#questionnaire design

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Basically, a survey questionnaire is a research instrument that contains a set of questions used for the purpose of collecting suitable information from respondents. A ‘good’ questionnaire not only helps a scholar to achieve the research objectives, provides detailed and accurate information but also offers aid in making a sound data analysis and interpretation.

Whether you want to conduct an interview or mail out surveys, you will have to develop a good survey questionnaire. However, developing a good questionnaire is not an easy task. There are several aspects one should take into consideration while developing an excellent survey questionnaire.

State the intentions of your research

Include a concise statement that explains the reason for collecting specific information. On knowing the purpose of your study, people will be willing to help you with your survey.

Include a few instructions with the survey questionnaire. To make sure that you have collected relevant survey results, include few guidelines on how the survey question must be answered the survey questionnaire and other instructions for specific questions.

Do not ask for personal information unless it is necessary

Asking respondents to provide with personal information (age, race, income level, etc.) may irritate and offend some individuals and may prevent them from completing the survey questionnaire. However, such information is necessary for your research, include them at the end of the survey questionnaire.

Keep the questions concise and short

Each survey question should be kept brief and precise. This will prevent any kind of confusion among individuals. Also, any question that is unnecessary or is not relevant to your study shouldn’t be included within the questionnaire.

Ensure that the questions are unbiased

While designing a survey questionnaire, make sure you include the questions that are neutral. i.e. the questions should not be leading the respondents towards a particular answer.  

Organise the questions according to subject

If you have included many questions in the questionnaire, then organise the questions so that the respondents can answer in a short period. The best way to organise the questions is to classify them together by subject. This lets the respondents focus on the questions and answer them appropriately and quickly.

Present the questions in a clean and clear layout

A clean layout can make it much simpler for an individual to answer the questions and for you to gather the data. Ensure that the method for marking answers are well explained, and the answer boxes are consistent throughout the questionnaire.

Test the survey questionnaire

Once the survey questionnaire has been developed, conduct a test on your peer to make sure that the questions are well-developed, transparent and can capture the information that you require for your study.

Shhhh…. A Post in Which We Reveal the Midi-chlorians of Questionnaire Design

This post originally appeared on the Sklar Wilton & Associates blog.

There are no midi-chlorians when it comes to questionnaire design.

Sigh. I’m sad to start the post like that but it’s true. There are no Jedi mind tricks that will make people generate better questionnaire data. There are no sacred texts on the market research version Ahch-To containing that one single piece of advice that will…

Surveys, such as employee feedback surveys, play a very important role in overall company success. In the case of employee feedback surveys, for example, they provide you with an accurate picture of your company’s current state and future needs. For example, employee feedback survey can help you gather employee opinions on various issues like innovation, satisfaction, functional expertise, compensation, benefits and many others. 

While there are numerous benefits to surveys, few people have a solid sense of proper questionnaire design. Below we highlight a few tips to immediately improve your questionnaire design. 

Key Points to be Considered When Designing a Questionnaire

You may be wondering how you can go about compiling an employee questionnaire or what key points you should consider. There are a few simple tips for designing questionnaires effectively.

· Try to be simple and not overdo it. Questions need not be fancy. Frame them in easy terms so that your employees can understand.

· Make them understand what you are asking from them. Think before you frame a question. Can the respondent precisely understand what you are asking him/her? Ideally, you should keep the reading level to no more than that of a high school level.

· Ask one question at a time. Don’t make the common mistake of creating double-barreled questions, which may combine multiple questions into a single one. Singularity is the best way to go to ensure that your results are most actionable.

· Do not inadvertently influence your respondents. Be mindful of common survey biases that may inadvertently influence your respondents (e.g., leading questions by sharing your opinion). This is the only way to ensure that you are capturing your respondents’ accurate perceptions.

· Given them an out. Give respondents a possibility to pass the question if they are not keen on answering it. While forced response questions can sometimes be good, only use these sparingly and when absolutely necessary. Few people enjoy being forced to provide input. 

Pulse surveys are the new trend. All sizes and types of companies are now opting for pulse surveys for the efficiency and benefits they provide. So, what is a pulse survey or a pulse employee survey?

An employee pulse survey is a quick survey. It is against the traditional long-held norms. Pulse surveys comprise of short questions or response fields like radio checkboxes or multiple choice drop-down lists. They are designed to be extremely light on the mind. In other words, an employee can fill the survey in a very short period of time without thinking a lot.

These are used to understand the overall mood of the entire workplace.

There are no complex questions. In fact, pulse surveys are repeating surveys. They can be monthly, weekly, or even daily (if made up of only one or two questions). Intelligent questionnaire design is very important when creating a pulse survey. Pulse surveys do away with the need to think of surveys as a full-fledged office exercise. Pulse surveys make surveying quicker, cheaper, lighter, and better.

You get responses that help you analyze the overall mood of the workplace. Now, what is that? Is something bothering the employees? What are the most recurring problems in the workplace? What changes should be given higher priority? Now, using online survey tools like ours, you can easily deploy online pulse surveys without caring about how they are managed and stored. You will get the responses that you track and analyze to improve your workplace.

Today’s companies are very interested in hearing about the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors of their employees. In other words, they like to give employees a voice. Organizations are also interested in engagement and/or disengagement of employees. This is why many organizations are interested in conducting employee engagement surveys. They are becoming an incredibly popular tool.

Why should organizations consider conducting employee engagement surveys? First, it makes employees feel valued. Employee engagement surveys allow employees to express their opinions, problems, and feedback related to the work environment. It is a way that employees can confidentially communicate with top-level management and provide insight to improve the business.

If you would like to conduct an employee engagement survey, there are various questions you must first ask:

1. Do you know what you will do with the feedback? When employee engagement surveys are administered, respondents often have expectations that their feedback will be taken into account by upper management and ultimately be used for the betterment of the organization. If the feedback will not be used, it becomes a futile effort.

2. Do you need professional assistance with the survey? Many people feel as if they can handle the administration of an employee engagement survey by themselves. However, having a professional help with the survey campaign can be incredibly beneficial. Having an external organization can ensure confidentiality given that this company does not have a personal relationship with employees. A professional survey-consulting firm can also help with questionnaire design to ensure that the survey accurately measures what you are trying to uncover.

Is MyDemocracy.ca a Valid Survey?

Like many other Canadians, I received a card in the mail from the Government of Canada promoting a website named MyDemocracy.ca. Just a day before, I’d also come across a link for it on Twitter so with two hints at hand, I decided to read the documentation and find out what it was all about. Along the way, I noticed a lot of controversy about the survey so I thought I’d share a few of my own…