A questionnaire is a useful tool to find out what a section of people feels about a particular topic or product. They consist of a list of questions which are structured in such a way that the creator gets the needed information which will help him form an opinion about what people think. Questionnaires can be of many types and these following tips will help you make a good and effective questionnaire:

• Tip number 1 – Objective: Every questionnaire starts with an objective or goal about what the person or organization wants to achieve from the survey. Be clear about and then start to create the questions.

• Tip number 2 – Sample: It is very important to select the right sample that will be able to able to answer your questions depending on their age, income, habitat etc so that your time and money is saved. A survey about urban youngsters should not be asked to rural senior citizens.

• Tip number 3 – Introduction: The introduction gives a summary of the topic of the survey but it serves a purpose beyond that: The questionnaire is supposed to build a connection with the consumers so that they feel that their opinion is important and will be considered for making the products and services better.

• Tip number 4 – Instructions: These instructions are important as they tell the respondent who he is supposed to answer the questions. You can also add the approximate amount of time that will be required to fill up the questionnaire and how by answering the questions, they will help both the company and themselves.

• Tip number 5 – Structure: The structure of the questionnaire should be such that there is a flow between the questions and it is one unit. You can divide your questions in sections but make sure that there is cohesiveness among them and the questions start with the general and then become specific.

• Tip number 6 – Simplicity: Make sure that the design of the questionnaire is simple and to the point. When you make it complicated or use too many formatting techniques, the questionnaire looks cluttered and the respondent loses interest or becomes confused. Keep the questionnaire short and straightforward.

• Tip number 7 – Categories: It is important to make the questionnaire organized and systematic so that it is easier for the respondent to fill up the questionnaire. When you design the questionnaire by categorizing different sections, it looks more neat and systematic.

• Tip number 8 – Cross check: Run a spell check and look out for any grammatical or factual errors in the questionnaire before you distribute it.

• Tip number 9 – Additional comments: Design the questionnaire in such a way that you leave an option for suggestions and additional comments in the end so that the respondent can give his extra opinions on the matter or add something which will help you improve your products and services

• Tip number 10 – Testing: Always do a test on a few people to find out any errors before you distribute the questionnaires. This will make your questionnaire more polished and refined.

Polls or opinion polls are a very effective way to get feedback from consumers and stakeholders. They consist of a survey of public opinion derived from a specific sample. Polls have a list of questions which are answered by these consumers to show their opinion regarding something and then these generalities are deduced in ratio. Nowadays there are many organizations and websites which have resorted to polls to get the opinion of the users of its products and services.

Polls are popular because they are simple, take less time to fill up, one doesn’t need to apply much thought as the answers are already provided and one only needs to answer in yes or no, or give grades in varying degrees. In this way, they can be answered by anybody and the creator of the poll can view the results of the poll immediately because the software allows the system to record the responses and calculate the percentage automatically.

People also feel that polls are more interactive because they can see the results immediately and know if they are in the minority or majority compared to the other respondents. Thus polls can be very helpful in gathering feedback from the person about a product or service. In order to make sure that the polls are being used to their full potential, one needs to keep the following points in mind:

• Objective: Before creating the polling questions decide what kind of information you are looking for. Based on your goal, you can structure the polling questions to achieve the right information. For example, you may want to know what consumers think about a particular product, or what students think about a political party and so on.

• Respondents: After you have selected the goal, choose the right kind of target population to whom these poll questions will be asked. If you want to know about the urban consumers opinions on a service, you cannot ask these questions to someone in a rural area and so on.

• Size: A poll has a larger scope than a general survey; it is supposed to reflect the opinions of a sizeable population and that’s why it is called a poll. The larger is your size of the target sample, the more realistic will your poll results be

• Methodology: Choose the right kind of methodology which will enable you to get the correct information from the poll. Polls are usually conducted through questionnaires, surveys, telephone or email surveys, websites, papers and postal polls.

• Structure: The methodology of polling will determine the structure of the questions in the poll: If you are asking questions online, then people do not have a long attention span and so the questions must be realistic, to the point and short. You can also divide the questions into categories so that the poll looks more organized and it is easier for the respondents to answer the questions. Use multiple choice or ratings scales questions or direct question and answers and also add a ‘maybe’ or ‘don’t know’ option to your list of answers

Questionnaires are created in order to get responses from people regarding a particular topic, product or service either through phone, paper or the internet. All online questionnaires and soft copies involve the use of a questionnaire software which enables the creation of questions systematically by following certain instructions and format. The result is a more professional looking and organized questionnaire which people find easy to fill up. Questionnaire software also helps the creator of the questionnaire to easily and automatically calculate the results of the survey.

There are many programs that can be created to make a questionnaire and besides that there are other options available where one can buy or download software which are specifically designed to create questionnaires to suit one’s purpose. The most common ones are listed below:

• Microsoft Word: This is a word processor created by Microsoft which is a component of the Microsoft Office software system. Almost all computers have Word or a variation of Word and these documents can be used for typing in the necessary questions and create a basic questionnaire. There are many formatting options available to make the questionnaire look more attractive and systematic.

• Microsoft Excel: This is another component of the Microsoft software system and is also a popular way of creating a questionnaire. The ‘Developer’ tab has text boxes, check boxes etc where you can add user input. The controls can be configured to enter the data by typing them in a spreadsheet cell. After that, the cells can be sorted, filtered and the ‘LinkedCell’ property can be used for each control to enter information in a cell you choose automatically.

• Tally sheets: These are another popular way of finding out the results of the questionnaires. Once the questionnaire is made on paper or through a computer program, they are sent to the respondents who answer the questions and give them back. Now these results are calculated through a spreadsheet program in tally sheets where each page in divided into columns for every answer by labeling the columns with answers. The formulae can be entered in the cell to add and calculate the results and a final report can be written.

• Websites: There are some websites which have an in-built software that users can use to create any questionnaire they want. There are many options and formats available where the users can feed in their questions and then forward it to others who can then answer the questions. The answers get recorded automatically and the results are also easily calculated. There are many websites which offer such software either free of charge or which only require registration of contact details.

• Others: There are some websites like Zoomerang and Instant Survey which have software that allow you to import your questionnaire created in Word into the website. There is a ‘Create survey’ tab, followed by ‘Import survey from text’ tab or ‘Create survey from scratch’ tab. All you need to do is copy paste the questionnaire from Word to the website and give a title. Follow the instructions accordingly.

Questionnaires are a useful way of finding out people’s opinions on different topics, products and services, provided they are designed in an effective manner. A questionnaire consists of a list of questions created by a person or an organization or company to get certain information from a sample of people. While designing a questionnaire, one needs to keep in mind the objective or goal of the questionnaire and what kind of information is one seeking from the respondent. According to the objective, the questionnaire must be designed and the questions must be selected.

Different types of formats and structures can be used to make a questionnaire. One must keep in mind the target sample, the medium of the questionnaire and the objective. For example, there can be open-ended questions, where a detailed answer can be given by the respondent without choosing any option, or it can be close ended, where the respondent has to choose from a limited number of choices. He can also answer in affirmative or negative which are a simpler and shorter form of questionnaires. There can also be multiple choice questions which give the respondent a wide variety of options to choose from.

While designing a questionnaire, there are certain things one needs to keep in mind in order to make the questionnaire more effective and convenient:

• Introduction: Once you have selected the objective and have chosen a target sample, you have to start the questionnaire. But before you write the questions, there must be an introduction where there are instruction about how the respondents are supposed to fill up the questionnaire and also get knowledge on what the survey is all about.

• Background questions: Before starting with specific questions about the topic, the first few questions ask questions which record information about the name, address, gender, age, income, occupation and education of the respondent. These questions help one know more about the person’s background and must be asked in the beginning of the questions. After this section, other detailed questions can be asked.

• Simple: Make sure that the design of the questionnaire is simple and to the point. When you make it complicated or use too many formatting techniques, the questionnaire looks cluttered and the respondent loses interest or becomes confused. Keep the questionnaire short and straightforward.

• Categories: It is important to make the questionnaire organized and systematic so that it is easier for the respondent to fill up the questionnaire. When you design the questionnaire by categorizing different sections, it looks more neat and systematic.

• Cross check: Run a spell check and look out for any grammatical or factual errors in the questionnaire before you distribute it. You can also do a test on a few people to find out any errors before you distribute the questionnaires

• Additional comments: Design the questionnaire in such a way that you leave an option for suggestions and additional comments in the end so that the respondent can give his extra opinions on the matter or add something which will help you improve your products and services

Questionnaires can be created either in a paper format or online with the help of certain software available for an amount or free of charge. The goal is to get the maximum amount of information from the maximum number of people and an online questionnaire helps one to create a systematic, well-formatted list of questions which can be asked to people not living nearby.

As people are busy and are mostly at their computers nowadays, an online questionnaire is ideally the best way to know about people’s opinions as they are fast, categorized properly, well-structured, easy to understand and it is also easy for the creator of the questionnaire to get the results.

There are many websites which have the option of different formats for creating questionnaires and also for easy calculation. You can go through the process and select one according to your convenience.

• First you can create a questionnaire by typing the questions in a Word document and then go to websites which give you the option of importing a questionnaire into their website and in a particular format. Some sites also have the option of creating the questionnaire in the website instead of importing it. You can save the file and then send it to anyone through emails or by posting the link where others can click and on and reach the page. Once they answer the questions, all the responses are automatically recorded in the site and it is easier for you to tabulate the results

• Online questionnaires are created through certain programs and softwares which you can use yourself or take the help of sites like Zoomerang and Instant Survey. Most of these software require you to register, that is, you have to give your name and email address along with some other details but besides that it is usually free of charge.

• In Zoomerang, you can click on the ‘Create survey’ tab, followed by ‘Import survey from text’ tab or ‘Create survey from scratch’ tab. Give a title to the questionnaire and copy it from your word file and paste it here or create a fresh questionnaire. In Instant Survey, after you sign up, select your language and click ‘create’ and ‘new’. You can import the questionnaire by following the same method as the previous one and then distribute it according to your choice. Other websites also have similar instructions.

• If you are replying to a questionnaire online, then you just have to follow the basic instructions given in the questionnaire and answer accordingly. If there are multiple choice questions then you need to select an option. If there are open ended question you can type your answer in detail. Or you can also just click on yes, no and give grades if it is a ratings questions. Once you are done, just click send or finish and your answers will automatically be registered and it will be recorded. The file will be sent to the creator of the questionnaire so that he can write a report based on your responses.

Questionnaires are a very effective and useful tool when conducting market research for a particular product or service of a company. Before a product is launched or to know the opinions of the people about existing products, companies often conduct market research which gives them an insight about what the consumers think and prefer.

Market research is necessary as it helps companies to know where they stand in the market, how popular their product is, are its consumers loyal to the brands, is the price of the product suitable, which consumers are more likely to buy their product, what features are consumers looking for in the products, what changes should they be making in order to address the complaints of the customers and so on. This shows how important is market research for the success of any product or service and for the company’s over-all sales.

While creating a question for market research, the following points should be kept in mind:

• Objective: First decide what information you are looking for and set a goal for the survey. For example, is this questionnaire going to help you know about the spending habits of people living in the city or have you prepared the questionnaire to know about the consumer’s feedback regarding a particular product or service.

• Structure: Make the structure of the survey very systematic and organized so that people find it easier to answer the questions. Write instructions for filling up the questionnaire in the beginning and give an introduction about the survey. Make categories and use formats like multiple choice questions, ratings scale or affirmative and negative answers. Also leave space for the

• Simplicity: Keep the questions to the point and simple and do not make the questionnaire unnecessarily long. They should follow a logical order from the general to the specific.

• Questions: Choose the right kind of questions that will help you get the information you want. The profile of the respondent is very important because questions on things like his age, sex, city and income show his preferences and ability of buying any product, which is an important aspect to be considered by any company. Also don’t ask questions that don’t let the consumer have any option of giving any negative answer. You are looking to get the honest opinion of the consumer and that will help you make your products and services better.

• Rating scale: If you are using a ratings scale for the consumer’s opinion on a product have the same scale, such as 1-5 instead of changing it to 1-10 in the next questions. You can also use adjectives like Excellent, Good, Fair, Bad and so on to get a more detailed opinion.

• Testing: A questionnaire used for market research is very important and so before you use it for the entire sample test it on 10-15 people before using it in the market. This will help you modify certain questions or understand if there are any parts that need to be changes. Also leave options so that people can write their comments and suggestions.

Every business needs to know more about the various aspects of the business and if things are in order and to do that companies need to create a questionnaire that will make running their business more profitable and successful. The questions in the business management questionnaire are related to issues like different resources, processes and development in the company or the employees working there. By going through the responses, the company compiles all the information and forms its strategies which will lead to optimum profits and accomplishments.

It also helps them to know about the preferences and problems of the employees so that they can create an ideal working atmosphere which will foster growth and contribution. Such questionnaires are also used to help the companies to recognize the management pattern and what changes can be made to make it more effective in the future.

There are certain points which can be kept in mind when creating a questionnaire for the management of your business:

• Goal: Every questionnaire must be created with a goal in mind and in this case too, you should know what are the objectives of the company, what it strives to achieve and what it needs to do. Based on that, questions can be created in order to know which areas it needs to work on and how it can improve its management to contribute and motivate the employees more effectively.

• Respondents: Choose the kind of respondents you want to answer these questions. You may have to set different questions for different departments so that you come to know what are the various problems and issues in the business and how to make them better.

• Introduction: Let the respondents know what the questionnaire is all about and why you are asking these questions so that they feel part of the business management process and the changes. Also ask for any additional comments at the end of the questionnaire so that they can give their opinions that will help the company form a better business strategy.

• Straightforward: Keep the questions related to the topic that you are discussing and do not make them too long or convoluted that the respondents don’t understand what you want to know from them. Keep the questions short and the questionnaire relevant.

• Management’s role: The management constitutes the head of the an organization and they are responsible for taking the main decisions regarding any matter related to the running of the business. By knowing how the employees feel about the management, the company can understand if they are being good motivators, effective decision makers and are leading the organization well.

Encourage the respondents to answer honestly what they feel about the management so that the loopholes in the business strategies can be managed. Besides asking questions to employees, vendors and clients, such questionnaires can also be asked to the people within the management so that there can be first-hand knowledge about how they run the organization and what they can do to make the business more successful and run more smoothly.

Feedback questionnaires are a very important aspect of running a business successfully because it involves seeking the opinions of the customers regarding any product or service. For any company or organization, the customers or participants are the most crucial part of making it a success and hence these people must always be kept happy. In order to know if the organization is effectively making them satisfied with their products and services, they must find out a way of knowing what the customers want from them or do they have any problems.

In such a scenario, a feedback questionnaire is very helpful as it gives the customers to express their opinions and also express their grievances. By knowing where they are going wrong, the companies can accordingly fix those problems and make their customers happy before they choose to go to another brand. This information gained through feedback questionnaires will also lead to better service that will also help companies to gain more customers.

The importance of a feedback questionnaire can be further illustrated in the following points:

• The feedback questionnaire has an introduction which mentions that the opinion of the customer is valued and no matter how negatively or positively he responds, his answers will be considered important for improving the services of the company.

• Any positive reaction from the customer helps to motivate the company to do better and they know that their strategies are working well. And if there are any negative comments from the customer, they know the areas where they need to work on and can improve themselves to become a better company.

• Customers are the king and no matter what a company does, if it is not able to make the customer happy there is no way it can be successful. Hence it is very important to find out what they feel about the organization.

• If feedback is sought from people attending a seminar or from students about the services of a teacher, then it helps the organization to conduct the seminar in a better way in the future, or it can help the teacher become more effective in his job and connect with the students.

• Some feedback questionnaires are used by restaurants and the hospitality sector to know if their guests were satisfied with the dining experience and by knowing their opinions they can improve the quality of the food and make their services better.

• At the end of the feedback questionnaire, one can leave space for additional comments and suggestions which lets the customer give his suggestion or opinion on something in details and add on to the changes that can be made by the company. This way, the company gets a new insight on things they can modify in order to make the service better because of customer’s feedback.

• Thanking the customer after the feedback is completed also lets them know that their opinion is valued and the changes they suggested will be considered by the company. This reinforces their decision to stay with the same organization and creates brand loyalty.

The terms ‘questionnaire’ and ‘survey’ are often used interchangeably and one might think that it means the same thing. A questionnaire consist of a list of questions which are used to find out what one thinks about a particular topic. A survey is also a way to find out what people’s opinions are on a certain situation but here lies the difference: A questionnaire is a tool which can be used by anyone, a person or an organization for personal or research purposes and can be answered by only one person.

On the other hand, a survey is always on a larger scale, as the opinions of a group of people belonging to a particular section is sought through a questionnaire. Thus a questionnaire is more like a tool whereas a survey is more part of a methodology and contains more than a questionnaire as it also includes deduction, analysis, graphics etc.

The following points will make the difference between a questionnaire and a survey clearer:

• A survey is the process by which one forms an opinion about a certain section of people, their likes, dislikes and preferences, whereas, a questionnaire is the means or tool used to reach this goal. For example, a questionnaire is part of the survey or it can exist by itself, but in order to make a survey successful one shall always need a questionnaire of any form or size to understand the opinions of the sample respondents.

• A survey describes a particular aspect of a certain group of people and the questionnaire is the instrument which helps one get the opinions of the people.

• A survey is a concept which is more abstract in nature as it involves forming opinions about people and writing it down in record form. But a questionnaire is more of a tangible physical aspect as it has the specific questions that are asked to the people who give their responses regarding a certain topic.

• Surveys have a bigger scope as they are aimed at finding out the opinions of a large section of people. On the other hand, a questionnaire can be used either for the purpose of a survey or can be targeted to only one person.

• Surveys usually have a greater interest in mind and have a commercial, corporate, research or educational purpose. A questionnaire can be used for all those purpose but it can also be used for personal purposes to find out about someone’s likes and dislikes.

• A questionnaire is formatted like a form with a list of questions which will help on gain knowledge and information. But the meaning of a survey goes beyond that as it consists of a questionnaire and also involves a more detailed critical inspection, a descriptive summary of the situation or topic and the process of deducing, analyzing and observing.

• Although questionnaires are available online nowadays, they generally refer to paper questionnaires or a hard copy and on the other hand, surveys may be conducted through a phone, face to face, through the internet or through paper.

A questionnaire helps a person or organization to find out the opinions of a target group of respondents who express what they like, dislike, prefer, think or feel about a particular topic. Questionnaires are mainly used to conduct a survey either for research purposes, which can be commercial, educational or personal research, or it can be used to just find out what other think about the topic. No matter what the reason for creating the questionnaire is or what is the topic of the questionnaire, there are certain basic rules that one needs to keep in mind when constructing a questionnaire.

In the following paragraphs we shall discuss those rules and tips:

• Goal: Every questionnaire is constructed keeping in mind a certain goal or objective and all the questions in the questionnaire must be framed in such a way that the motive of the surveyor is fulfilled and he gets the kind of information he is looking for. If tone needs information about movie choices, his questions should be about the different types of movies, the latest releases etc.

• Respondents: The questionnaire must be targeted towards a certain type of respondents and the questions must be created in a such a way that they can identify with it and respond accordingly. For example, in order to find out about urban spending habits, one must ask those questions to people living in the city and not in rural areas.

• Instructions: Every questionnaire must begin with an introduction paragraph which will contain the instructions that will help the respondent to answer the questions and also give a background of the topic in question or why the surveyor is conducting the survey.

• Type: The questions can be of many types: they can be close ended, meaning the respondent can only answer in yes or no and can give limited answers, or they can be open-ended where they are no limits on what they want to write or how long they want to write. Some questionnaires also have multiple choice options where the respondent can chose from.

• Background questions: Before the questions regarding the topic of the questionnaire start, the first of the questionnaire seeks answers regarding the profile of the respondent, like, what is his name and other contact details, what is his occupation or educational standard, about his age, income etc. They help the surveyor to make a record of the respondents and also understand they answers in the context of their background

• Simplicity Whenever a question is too long, it loses the attention of the respondent. Keep them short, to the point, straightforward, related to the topic and not very complicated. Number them systematically and also have bullets form the options so that the questionnaire looks neat and organized. Try to keep it in one page if possible, unless the topic demands that you make it longer.

• Cross check: Make sure that the questionnaire is free from any spelling, grammatical and factual errors and has the all the questions necessary for you to get the kind of information you wanted.