Question Construction

Once the information needs and size of the questionnaire have been agreed on, we can begin question construction - this involves the following :

giving a correct answer. Further, it must be made clear whether questioning would secure the required information or not. If we find that our objectives are not met by questioning, then we should think of alternative procedures.

(b) Question wording

Obviously, great care is required in formulating the questions. Reliable and meaningful returns depend to a large extent on this. Naturally, if questions are beyond the understanding of the respondent, he/she may choose one of the alternative responses without any idea as to the meaning of his/her response.

Some suggestions for wording questions are given below:

(i) Simple words which are expectedly familiar to all potential informants should be used. Avoid multiple meaning questions, as they tend to give rise to confusion on both sides; they should be formulated as two or more questions. Avoid ambiguity and vague words as they encourage ambiguous and vague answers.

(ii) Caution must be exercised in the use of phrases which reflect upon the prestige of the respondent. Embarrassing questions, leading questions, those involving memory, catch-words or words with emotional connotations should be avoided. Further, the question must allow for all possible responses - thus provision for such indefinite answers as “don’t know”, “no choice”, “other (specify)” should be made. But, at the same time, to avoid abuses of these indefinite questions, the range of answers should be exhaustive and well established as far as possible.

(iii) Questions should not, generally speaking, presume anything about the respondent. For example,

• How many cigarettes a day do you smoke?’ are best asked only after a ‘filter’ question. For e.g.,

Do you smoke?

Yes

No

This has revealed whether the respondent smokes cigarettes or not. Once filters have been formulated, skip instructions are necessary. For instance, for the above case, suppose the respondent does not smoke, then he may be directed to skip questions related to those who smoke.

Question wording remains a matter of experience and common sense and what we have discussed above is in no way complete.

(c) Response form or types of questions

The third major area in question construction is the type of questions to be included in the instrument. They may be classified into open questions and closed questions.

The closed (sometimes called Pre-coded, Fixed Alternative) questions are structured ones with two or more alternative responses from which the respondent can choose. They are efficient where the possible alternative replies are known, limited and clear-cut as in the case of factual information. They have the advantage of being ‘standardisable’, simple to administer, quick and relatively inexpensive to analyse. But at the other end, they may tend to force a statement of opinion on an issue or the respondent may be led to choose a response, even when he/she has no knowledge of it, or the limited alternatives may not cover his/her viewpoints.

• What do you propose to do after leaving the University?

While they present a major strength in the sense that the informant is given the chance of answering in his/her own terms and frame of reference, their analysis are often complex, difficult and expensive.

Open-ended questions are desirable when the issue is complex or when the interest of the researcher is the exploration of a process, but in other cases, closed questions are preferable.

(d) Question order/sequence

The order in which questions are arranged is as important as question wording, as they may affect the refusal rate and there is evidence that they may even influence the answers obtained.

As mentioned in the book by Goode and Hatt (1952), “Methods in Social Research”: McGraw-Hill, NY, there should be a logical progression in the sequence so that the respondent is

(i) drawn into the questioning process by awakening his/her interest (ii) not confronted by an early and sudden request for personal information

(iii) easily brought along items which are simple to answer to those which are complex

(iv) never asked to give an answer which could be embarrassing without being given an opportunity to explain

(v) brought smoothly from one frame of reference to another rather than made to jump back and forth.

The overall sequence in a questionnaire is of paramount importance, as usually the interviewer is a stranger to the respondent and the latter is under no obligation to comply. So,

the interviewer should try to awaken the respondent’s interest in the study and motivate participation.

There was a tendency in the past to begin the questionnaire with easy-to-answer demographic profiles of the respondent such as age, marital status, religion etc., but there is a school of thought that sees this practice as not desirable because people do not like to furnish such information so abruptly to strangers. It may thus be more desirable that these questions be put at the end, as by that time, the interviewer has evoked the interest of the respondent in the study and the latter is more willing to give such information.

(e) Pilot studies/Pre-testing

A pilot study is a full-fledged miniature study of a problem, while a pre-test is a trial test of a specific aspect of the study, such as method of data collection, data collection instrument, interview schedule etc..

The draft questionnaire must be pre-tested in order to find out how it works before launching off on a full-scale survey. This often solves unforeseen problems in field work and indicates any necessary change in the questions and other problems with the questionnaire. After the editing is done, other pre-tests might be necessary before administering the questionnaire ,depending on the complexity of the study. Finally a pilot study, which is a main rehearsal of the main study is vital for the proper running of the survey later.