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168 PART II: Descriptive Methods3 Write a first draft of the questionnaire.4 Reexamine and revise the questionnaire.5 Pretest the questionnaire.6 Edit the questionnaire and specify the procedures for its use.Step 1. The warning “Watch out for that first step!” is appropriate here. Thefirst step in questionnaire construction—deciding what information is tobe sought—should actually be the first step in planning the survey as awhole. This decision, of course, determines the nature of the questionsto be included in the questionnaire. It is important to predict the likelyresults of a proposed questionnaire and decide whether these “findings”would answer the questions of the study. Surveys are frequently doneunder considerable time pressure, and inexperienced researchers areespecially prone to impatience. A poorly conceived questionnaire,however, takes as much time and effort to administer and analyze as doesa well-conceived questionnaire. The difference is that a well-constructedquestionnaire leads to interpretable results. The best that can be said fora poorly designed one is that it is a good way to learn the importance ofcareful deliberation in the planning stages.Step 2. The next step is to decide how to administer the questionnaire. Forexample, will it be self-administered, or will trained interviewers be usingit? This decision is determined primarily by the survey method that hasbeen selected. For instance, if a telephone survey is to be done, trainedinterviewers will be needed. In designing the questionnaire, one shouldalso consider using items that have been prepared by other researchers.For example, there is no reason to develop your own instrument to assessracial prejudice if a reliable and valid one is already available. Besides, ifyou use items from a questionnaire that has already been used, you cancompare your results directly with those of earlier studies.Step 3. If you decide that no available instrument suits your needs, you willhave to take the third step and write a first draft of your own questionnaire.Guidelines concerning the wording and ordering of questions arepresented later in this section.Step 4. The fourth step in questionnaire construction—reexamining andrewriting—is an essential one. Questions that appear objective andunambiguous to you may strike others as slanted or ambiguous. It is mosthelpful to have your questionnaire reviewed by experts, both those whohave knowledge of survey research methods and those with expertise inthe area on which your study is focused. For example, if you are doing asurvey of students’ attitudes toward the campus food service, it wouldbe advisable to have your questionnaire reviewed by the campus foodservicedirector. When you are dealing with a controversial topic, it isespecially important to have representatives of both sides of the issuescreen your questions for possible bias.Step 5. By far the most critical step in the development of an effectivequestionnaire is to do a pretest. A pretest involves actually administeringthe questionnaire to a small sample of respondents under conditions