RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

320 QUESTIONNAIRES
Box 15.2
Aguideforquestionnaireconstruction
A
B
C
D
Decisions about question content
1IsthequestionnecessaryJusthowwillitbeuseful
2Areseveralquestionsneededonthe subject matter of this question
3Dorespondentshavetheinformation necessary to answer the question
4Doesthequestionneedtobemoreconcrete,specificandclosely related to the respondent’s personal experience
5Isthequestioncontentsufficiently general and free from spurious concreteness and specificity
6Dotherepliesexpressgeneralattitudesand only seem to be as specific as they sound
7Isthequestioncontentbiasedorloaded in one direction, without accompanying questions to balance the emphasis
8Willtherespondentsgivetheinformationthatisaskedfor
Decisions about question wording
1CanthequestionbemisunderstoodDoesitcontain difficult or unclear phraseology
2Doesthequestionadequatelyexpress the alternative with respect to the point
3Isthequestionmisleadingbecauseofunstatedassumptionsorunseenimplications
4 Is the wording biased Is it emotionally loaded or slanted towards a particular kind of answer
5Isthequestionwordinglikelytobeobjectionable to the respondent in any way
6Wouldamorepersonalizedwordingofthe question produce better results
7Canthequestionbebetteraskedinamoredirectoramoreindirectform
Decisions about form of response to the question
1Canthequestionbestbeaskedinaformcallingforcheckanswer(orshortanswerofawordortwo,oranumber),
free answer or check answer with follow-up answer
2Ifacheckanswerisused,whichisthebest type for this question – dichotomous, multiple-choice (‘cafeteria’
question), or scale
3Ifachecklistisused,doesitcoveradequatelyallthesignificantalternatives without overlapping and in a defensible
order Is it of reasonable length Is the wording of items impartial and balanced
4Istheformofresponseeasy,definite,uniform and adequate for the purpose
Decisions about the place of the question in the sequence
1Istheanswertothequestionlikelytobeinfluencedbythecontentofprecedingquestions
2Isthequestionleduptoinanaturalway Is it in correct psychological order
3Doesthequestioncometooearlyortoolatefromthepoint of view of arousing interest and receiving sufficient
attention, avoiding resistance, and so on
Source:Sellitzet al.1976
concepts or constructs, e.g. their presence, their intensity,
their main features and dimensions, their
key elements etc.
What unites these two approaches is their
recognition of the need to ensure that the
questionnaire:
is clear on its purposes
is clear on what needs to be included or covered
in the questionnaire in order to meet the
purposes
is exhaustive in its coverage of the elements of
inclusion
asks the most appropriate kinds of question
(discussed below)
elicits the most appropriate kinds of data to
answer the research purposes and sub-questions
asks for empirical data.
Structured, semi-structured and
unstructured questionnaires
Although there is a large range of types of
questionnaire, there is a simple rule of thumb: the
larger the size of the sample, the more structured,
closed and numerical the questionnaire may have
to be, and the smaller the size of the sample, the
less structured, more open and word-based the
questionnaire may be.
The researcher can select several types of questionnaire,
from highly structured to unstructured.