Definition of the word questionnaire

Last Updated:
1 Apr 2023
— Updated example sentences

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A questionnaire is a research instrument that consists of a set of questions (or other types of prompts) for the purpose of gathering information from respondents through survey or statistical study. A research questionnaire is typically a mix of close-ended questions and open-ended questions. Open-ended, long-term questions offer the respondent the ability to elaborate on their thoughts. The Research questionnaire was developed by the Statistical Society of London in 1838.^[1][2]

Although questionnaires are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case.

Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of survey tools in that they are cheap, do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data.^[3] However, such standardized answers may frustrate users as the possible answers may not accurately represent their desired responses.^[4] Questionnaires are also sharply limited by the fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and respond to them. Thus, for some demographic groups conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be concretely feasible.^[5]

History[edit]

One of the earliest questionnaires was Dean Milles’ Questionnaire
of 1753.^[6]

Types[edit]

A distinction can be made between questionnaires with questions that measure separate variables, and questionnaires with questions that are aggregated into either a scale or index.
Questionnaires with questions that measure separate variables, could, for instance, include questions on:

• preferences (e.g. political party)
• behaviors (e.g. food consumption)
• facts (e.g. gender)

Questionnaires with questions that are aggregated into either a scale or index include for instance questions that measure:

• latent traits
• attitudes (e.g. towards immigration)
• an index (e.g. Social Economic Status)

Examples[edit]

• A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) is a questionnaire the type of diet consumed in people, and may be used as a research instrument. Examples of usages include assessment of intake of vitamins or toxins such as acrylamide.^[7][8]

Questionnaire construction[edit]

Question type[edit]

Usually, a questionnaire consists of a number of questions that the respondent has to answer in a set format. A distinction is made between open-ended and closed-ended questions. An open-ended question asks the respondent to formulate his own answer, whereas a closed-ended question asks the respondent to pick an answer from a given number of options. The response options for a closed-ended question should be exhaustive and mutually exclusive. Four types of response scales for closed-ended questions are distinguished:

• Dichotomous, where the respondent has two options. The dichotomous question is generally a «yes/no» close-ended question. This question is usually used in case of the need for necessary validation. It is the most natural form of a questionnaire.
• Nominal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two unordered options. The nominal scale, also called the categorical variable scale, is defined as a scale used for labeling variables into distinct classifications and does not involve a quantitative value or order.
• Ordinal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two ordered options
• (Bounded)Continuous, where the respondent is presented with a continuous scale

A respondent’s answer to an open-ended question is coded into a response scale afterward. An example of an open-ended question is a question where the testee has to complete a sentence (sentence completion item).^[9]

Question sequence[edit]

In general, questions should flow logically from one to the next. To achieve the best response rates, questions should flow from the least sensitive to the most sensitive, from the factual and behavioural to the attitudinal, and from the more general to the more specific.^{[citation needed]}

There typically is a flow that should be followed when constructing a questionnaire in regards to the order that the questions are asked. The order is as follows:

1. Screens
2. Warm-ups
3. Transitions
4. Skips
5. Difficult
6. Classification

Screens are used as a screening method to find out early whether or not someone should complete the questionnaire.
Warm-ups are simple to answer, help capture interest in the survey, and may not even pertain to research objectives.
Transition questions are used to make different areas flow well together.
Skips include questions similar to «If yes, then answer question 3. If no, then continue to question 5.»
Difficult questions are towards the end because the respondent is in «response mode.» Also, when completing an online questionnaire, the progress bars lets the respondent know that they are almost done so they are more willing to answer more difficult questions.
Classification, or demographic question should be at the end because typically they can feel like personal questions which will make respondents uncomfortable and not willing to finish survey.^[10]

Basic rules for questionnaire item construction[edit]

• Use statements that are interpreted in the same way by members of different subpopulations of the population of interest.
• Use statements where persons that have different opinions or traits will give different answers.
• Think of having an «open» answer category after a list of possible answers.
• Use only one aspect of the construct you are interested in per item.
• Use positive statements and avoid negatives or double negatives.
• Do not make assumptions about the respondent.
• Use clear and comprehensible wording, easily understandable for all educational levels
• Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• Avoid items that contain more than one question per item (e.g. Do you like strawberries and potatoes?).
• Question should not be biased or even leading the participant towards an answer.
• Incorporate research questions like MaxDiff and Conjoint to help collect actionable data ^[11]

Multi-item scales[edit]

Within social science research and practice, questionnaires are most frequently used to collect quantitative data using multi-item scales with the following characteristics:^[12]

• Multiple statements or questions (minimum ≥3; usually ≥5) are presented for each variable being examined.
• Each statement or question has an accompanying set of equidistant response-points (usually 5–7).
• Each response point has an accompanying verbal anchor (e.g., «strongly agree») ascending from left to right.
• Verbal anchors should be balanced to reflect equal intervals between response-points.
• Collectively, a set of response-points and accompanying verbal anchors are referred to as a rating scale. One very frequently-used rating scale is a Likert scale.
• Usually, for clarity and efficiency, a single set of anchors is presented for multiple rating scales in a questionnaire.
• Collectively, a statement or question with an accompanying rating scale is referred to as an item.
• When multiple items measure the same variable in a reliable and valid way, they are collectively referred to as a multi-item scale, or a psychometric scale.
• The following types of reliability and validity should be established for a multi-item scale: internal reliability, test-retest reliability (if the variable is expected to be stable over time), content validity, construct validity, and criterion validity.
• Factor analysis is used in the scale development process.
• Questionnaires used to collect quantitative data usually comprise several multi-item scales, together with an introductory and concluding section.

Questionnaire administration modes[edit]

Main modes of questionnaire administration include:^[9]

• Face-to-face questionnaire administration, where an interviewer presents the items orally.
• Paper-and-pencil questionnaire administration, where the items are presented on paper.
• Computerized questionnaire administration, where the items are presented on the computer.
• Adaptive computerized questionnaire administration, where a selection of items is presented on the computer, and based on the answers on those items, the computer selects the following items optimized for the testee’s estimated ability or trait.

Concerns with questionnaires[edit]

While questionnaires are inexpensive, quick, and easy to analyze, often the questionnaire can have more problems than benefits. For example, unlike interviews, the people conducting the research may never know if the respondent understood the question that was being asked. Also, because the questions are so specific to what the researchers are asking, the information gained can be minimal.^[13] Often, questionnaires such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, give too few options to answer; respondents can answer either option but must choose only one response. Questionnaires also produce very low return rates, whether they are mail or online questionnaires. The other problem associated with return rates is that often the people who do return the questionnaire are those who have a very positive or a very negative viewpoint and want their opinion heard. The people who are most likely unbiased either way typically do not respond because it is not worth their time.

One key concern with questionnaires is that they may contain quite large measurement errors.^[14] These errors can be random or systematic. Random errors are caused by unintended mistakes by respondents, interviewers, and/or coders. Systematic error can occur if there is a systematic reaction of the respondents to the scale used to formulate the survey question. Thus, the exact formulation of a survey question and its scale is crucial, since they affect the level of measurement error.^[15]

Further, if the questionnaires are not collected using sound sampling techniques, often the results can be non-representative of the population—as such a good sample is critical to getting representative results based on questionnaires.^[16]

See also[edit]

• Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
• Computer-assisted personal interviewing
• Enterprise Feedback Management
• Quantitative marketing research
• Questionnaire construction
• Statistical survey
• Structured interviewing
• Web-based experiments
• Position analysis questionnaire
• Abnormal construction

Further reading[edit]

• Foddy, W. H. (1994). Constructing questions for interviews and questionnaires: Theory and practice in social research (New ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Gillham, B. (2008). Developing a questionnaire (2nd ed.). London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
• Leung, W. C. (2001). «How to conduct a survey». Student BMJ. 9: 143–5.
• Mellenbergh, G. J. (2008). Chapter 10: Tests and questionnaires: Construction and administration. In H. J. Adèr & G. J. Mellenbergh (Eds.) (with contributions by D. J. Hand), Advising on research methods: A consultant’s companion (pp. 211–234). Huizen, The Netherlands: Johannes van Kessel Publishing.
• Mellenbergh, G. J. (2008). Chapter 11: Tests and questionnaires: Analysis. In H. J. Adèr & G. J. Mellenbergh (Eds.) (with contributions by D. J. Hand), Advising on research methods: A consultant’s companion (pp. 235–268). Huizen, The Netherlands: Johannes van Kessel Publishing.
• Munn, P., & Drever, E. (2004). Using questionnaires in small-scale research: A beginner’s guide. Glasgow, Scotland: Scottish Council for Research in Education.
• Oppenheim, A. N. (2000). Questionnaire design, interviewing and attitude measurement (New ed.). London, UK: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
• Robinson, M. A. (2018). Using multi-item psychometric scales for research and practice in human resource management. Human Resource Management, 57(3), 739–750. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21852 (open-access)

Questionnaire are of different types as per Paul:
1)Structured Questionnaire.
2)Unstructured Questionnaire.
3)Open ended Questionnaire.
4)Close ended Questionnaire.
5)Mixed Questionnaire.
6)Pictorial Questionnaire.

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Harmonised questions from the UK Office for National Statistics
• Hints for designing effective questionnaires — from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation

A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Questionnaires can be thought of as a kind of written interview. They can be carried out face to face, by telephone, computer or post.

Questionnaires provide a relatively cheap, quick, and efficient way of obtaining large amounts of information from a large sample of people.

Data can be collected relatively quickly because the researcher would not need to be present when completing the questionnaires. This is useful for large populations when interviews would be impractical.

However, a problem with questionnaires is that respondents may lie due to social desirability. Most people want to present a positive image of themselves and so may lie or bend the truth to look good, e.g., pupils would exaggerate revision duration.

Questionnaires can be an effective means of measuring the behavior, attitudes, preferences, opinions, and intentions of relatively large numbers of subjects more cheaply and quickly than other methods.

Often a questionnaire uses both open and closed questions to collect data. This is beneficial as it means both quantitative and qualitative data can be obtained.

Closed Questions

Closed questions structure the answer by only allowing responses that fit into pre-decided categories.

Data that can be placed into a category is called nominal data. The category can be restricted to as few as two options, i.e., dichotomous (e.g., “yes” or “no,” “male” or “female”), or include quite complex lists of alternatives from which the respondent can choose (e.g., polytomous).

Closed questions can also provide ordinal data (which can be ranked). This often involves using a continuous rating scale to measure the strength of attitudes or emotions.

For example, strongly agree / agree / neutral / disagree / strongly disagree / unable to answer.

Closed questions have been used to research type A personality (e.g., Friedman & Rosenman, 1974) and also to assess life events that may cause stress (Holmes & Rahe, 1967) and attachment (Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000).

Strengths

• They can be economical. This means they can provide large amounts of research data for relatively low costs. Therefore, a large sample size can be obtained, which should represent the population from which a researcher can then generalize.
• The respondent provides information that can be easily converted into quantitative data (e.g., count the number of “yes” or “no” answers), allowing statistical analysis of the responses.
• The questions are standardized. All respondents are asked exactly the same questions in the same order. This means a questionnaire can be replicated easily to check for reliability. Therefore, a second researcher can use the questionnaire to confirm consistent results.

Limitations

• They lack detail. Because the responses are fixed, there is less scope for respondents to supply answers which reflect their true feelings on a topic.

Open Questions

Open questions allow people to express what they think in their own words. Open-ended questions enable the respondent to answer in as much detail as they like in their own words. For example: “can you tell me how happy you feel right now?”

Open questions will work better if you want to gather more in-depth answers from your respondents. These give no pre-set answer options and instead allow the respondents to put down exactly what they like in their own words.

Open questions are often used for complex questions that cannot be answered in a few simple categories but require more detail and discussion.

Lawrence Kohlberg presented his participants with moral dilemmas. One of the most famous concerns a character called Heinz, who is faced with the choice between watching his wife die of cancer or stealing the only drug that could help her.

Participants were asked whether Heinz should steal the drug or not and, more importantly, for their reasons why upholding or breaking the law is right.

Strengths

• Rich qualitative data is obtained as open questions allow the respondent to elaborate on their answer. This means the research can determine why a person holds a certain attitude.

Limitations

• Time-consuming to collect the data. It takes longer for the respondent to complete open questions. This is a problem as a smaller sample size may be obtained.
• Time-consuming to analyze the data. It takes longer for the researcher to analyze qualitative data as they have to read the answers and try to put them into categories by coding, which is often subjective and difficult. However, Smith (1992) has devoted an entire book to the issues of thematic content analysis that includes 14 different scoring systems for open-ended questions.
• Not suitable for less educated respondents as open questions require superior writing skills and a better ability to express one’s feelings verbally.

With some questionnaires suffering from a response rate as low as 5%, it is essential that a questionnaire is well designed.

There are a number of important factors in questionnaire design.

Ethical Issues

• The researcher must ensure that the information provided by the respondent is kept confidential, e.g., name, address, etc.
• This means questionnaires are good for researching sensitive topics as respondents will be more honest when they cannot be identified.
• Keeping the questionnaire confidential should also reduce the likelihood of any psychological harm, such as embarrassment.
• Participants must provide informed consent prior to completing the questionnaire and must be aware that they have the right to withdraw their information at any time during the survey/ study.

Problems with Postal Questionnaires

At first sight, the postal questionnaire seems to offer the opportunity of getting around the problem of interview bias by reducing the personal involvement of the researcher. Its other practical advantages are that it is cheaper than face-to-face interviews and can contact many respondents scattered over a wide area relatively quickly.

However, these advantages must be weighed against the practical problems of conducting research by post. A lack of involvement by the researcher means there is little control over the information-gathering process.

The data might not be valid (i.e., truthful) as we can never be sure that the questionnaire was completed by the person to whom it was addressed.

That, of course, assumes there is a reply in the first place, and one of the most intractable problems of mailed questionnaires is a low response rate. This diminishes the reliability of the data

Also, postal questionnaires may not represent the population they are studying. This may be because:

• Some questionnaires may be lost in the post reducing the sample size.
• The questionnaire may be completed by someone who is not a member of the research population.
• Those with strong views on the questionnaire’s subject are more likely to complete it than those with no interest in it.

Benefits of a Pilot Study

A pilot study is a practice / small-scale study conducted before the main study. It allows the researcher to try out the study with a few participants so that adjustments can be made before the main study, so
saving time and money.

It is important to conduct a questionnaire pilot study for the following reasons:

• Check that respondents understand the terminology used in the questionnaire.
• Check that emotive questions are not used, as they make people defensive and could invalidate their answers.
• Check that leading questions have not been used as they could bias the respondent’s answer.
• Ensure the questionnaire can be completed in an appropriate time frame (i.e., it’s not too long).

References

Fraley, R. C., Waller, N. G., & Brennan, K. A. (2000). An item-response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 350-365.

Friedman, M., & Rosenman, R. H. (1974). Type A behavior and your heart. New York: Knopf.

Holmes, T. H., & Rahe, R. H. (1967). The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of psychosomatic research, 11(2), 213-218.

Smith, C. P. (Ed.). (1992). Motivation and personality: Handbook of thematic content analysis. Cambridge University Press.

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French questionnaire, from Late Latin quaestionarius, from quaestio (English question) + -arius, from quaerō (“I question”) (English query).

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌk(w)estʃəˈnɛə/, /ˌk(w)estjəˈnɛə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌkwɛs.t͡ʃəˈnɛɹ/

Noun[edit]

questionnaire (plural questionnaires)

1. A form containing a list of questions; a means of gathering information for a survey

   carry out a questionnaire

   fill out a questionnaire

   • 1946 January and February, “Post-War Passenger Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, page 2:

     In considering their post-war designs some of the British and American railways have adopted the course of taking a cross section of the requirements of the travelling public by distributing questionnaires dealing with details of seating, lighting, catering, and other features making for comfortable journeys.

[edit]

• question

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

questionnaire (third-person singular simple present questionnaires, present participle questionnairing, simple past and past participle questionnaired)

1. to survey using questionnaires

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Late Latin quaestionarius, from quaestiono, from Latin quaestio.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /kɛs.tjɔ.nɛʁ/

Noun[edit]

questionnaire m (plural questionnaires)

1. questionnaire

[edit]

• question

Further reading[edit]

• “questionnaire”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams[edit]

• questionnerai

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I would, if checking boxes in a questionnaire, say I would oppose abortion except when the life of the mother is in danger.

Michael Baumgartner

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD QUESTIONNAIRE

From French, from questionner to ask questions.

PRONUNCIATION OF QUESTIONNAIRE

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF QUESTIONNAIRE

Questionnaire is a noun.

WHAT DOES QUESTIONNAIRE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Definition of questionnaire in the English dictionary

The definition of questionnaire in the dictionary is a set of questions on a form, submitted to a number of people in order to collect statistical information.

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REFERENCE

« EDUCALINGO. Questionnaire [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/questionnaire>. Apr 2023 ».

I received a questionnaire from the MWA yesterday, something I need to fill out for the publicist hired for the Edgar Awards. ❋ Unknown (2010)

After your marketing questionnaire is complete, it is important to follow up with the people who were involved. ❋ Unknown (2009)

And her Playboy interview/questionnaire is absolutely hilarious. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Once the questionnaire is completed, you may be asked more specific questions about your child and about his or her stuttering. ❋ Unknown (2010)

Your response to the 2007 Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons (SBO) questionnaire is required by law. ❋ Unknown (2010)

The so-called «supplier diversity development questionnaire» is sent to all bidders for contracts with the London Development Agency. ❋ Not A Sheep (2008)

I think the questionnaire is too slanted towards extemes. ❋ Newmania (2008)

Well, yes, but other than one answer on endorsements, the rest of the questionnaire is typed out. ❋ Unknown (2008)

The Political Compass questionnaire is one way to measure political thinking. ❋ Ewillett (2007)

Today I filled out a ten-page “how are we doing” questionnaire from the V.A. I gave everything to do with cleanliness, courtesy and quality care an excellent, but then the questions began shifting, and suddenly it was all about me. ❋ Unknown (2007)

The data collected in this questionnaire is kept strictly confidential. ❋ Unknown (2006)

Christo of Selectparks. net asks us to pass on news of his questionnaire, The questionnaire is being used to garner experiences and opinions of game administrators (and other players) monitoring game play. ❋ Unknown (2006)

Her quirky, 146-item questionnaire is designed to slot each member into one of four human personality categories — The Director, The Builder, The Explorer or The Negotiator — and to rule out mismatches by type. ❋ Unknown (2006)

Asked in a questionnaire from the Senate Armed Services Committee what he would have done differently in Iraq if he had been defense secretary in the last six years, Mr. Gates responded: War planning should be done with the understanding that postmajor-combat phase of operations can be crucial. ❋ Unknown (2006)

I don’t know about unclassified work, but lying on your security clearance questionnaire is illegal, I believe. ❋ Nick Anthis (2006)

The questionnaire is from the Lesbian/Gay Political Coalition of Dallas. ❋ Unknown (2005)

Would a true conservative family-values candidate fill out a candidate questionnaire from a gay rights group TODAY, let alone in 1989 and in Texas to boot? ❋ Unknown (2005)

The purpose of this questionnaire is to provide material for a book called (provisionally), The Inter-Galactic Playground of Children’s Science Fiction to be published by McFarland Press. ❋ Unknown (2005)