Domain Testing: Divide and Conquer - Testing Education

instructional design itself. According to them, survey questionnaires might be given
to a group of subjects from the target audience to determine the kind of tasks they
perform, which in turn helps in performing task analysis.
Morrison et al. (2004) have outlined two kinds of questions that might be included
in a questionnaire:
• Open-Ended – these require that learners write down answers to the questions in
their own words. For example, “What did you like best about the instruction?” is an
example of an open-ended question.
• Closed-Ended – these require that learners choose from a given set of answers.
Such questions usually have their answers mapping to a rating scale, such as “1-
Excellent, 2-Very Good, 3-Good, 4-Fair and 5-Poor.”
I have used questionnaires in my training sessions to measure learners’ attitudes,
opinions and behaviors. I have used both open-ended and closed-ended questions in
these questionnaires.
Interviews: Morrison et al. (2004) have stated, “An interview allows learners to
discuss their reactions toward instruction in more detail than can be done on a
survey or questionnaire” (p. 301). They have further contended that it is up to the
instructional designer to decide, keeping in mind the comfort level of the
interviewees, if group interviews or individual interviews are to be conducted.
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