might expect everyone to
know are remembered by only a few.
• Test this out on yourself.

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Can you answer the following?
• What is the brand name of the shirt you were
wearing two weeks ago?
• What did you have for lunch a week ago?
• What were you doing a month ago at noon?
• How many gallons of soft drinks did you
consume during that last 4 weeks?
• These questions are incorrect because they
exceed the ability of the respondents to
remember.

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• Evidence indicates that consumers are
particularly poor at remembering quantities of
products consumed.
• In situations, where factual data were
available for comparison, it was found that
consumer reports of product usage exceeded
actual usage by 100 % or more.
• Thus , soft drink consumption may be
obtained by asking:

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How often do you consume soft drinks in a
typical week?
• _____________less than once a week?
• _____________1 to 3 times per week
• _____________4 to 6 times per week
• ____________7 or more times per week.
• The inability to remember leads to errors of
omissions, telescoping, and creation.
• Omissions are the inability to recall an event
that actually took place.

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• Telescoping takes place when an individual
telescopes or compresses time by
remembering an event as occurring more
recently than it actually occurred.
• For example, a respondent reports three tips
to supermarket in the last two weeks when, in
fact, one of these trips was made 18 days ago.
• Creation error takes place when a respondent
“remembers “an event that did not actually
occur.

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The ability to remember an event is influenced by:
• The event itself,
• The time elapsed since the event, and
• The presence or absence of events that would aid
memory.
9) Can The Respondents Articulate?
• Respondents may be unable to articulate certain
types of responses.
• For example, if asked to describe the atmosphere
of the department store they would prefer to
patronize, most respondents may be unable to
phrase their answers.

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• On the other hand, if the respondents are
provided with alternative descriptions of store
atmosphere, they will be able to indicate the
one they like the best.
• If the respondents are unable to articulate
their responses to a question, they are likely
to ignore that question and may refuse to
respond to the rest of the questionnaire.
• Thus, the respondents should be given aids
such as pictures, maps, and descriptions to
help them articulate their responses.

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Overcoming Unwillingness to Answer
• Even if respondents are able to answer a
particular question, they may be unwilling to do
so , either because too much effort is required ,
the situation or context may not seem appropriate
for disclosure , no legitimate purpose or need
for the information requested is apparent , or the
information requested is sensitive.
• Context: some questions may seem appropriate in
certain contexts but not in others.
• For example, questions about personal hygiene habits.
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• Legitimate purpose: respondents are also
unwilling to divulge information that they do not
see as serving a legitimate purpose.
• Why should firm marketing cereals want to know their age,
income, and occupation?

• Sensitive information: respondents are

unwilling to disclose,
at least accurately, sensitive information because
this may cause embarrassment or threaten the
respondent’s prestige or self –image.
• If pressed for the answer, respondents may give
biased responses, especially during personal
interviews.
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• Sensitive topics include money, family life, political
and religious beliefs, and involvement in accidents
or crimes.
Increasing the Willingness of Respondents
• Respondents may be encouraged to provide
information that they are unwilling to give by the
following techniques:
• Place sensitive topics at the end of the
questionnaire. By then, initial mistrust has been
overcome, rapport has been created, the
legitimacy of the project has been established,
and respondents are more willing to give
information.
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• Preface the question with a statement that the
behaviour of interest is common. For example,
before requesting information on credit, say,
“recent studies show that most Americans are
in debt.” This technique, called the use of
counter biasing statements.
Choosing Questions Structures
• A question may be unstructured or structured.

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Unstructured questions (UQ)
• UQ are open –ended questions that
respondents answer in their own words.
• They are also referred to as free-response or
free –answer questions.
The following are some examples:
• What is your occupation?
• What do you think of people who patronize
discount department stores?
• Who is your favorite political figure?

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Structured Questions (SQ)
• SQ is questions that prespecifiy the set of
response alternatives and the response format.
• A structured question could be multiple
choices, dichotomous, or a scale.
Multiple Choices
• In multiple choices –questions, the researcher
provides a choice of answers and respondents
are asked to select one or more of the
alternatives given.

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• Do you intend to buy a new car within the next six months?
– ______ definitely will not buy.
– ________Probably will not buy.
– ______ Undecided
– ______ probably will buy.
– _______Definitely will buy.
– _______Other (please specify).
Advantages
• Overcome the disadvantages of open-ended questions,
because interviewer bias is reduced and these questions are
administered quickly.
• Also, coding and processing of data are much less costly and
time consuming.
• In self-administered questionnaires, respondent cooperation’s
is improved if the majority of the questions are structured.

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Disadvantages
• Considerable time is required to design effective
multiple-choice questions.
• Exploratory research using open-ended questions
may be required to determine the appropriate
response alternatives.
• Even if an “other (please specify)”category is
included, respondents the list of possible answers
produces biased responses.
• There is also the potential for order bias. (Order
or position bias is a respondent’s tendency to
check an alternative merely because it occupies
a certain position or is listed in a certain order.)

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Dichotomous Questions (DQ)
• A DQ is a structured question with only two
response alternatives, such as yes and no; agree
or disagree, and so on.
• Often the two alternatives are supplemented by
a neutral alternative, such as “no opinion”,
“don’t know,” “both” or “none”.
• Do you intend to buy a new car within the next
six months?
• _______Yes
• _______No
• _______Don’t Know

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 Scale is the generation of a commitment upon
which measured objects are located.
• Do you want to buy a new car with in the next
six months?
Definitely Won’t Buy Probably Won’t Buy Undecided Probably Will Buy Definitely Will Buy

1 2 3 4 5

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• Choosing Questions Wording
• Question wording is the translation of the desired question
content and structure into words that respondents can
clearly and easily understand.
• To avoid these problems, we offer the following guidelines:
• Define the issue,
• Use ordinary words,
• Avoid implicit assumptions,
• Avoid leading questions,
• Avoid implicit alternatives,
• Avoid implicit assumptions,
• Avoid generalizations and estimates, and
• Use positive and negative statements

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Define the issue
• A question should clearly define the issue being
addressed.
For example:
• Which brand of shampoo do you use?
…………………….Incorrect.
• Which brand or brands of shampoo have you
personally used at home during the last month?
In case of more than one brand, please list all the
brands that apply? ……………………………………
Correct.

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Use Ordinary Words
• Ordinary words should be used in a questionnaire
and they should match the vocabulary level of
respondents.
• When choosing words, keep in mind that the
average in the USA has a high school level, not a
college, education.
• For certain respondent groups, education level is
even lower.
• Most respondents do not understand technical
marketing words.

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For example, instead of asking:
• “Do you think the distribution of soft drinks is
adequate?”…………….incorrect.
• “Do you think soft drinks are readily available when you
want to buy them?................correct.
Avoid Implicit Assumptions
• The words used in questionnaires should have a
single meaning that is known to the
respondents.
• A number of words that appear to be
unambiguous have different meanings to
different people.
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• These includes “ usually”, “ normally”, “
frequently,” “ often, “regularly,” occasionally,”
and “ sometimes”.
Consider the following question:
• In a typical month, how often do you shop in
department stores?
• ____________Never.
• ____________Occasionally.
• ____________ Sometimes.
• ____________ 3 or 4 times.
• ___________ More than 4 times.

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• In deciding on the choice of words, researchers
should consult a dictionary and thesaurus and ask
the following questions of each word used:
• Does it mean what we intended?
• Does it have any other meanings?
• If so, does the context make the intended
meaning clear?
• Does the word have more than one
pronunciation?
• Is there any word of similar pronunciation that
might be confused with this word?
• Is a supplier word or phrase suggested?

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• Avoid Leading Questions
• A leading question that gives the respondent a clue as to what
answer is desired or leads the respondent to answer in a certain
way.
• Do you think that patriotic Ethiopians should buy imported
automobiles when that would put Ethiopian labor out of work?
• ____________yes
• ___________No
• ___________ Don’t Know.
• This question would lead respondents to a “No” answer.
• A better question would be :
• Do you think Ethiopians should buy imported automobiles?
– ____________Yes
– ___________ No
– ___________ Don’t Know.
• Bias may also arise when respondents are given clues about the
sponsor of the project. Respondents tend to respond favorably
toward the sponsor.

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The question,
“Is collegiate your favorite toothpaste?” is likely to bias the
responses in favor of a colligate.
• A more unbiased way of obtaining this
information would be to ask,
• “What is your favorite toothpaste
brand?” .
• Likewise, the mention of a prestigious or non
prestigious name can bias the responses, as in,
•
• “Do you agree with Ethiopian Dental association that
colligate is effective in preventing cavities?”
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• An unbiased question would be to ask,
• “Is colligate effective in preventing cavities?”

Avoid Implicit Alternatives

• Questions should not be worded so that the answer is dependent
upon implicit assumptions about what will happen as
consequences.
• Implicit assumptions are assumptions that are not stated in the
questions, as in the following example.
• Do you like to fly when travelling short distances:
……………….incorrect
• Do you like to fly when traveling short distances, or would
you rather drives?.........correct .

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• In the first question, the alternative of driving is
only implicit, but in the second question, it is
explicit.
• The first question is likely to yield a greater
preference for flying than the second question.
Avoid Implicit Assumptions
• Questions should not be worded so that the
answer is dependent upon implicit assumptions
about what will happen as a consequence.
• Implicit assumptions are assumptions that are not
stated in the question, as in the following
example.
• Are you in favor of a balanced budget? …………..incorrect.

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• Are you in favor of a balanced budget if it
would result in an increase in the personal
income tax? ..........correct.
• Implicit in question 1 are the consequences that
will arise as a result of a balanced budget.
• There might be a cut in defense expenditures,
increase in personal income tax, cut in social
programs, and so on.
• Question 2 is a better way to word this question.
• Questions 1 ‘s failure to make its assumptions
explicit would result in overestimating the
respondents support for a balanced budget.

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Avoid Generalizations and Estimates
• Questions should be specific, not general.
• Moreover, questions should be worded so
that the respondent does not have to make
generisations or compute estimates.
• Suppose we were interested in households
annual per capit expenditure on groceries.
• If we asked respondents:
• “What is the annual per capit expenditure on
groceries in your household?”……………..incorrect.

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• A better way of obtaining the required information
would be to ask the respondents two simple
questions:
• “What is the monthly or weekly expenditure on groceries in your
household?”
• “How many members can then perform the necessary
calculations?”………………….correct.
Dual statements : Positive and Negative Statements
• Many questions, particularly those measuring attitude
and lifestyles, are worded as statements to which
respondents indicate their degree of agreement or
disagreement.
• Evidence indicates s that the response obtained is
influenced by the directionality of the statements:
whether they are stated positively or negatively.

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• In these cases it is better to use dual
statements, some of which are positive and the
others negative.
• Two different questions could be prepared.
• One questionnaire would contain half negative
and half positive statements in an interspersed
way.
• The direction of these statements would be
reversed in the other questionnaire. (See
summated likert scale).

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Determining the Order of Questions
Opening questions
• The opening questions can be crucial in
gaining the confidence and cooperation of
respondents.
• The opening questions should be interesting,
simple, and nonthreatening.
• Questions that ask respondents for their
options can be good opening questions,
because most people like to express their
opinions.
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• “Opening opinion question opens the door to cooperation.”
• To begin with, I‘d like to know much do you like living in this
(town/city)?
• Would you say you like it a lot, a little, or not too much?”
• A lot _____________
• A little ___________
• Not too much ________
• Don’t Know ___________
Type of Information
• The type classification information obtained in a
questionnaire may be classified as:
• Basic information: relates directly to the research problem.

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• Classification information: consisting of socioeconomic
and demographic characteristics, is used to classify the
respondents and understand the result.
• Identification information: a type of information
obtained in a questionnaire that includes name,
address, e-mail address, and phone numbers.
Difficult Questions
• Difficult questions or questions that are sensitive,
embarrassing, complex, or dull should be placed late in
the sequence.
• After rapport has been established and the
respondents become involved, they are less likely to
object to these questions.

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• Thus, in the department store project, information about
credit card and debt was asked at the end of the section on
basic information.
• Likewise, income should be the last question in the
classification section, and telephone number the final item in
the identification section.
Effect of Subsequent Questions
• Questions asked early in a sequence can influence the
responses to subsequent questions.
• As a rule of thumb, general questions should precede specific
questions.
• Thus, in the department store project, information about
credit card debt was asked at the end of the section on basic
information.
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• Likewise, income should be the last question in the
classification section, and telephone number the
final item in the identification section.
Effect on Subsequent Questions
• Questions asked early in a sequence can influence
the response to subsequent questions.
• As a rule of thumb, general questions should precede
specific questions.
• This prevents specific questions from biasing
responses to general questions.

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Consider the following sequence of questions:
• Q1: “What considerations are important to you in
selecting a department store?””
• Q2: in selecting a department store, how important is
convenience of location?”
Note that the first question is general, whereas the
second is specific.
• This is the correct sequence.
• If the questions were asked in the reverse
order , respondents would be clued about
convenience of location and would likely to
give this response to the general question.
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• Funnel approach is a synergy for ordering
questions in a questionnaire in which the
sequence starts with general questions that are
followed by progressively specific questions in
order to prevent specific questions from biasing
general question.
• Pretesting
• Refers to the testing of the questionnaire on a
small sample of respondents to identify and
eliminate potential problems.
• Even the best questionnaire can be used in the
field of survey without adequate pretesting.

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• As a general rule, a questionnaire should not be used in
the field survey without adequate pretesting.
• A pretest should be extensive.
• All aspects of the questionnaire should be twisted,
including question content, wording, sequences, form
and layout, question difficulty, and instructions.
• The respondents in the pretest should be similar to
those who will be included in the actual survey in terms
of background characteristics, familiarity with the topic,
and attitudes and behaviors of interest.
• In other words, respondents for the pretest and for the
actual survey should be drawn from the same
populations.

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• Pretests are best done by personal interviews, even if
the actual survey is to be conducted by mail, telephone,
or electronic means, because interviewers can observe
respondents reactions and attitudes.
• After the necessary changes have been made, another r
pretest could be conducted by mail, telephone, or
electronic means if those methods are to be used in the
actual survey.
• The latter pretests should reveal problems peculiar to
the interviewing method.
• To the extent possible, a pretest should involve
administering the questionnaire in an environment and
context similar to that of the actual survey.

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Questionnaire Design Check List
• Step 1: Specify the information needed.
• Ensure that the information obtained fully
address all the components of the problem.
Review components of the problem and the
approach, particularly the research question,
hypothesis, and the information needed.
• Prepare a set of dummy tables.
• Have a clear idea of the target populations.
• Step 2: specify the type of interviewing method.
• Review the type of interviewing determined
based on considerations.

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Step 3: Determine the content of individual
questions.
– Is the question necessary?
– Are several questions needed instead one to
obtain the required information in an
unambiguous manner?
– Do not double –barreled questions.
Step 4: design the questions to overcome the
respondent’s inability and unwillingness to
answer.
– Is the respondent informed?

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• If respondents are not likely to be informed, filter
questions that measure familiarity, product use,
and past experience should be asked before
questions about the topics themselves.
• Can the respondent remember?
• Avoid errors of omissions, telescoping, and
creation.
• Questions that do not provide the respondent
with cues can underestimate the actual
occurrence of an event.
• Can the respondent articulate?
• Minimize the effort required of the respondents.
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• Is the context in which the questions are
asked appropriate?
• Make the request for information seem
legitimate.
• If the information is sensitive.
• Place sensitive topics at the and of the
questionnaire.
• Preface the question with a statement that the
behaviour of interest is common.
• Ask the question using the 3rd person
technique.
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 • Hide the question is a group of other questions
that respondents are willing to answer.
• Provide response categories rather than asking
for specific figures.
• Use randomized techniques, if appropriate.
Step 5: Decide on the Question Structure
• Open-ended questions are useful in exploratory
research and as opening questions.
• Use structured questions wherever possible.
• In multiple –choice questions, the response
alternatives should include the set of all possible
choices and should be manually exclusive.

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• In a dicthomus question, if a substantial
proportion of the respondents can be expected
to be neutral, include a neutral alternative.
• Consider the use of the split ballot technique to
reduce order bias in dichotomous and multiple-
choice questions.
• If the response alternative is numerous, consider
using more than one question to reduce the
information processing demands on the
respondents.
• Use positive and negative statements.

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Step 7: Arrange The Question In Proper Order.
• The opening questions should be interesting, simple, and non-
threatening.
• Qualifying questions should serve as the opening questions.
• Basic information’s should be obtained first, followed by
classifications, and, finally, identification information.
• Difficult, sensitive, or complex questions should be placed late in
the sequences.
• General questions should precede the specific question.
• Questions should be asked in a logical order.
• Branching questions should be designed carefully to cover all
possible contingencies.
• The question being branched should be place d as close as
possible to the questions causing the branching , and the
branching questions should be ordered so that the respondents
can not anticipate what additional will be required.

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• Step 8: Identify the Form and Lay Out
• Divide a questionnaire into several parts.
• Question in each part should be precoded.
• The questionnaires themselves should be numbered
serially.
• Step 9: Reproduce The Questionnaire.
• The questionnaire should have a professional
appearance.
• Booklet format should be used for long questionnaire.
• Each question should be reproduced on a single page
or double -page spread.
• Vertical response columns should be used.
• Grids are useful when there are a number of related
questions that use the same set of response
categories.
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• The tendency to crowed questions to make the
questionnaires look shorter should be avoided.
• Directions or instructions for individual questions
should be placed as close to the questions as
possible.
Step 10: Eliminate Bugs To Pretesting
• Pretesting should be done always.
• All aspects of the questionnaire should be tested,
including question content, wording, sequence,
form and layout, question difficulty and
instructions.
• The respondents in the pretest should be similar
to those who will be included in the actual survey.

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• Begin the pretest by using personal
interviews.
• Pretest should also be conducted by mail or
telephone if those methods are to be used in
the actual survey.
• A variety of interviewers should be used for
pretests.
• The pretest of interview sample size is small
varying from 15 to 30 respondents for the
initial testing.

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• Use protocol analysis and debriefing to identify
problems.
• After each significant revision of the questionnaire,
another pretest should be conducted, using a different
sample of respondents.
• The responses obtained from the pretest should be
coded and analyzed.
Observational Forms
• Forms for recording observational data are easier to
construct than the questionnaires.
• The researcher need not be concerned with the
psychological impact of the questions and the way
they are asked.
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• The researcher need only develop a form that
identifies the required information clearly ,
makes it easy for the field worker to record the
information accurately , and simplifies the
coding , entry, and analysis of data.
• Observational forms should specify the who,
what, when, where, why, and way of behaviour
to be observed.
• In the department store project, an observational
form for the study of purchase would include
space for all of the following information.

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Project Research
Observations
• Who: purchases, browsers, males, females,
parents with children, children alone.
• What: products /brands considered,
product/brands purchased, size, price of package
inspected, influence of children or other family
members.
• When: day, hour, date of observation.
• Where: inside the store, checkout counter, or
type of department within the store.

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• Why: influence of price, brand name, package size,
promotion, or family members on the purchase.
• Way: personal observer disguised as sales clerk,
undisguised personal observer, hidden camera, or
obtrusive mechanical device.
• The form and layout as well as the reproduction of
observational forms should follow the same
guidelines discussed for questionnaires.
• A well designed form permits field workers to record
individual observations, but not to summarize
observations as that could lead to error.
• Finally, like questionnaires, observational forms also
require adequate pretesting.

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