Questionnaire Questions Planning

Planning the questionnaire questions needs insight and an understanding of the purpose of the questionnaire. If the questionnaire aims to lay the foundation for a qualitative study of an issue/topic, then the questions are to be constructed in an open-ended format. In case the questionnaire has an objective to gather information/data for rigorous quantitative analysis, the questions require to be constructed in a close ended format so that the replies are in a definite direction and focusing on the particular query without too much deviation.

Few factors to be accounted for while doing questionnaire questions planning are –

• The questions should be short
• They should be as direct as possible
• They should be directly concerning the main issue of the research
• There should not be any typos or grammatical errors in the questions
• Too many questions, especially in case of self-administered survey questionnaire must be avoided

Another major factor that must be taken into consideration at the time of planning the questions of a questionnaire is integrating the option of neutral response to a particular query. It is often observed that the questions have extreme alternatives to choose from. This decreases the space to respond from an indifferent platform. By including the option of a neutral answer, the required flexibility in incorporated.

Deciding upon the focus group is extremely important during the initial planning stages of a questionnaire. The particular section of a community or a band of concerned persons to be interviewed for studying a prevailing phenomenon must be chosen wisely to reduce the probability of any imperfections in the research.

Category: Questionnaire Questions