Questionnaire design is a significant stage in formulating a high-quality survey. A questionnaire might include field work procedure, such as instruction for selecting, approaching, and questioning respondents; some reward, gift, or payment offered to respondent; and communication aids, such as maps, picture, advertisements, and products.
Here are some sample questionnaires that reflect some tips in creating good questionnaire questions.
The first rule is to avoid biased or leading questions. A sample of a biased question is: “Did you exercise your right as an American citizen to vote in the last election?”. Instead of asking the previous question, the other sample “Did you vote in the last election?” makes a good sample of better, unbiased question.
The next rule is to avoid ambiguous wording. Rather than asking “Do you usually work alone?”, it is better to choose the following question: “Choose the best option that describe you: a. No, I never work alone. b. Yes, I work alone less than half the time. c. Yes, I work alone most of the time.”
Sometimes you also need to decide whether the question should be open or closed.
For example:
Open question: It is believed that some people in this community have too much power. Do you think this is true? Who are they?
Closed question: It is believed that some people in this community have too much power.
a. True
b. False
c. Don’t know
If true who are they?
a. Lawyers
b. Businessmen
c. Politicians
d. Scientists
And you can decide whether you need a direct question, an indirect question, or an indirect question followed by a direct one.
Direct question: Do you ever steal on the job?
Indirect question: Do you know of anyone ever stealing on the job?
Combination question: Do you know of anyone ever stealing on the job? Have you ever taken anything from the job?
In order to conduct a more efficient and effective survey, you can always make use of Surveyo’s Web Survey Software. This alternative not only comes with a good sample questionnaire but also allows wide coverage for best results while still saves you time and money.