Questionnaires in Research Methodology l Questionnaires Definition l Importance of a Good Questionnaire l Characteristics of A Good Questionnaire l Types of Questionnaire

Questionnaires Definition:

''A questionnaire is a research instrument that asks respondents a series of questions. Questionnaires may be seen as a written interview form. It is done in person, over the phone, computer or mail.''

Questionnaires are research instruments consisting of a series of questions or other types of instructions that are used during a research project to collect information from the respondent.

Questionnaires are a low-cost, quick, and efficient way to collect large amounts of data from many people. The data may be collected quickly since the researcher would not have to be there. This is useful for interviewing large populations.

A survey's social desirability may be a difficulty. Most people want to provide a positive image of themselves, therefore students may lie or embellish the truth. Questionnaires may be more cost-effective and faster than other methods for gathering data on a large number of individuals.

Importance of a Good Questionnaire

The usage of questionnaires is a common and low-cost research technique utilized by commercial companies and government bodies. Surveys and job interviews utilize questionnaires to get data from respondents. There are many variables that must be addressed while creating a formal questionnaire to get the desired results. 

If you want to design a decent and effective questionnaire, you need to know the target audience and the question-wording. In an interview, questions should be well-structured and evaluate communication, leadership, and other aspects of the interview.

Characteristics of A Good Questionnaire: 

Easy-to-understand and answer questions are critical for accurate results. When creating a questionnaire for your study or survey, consider the following:

Consider the following while designing a questionnaire:

• Knowing what to measure helps data collection.
• Words must be neutral and non-leading. 
• The questions should never reflect your views. Deliberate and unintentional.
• Be sure you use the correct word/phrase - 
• The terminology used should be clear. 
• A better response is also obtained by simplifying the question and survey criteria.
• When conducting a technical or field survey, define and qualifying terms. 
• If you think certain terms are unknown to the audience, define them. This will enhance quality and decrease bounce rates.
• Avoid using numerous negatives or more than one negative phrase.
• Options should have the most frequent answers.
• One question, one answer. If more than one question is required, make it a separate question.
• Stressing a phrase clarifies a point.
• The greatest way to measure good, bad, fair, and average is with images. Each person's interpretation varies.
• Avoid unjustified assumptions in surveys.

There are the following types of Questionnaire:

Computer questionnaire: 

The respondents are asked to answer the questionnaire via mail. The advantages of computer surveys include their cheap cost, time efficiency, and the respondents don't feel pressured, so they can answer more accurately when they have time. However, the main problem in the mail surveys is that respondents often hesitate to reply and just ignore the form. However, the main problem in the mail surveys is that respondents often hesitate to reply and just ignore the form.

Phone survey:

Researchers may choose to contact potential respondents to reply to the questionnaire. The advantage of the telephone survey is that it may be conducted for a short time. The main disadvantage of the telephone questionnaire is that it is mainly expensive. Moreover, many people don't feel comfortable answering numerous telephone questions, and the sample group can barely reply by phone to the inquiries.

In-house survey:
This kind of questionnaire involves the researcher who visits the respondents at home or at work. The advantage of the internal survey is that respondents may focus more on issues. However, in-house surveys are also disadvantageous, including time-consuming, expensive, and respondents may not want the researcher at home or at work for various reasons.

Email questionnaire:
This kind of questionnaire requires the researchers to mail out the survey list to the respondents, usually by including a prepayment envelope. The advantage of the e-mail questionnaire is that responders may answer the questionnaire freely. The inconvenience of mail surveys is expensive, time-consuming and often in the garbage of responders.

An Open-Ended Question:

An open inquiry cannot easily be answered with "yes" or "no." Open-ended questions are structured as a longer statement. The response may be compared to the knowledge of the questioner.

Questions with multiple choices.

Responses containing a number of answers are provided to responders. The disadvantage of the multi-choice inquiry is that if there are too many choices to choose from, it will be confusing, boring, and discouraged to finish the query.

Dichotomous questions

This kind of inquiry gives the interviewees two options - yes or no. It is the easiest method for the answerer to answer this question.

Questions of scaling.

They also offer an option for respondents to categorize the answers provided on a scale of a defined range of values (for example from 1 to 10).

Hypothetical questions

A hypothetical inquiry asks a responder what he or she would do, think, or feel about a future scenario. It calls upon individuals to speak about their future acts and conduct, something we are famously terrible at. This kind of inquiry may offer you facts that cannot be utilized or distort your general knowledge of the subject.

Conclusion 

Questionnaires are a low-cost research tool if they are used properly. It may be used to answer research questions, serve as an interviewing tool, assess respondent communication abilities.