Question types in the questionnaire

Any question in an interview can be classified in a number of different ways: open or closed, depending whether or not the answer can come only from a finite number of possible responses; spontaneous or prompted, depending on whether respondents are asked to reply in their own words or given a number of options

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Open and closed questions in the questionnaire

An open question is one where the range of possible answers is not suggested in the question and which respondents are expected to answer in their own words: ‘What did you eat for breakfast today?’ An open question may expect a short answer, where the anticipated answer would simply be one or more products,

Spontaneous questions in the questionnaire

A spontaneous question is any question for which the respondent is not given a repertoire of possible answers from which to choose. All open- ended questions are by their nature spontaneous, but not all spontaneous questions need be open-ended. Spontaneous questions will be used when the questionnaire writer does not know what the range

Prompted questions in the questionnaire

Spontaneous responses rarely tell the researcher the complete picture regarding what the respondent knows or feels, but only what is front-of- mind. However, most people find it difficult to articulate everything that they know or feel about a subject, or they forget that they know some­thing, or they have given one answer and aren’t

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Open-ended questions in the questionnaire

An open-ended question is an open question where the response is recorded verbatim. An open-ended question is nearly always also an open question. (It would be wasteful to record yes-no answers verbatim.) Open-ended questions are also known as ‘unstructured’ or ‘free- response’ questions. Open-ended questions are used for a number of reasons: The researcher

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Pre-coded questions in the questionnaire

1. Pre-coded open questions Frequently with interviewer-administered surveys, a list of pre-codes is provided with open questions for the interviewer’s use. This may simply be a brand list on which to code the response to a question such as ‘Which brand of breakfast cereal did you eat today?’ or it may be used in

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Data types in the questionnaire

Responses are measured using four types of data: nominal; ordinal; interval; ratio. These are frequently described as ‘measurement scales’, though most researchers would not necessarily recognize all of them as scales. It is important for the questionnaire writer to recognize which type of data is being collected for each question, as this will determine

Attitude measurement in the questionnaire

The measurement of attitude poses more problems than does the measurement of behaviour. Respondents are able to respond relatively easily to behavioural questions, limited only by their memory of events, the amount of effort they are prepared to give to answering the questions and the degree to which they are prepared to be truthful.

Itemized rating scales of questions in the questionnaire

Itemized rating scales are used to help the researcher obtain a measure of attitudes. The researcher first develops a number of dimensions – attitude statements, product or service attributes, image dimensions, etc. Respondents are then asked to position how they feel about each one using a defined rating scale. A rating scale is usually

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Attitudinal rating scales of questions in the questionnaire

A number of forms of rating scale have been developed specifically to address responses to a series of attitudinal dimensions. The three most commonly used are: Likert scale; semantic differential scale; Stapel scale. 1. Likert scale The Likert scale (frequently known as an ‘agree-disagree’ scale) was first published by psychologist Rensis Likert in 1932.

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Comparative scaling techniques of questions in the questionnaire

1. Paired comparisons With paired comparisons, respondents are asked to choose between two objects based on the appropriate criterion, eg that one is more important than the other or preferred to the other. This can be repeated with a number of pairs chosen from a set of objects, such that every object is compared

Rating scales of questions in customer satisfaction research

Deciding which scale to use Using rating scales in customer satisfaction research presents the ques­tionnaire writer with a number of choices for the most appropriate scale. Rating scales are commonly used in customer satisfaction research inter­views for very good reasons. They provide a relatively easy way in which a customer can assess the service

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Measuring brand image by the questionnaire survey

A frequent objective with brand and communication studies is to measure brand image: that is, the perceptions that people hold of the main brands, how they compare and how they might occupy different positions in customers’ minds, either as having functional differences or differences in emotional positioning. Two ways to measure brand image are

The measure dimensions of questions in the questionnaire

1. Determining the attributes to measure No matter which scale is used the crucial factor to get right is the wording of the items against which the attitude is to be measured. As with all questionnaire research, if the item is not measured it cannot be analysed, and if important attributes are not included

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Use of language in the questionnaire

When writing the questionnaire it is the questionnaire writer’s job to ensure that the respondents will understand the questions and that the respondents will not feel intimidated, challenged or threatened by the questions. Writing questionnaires is about helping respondents to give the best information that they can. Questions should be clear and unambiguous, and

Avoiding ambiguity in the question

Ambiguity is to be avoided at all costs. If a question is ambiguous, then the respondent may be presented with the dilemma of hearing or seeing two different questions and will not know which to answer. With an interviewer-administered questionnaire the respondent may seek help from the interviewer. The interviewer may be able to

Determining the pre-codes of questions in the questionnaire

The pre-codes that are used on the questionnaire determine what data are collected. If the pre-codes have insufficient accuracy or are incomplete, then data will be lost that may be important to answering the objectives. In many instances the responses will be obvious – yes-no, male-female – but in others care must be taken

Using prompts in the questionnaire

Show cards are frequently used to provide the respondents with prompted answers in face-to-face interviews. In self-completion inter-views the prompts are provided with the question, either on a paper questionnaire or on-screen with a web-based questionnaire. With tele­phone interviews the prompts are frequently read out or, if they are to be repeated, as with

Order bias and prompts in the questionnaire

The order in which prompts are presented to respondents, whether on the questionnaire or screen, shown on a card or read out, can have a significant effect on the responses recorded. Such bias can occur with the presentation of: scalar responses; monadically rated batteries of attitude or image dimensions; lists from which responses are

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Question order in the questionnaire

There are certain rules regarding the ordering of questions that must always be borne in mind. These have been covered in Chapter 3 and include: There must be no prompting of any information before spontaneous questions on the same subject. The interview should normally start with the more general questions relating to the topic