Question Everything

Questionnaire should be:

◦ Valid – Questions should measure what was

meant to be measured

◦ Reliable – Should give you the same results

repeatedly

Open-ended: Ask respondents to create their own response to a questions. ◦ “How would you change this product?”◦ “Additional comments:”◦ Difficult to categorize and measure

Forced Choice: Respondents choose answers from possibilities given on survey.◦ Yes/No◦ Multiple choice◦ Rating scale◦ Level of agreement◦ Simplest to write and calculate

Yes/No - Should only be asked on one issue.◦ “Do you like my shoes?” –OK◦ “Do you like my shoes and my purse?” –NOT OK

Multiple Choice – Needs to have only one answer and include all possible choices.◦ To include all possible choices, sometimes

“Other” is included as a response with a blank for the respondent to fill in.

Rating Scale - Asks respondents to rate something.◦ How would you rate the customer service?

Excellent Good Fair Below Average Poor◦ How satisfied were you with this product’s durability?

Very Somewhat Not Very Not at All Level of Agreement

◦ “I am very concerned about my grades” Strongly Agree Somewhat Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Write all questions clearly and as briefly as possible

Use the same ranking scales for similar questions

Don’t use leading questions◦ “Do you prefer Brand A or the higher quality

Brand B?” Avoid bias (don’t show preference) Don’t force a respondent to guess at an

answer

Place demographic questions at the end of

the survey

Make the survey visually appealing

Select participants in an unbiased way

Use an appropriate sample size