RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN 343
Balance brevity with politeness (Oppenheim
1992: 122). It might be advantageous to replace
abluntphraselike‘maritalstatus’withagentler
‘Please indicate whether you are married, living
with a partner, or single ....’ or ‘I would be
grateful if would tell me if you are married,
living with a partner, or single’.
Ensure a balance of questions that ask for
facts and opinions (this is especially true if
statistical correlations and cross-tabulations are
required).
Avoid leading questions.
Try to avoid threatening questions.
Do not assume that respondents know the
answers, or have information to answer
the questions, or will always tell the truth
(wittingly or not). Therefore include ‘don’t
know’, ‘not applicable’, ‘unsure’, ‘neither agree
nor disagree’ and ‘not relevant’ categories.
Avoid making the questions too hard.
Balance the number of negative questions
with the number of positive questions (Black
1999: 229).
Consider the readability levels of the
questionnaire and the reading and writing
abilities of the respondents (which may lead
the researcher to conduct the questionnaire as
astructuredinterview).
Put sensitive questions later in the questionnaire
in order to avoid creating a mental set
in the mind of respondents, but not so late
in the questionnaire that boredom and lack of
concentration have set it.
Intersperse sensitive questions with nonsensitive
questions.
Be very clear on the layout of the questionnaire
so that it is unambiguous and attractive
(this is particularly the case if a computer
program is going to be used for data
analysis).
Avoid, where possible, splitting an item over
more than one page, as the respondent may
think that the item from the previous page is
finished.
Ensure that the respondent knows how
to enter a reply to each question, e.g.
by underlining, circling, ticking, writing;
provide the instructions for introducing,
completing and returning (or collection
of) the questionnaire (provide a stamped
addressed envelope if it is to be a postal
questionnaire).
Pilot the questionnaire, using a group of respondents
who are drawn from the possible
sample but who will not receive the final,
refined version.
With the data analysis in mind, plan so
that the appropriate scales and kinds of data
(e.g. nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio) are
used.
Decide how to avoid falsification of responses
(e.g. introduce a checking mechanism
into the questionnaire responses to
another question on the same topic or
issue).
Be satisfied if you receive a 50 per cent
response to the questionnaire; decide what
you will do with missing data and what is the
significance of the missing data (that might
have implications for the strata of a stratified
sample targeted in the questionnaire), and why
the questionnaires have not been completed
and returned. For example, were the questions
too threatening or was the questionnaire too
long (This might have been signalled in the
pilot).
Include a covering explanation, thanking the
potential respondent for anticipated cooperation,
indicating the purposes of the research,
how anonymity and confidentiality will be addressed,
who you are and what position you
hold, and who will be party to the final
report.
If the questionnaire is going to be administered
by someone other than the
researcher, ensure that instructions for administration
are provided and that they are
clear.
Akeyissuethatpermeatesthislengthylistis
for the researcher to pay considerable attention
to respondents; to see the questionnaire through
their eyes, and envisage how they will regard it (e.g.
from hostility to suspicion to apathy to grudging
Chapter 15