Lecture Marketing research (12th edition) - Chapter 12: Designing the questionnaire

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Marketing Research
Aaker, Kumar, 
Leone and Day 
Twelfth Edition
Instructor’s 


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Chapter Twelve

Designing the Questionnaire

Marketing Research 12th Edition


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Designing the Questionnaire

Questionnaire building 
is an art!

A questionnaire
is always custom­built!

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The Process of Questionnaire Design
PLANNING WHAT TO MEASURE
Revisit the research objectives
Decide on the research issue of your questionnaire
Get additional information on the research issue from secondary data sources and exploratory
research
Decide on what is to be asked under the research issue
Decide how you want to analyze the data collected.

FORMATTING THE QUESTIONNAIRE
In each issue, determine the content of each question.
Decide on the format of each question

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The Process of Questionnaire Design (Contd.)
QUESTION WORDING
Determine how the question is worded
Evaluate each research question on the basis of comprehensibility, knowledge and ability,
willingness/inclination of a typical respondent to answer the question

SEQUENCING AND LAYOUT DECISIONS
Lay out the questions in a proper sequence
Group all the questions in each subtopic to get a single questionnaire

PRETESTING AND CORRECTING PROBLEMS
Read through the whole questionnaire to check whether it makes sense and it measures what
it is supposed to measure
Check the questionnaire for error
Pretest the questionnaire
Correct the problems
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Designing the Questionnaire

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Designing the Questionnaire (Contd.)

Formatting the Question
Decide on the degree of freedom 
Alternatives
to be given to the respondents in 
   Open ended with no classification
   Open ended where the interviewer uses pre­coded    
answering the questions
•
•

    classifications to record the response
•

   Close ended or structured format in which a question  
    

    or a supplementary card presents the responses to 
    be considered

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Open­Response Questions
•
•

•

•

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For introduction to a survey or to a topic
When it is important to measure the salience of an issue to a 
respondent
When there are too many responses to be listed, or they cannot be 
foreseen
When verbatim responses are desired to give the flavor of people's 

answers or to cite examples
When the behavior to be measured is sensitive or disapproved
How do you feel about the public transportation in downtown
Hartford?
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Open Response Questions (Contd.)

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Closed Response Questions
Two Basic Formats for Closed Ended or 
Structured Questions:

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Closed Response Questions (Contd.)
 

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Designing The Questionnaire (contd.)
Number of Response Categories 
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Generally five to seven categories

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Ideally the multiple choices should be mutually exclusive

Order of Response Categories : 
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Can affect responses

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What factor influences your fast­food restaurant choice most ?

 Convenient location   Quality of food
 Menu selection  Fast service
 Reasonable prices

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 Brand name

 Cleanliness

To  prevent  order  bias,  place  the  average  or  expected  response  at 
various positions in the sequence of categories
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Range of Response Categories
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Respondents who do not know the answer 
might take categories as cues.
How many long­distance calls do you make in a week?
 less than 5
 5­10

     or

 More than 10.

 less than 10
 10­20
 More than 20.

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Handling Uncertainty and Ignorance
Concerns the handling of “don’t know” and 
neutral responses
▫

May be advisable to provide the interviewer with an additional 
“no answer” category to identify these people correctly

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Using Both Open­Response & Closed­Response 
Questions
Probe:
Using an open­response question to follow up a closed­
response question
Two general purposes for the use of probes:
•

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Pinpoint questions that were particularly difficult for 
respondents
Aid researcher interpretation of respondent answers

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Question Wording

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Question Wording (contd.)
•

Avoid ambiguous words
How many times per month do you visit a fast­food restaurant?





•

Never
Occasionally
Sometimes
Often

Check if any of the questions are loaded
1.
2.

Don’t you think, because it’s so greasy, fast­food is one of the worst types of food? 
Do you prefer a hamburger that is grilled on a hot stainless­steel grill or cooked by 
passing the raw meat through an open gas flame?

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Question Wording (contd.)
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Are any questions "double­barreled”?
Are you satisfied with the price and the service of Taco Bell?

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Is the question applicable to all respondents?
Why do you like fast­food?
Assumes that respondent likes fast­food!

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Asking Sensitive Questions 
Example: Consumption of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes
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The casual approach
“Have you eaten ‘Frosted Flakes’ within the last week?

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The numbered card
“Would you please read off the number on this card that 
corresponds to what you had eaten for breakfast in the last week?” 
(Hand card to respondent)
1.

Pancakes

2.

Frosted Flakes

3.

Other (what)?

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Asking Sensitive Questions (Cont.)

•

The everybody approach
“As you know, many people have been eating Frosted Flakes for breakfast.
Do you eat Frosted Flakes?”

•

The “other people” approach
“Do you know of any adult who eats Frosted Flakes?”
“How about yourself?”

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Asking Sensitive Questions (Contd.)
The sealed ballot technique

Explain that  the survey respects people’s right to anonymity with  
respect to their eating habits
and
Respondents themselves are to fill out the answer to the question, 
seal it in an envelope, and drop it in a box conspicuously labeled 
“sealed ballet box” carried by the interviewer

The Kinsey approach

Look into respondent’s eyes and ask in simple clear­cut language 
“Do you eat Frosted Flakes for breakfast?”

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Asking Sensitive Questions (Contd.)
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Randomized Response Technique
▫

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The respondent is asked to answer one or two randomly selected 
questions without revealing which question has been answered

Questions:
Sensitive
▫ Innocuous
▫

Since the interviewer records a “yes” or “no” answer without knowing which 
question has been answered, the respondent feels free to answer honestly

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Randomized Response Technique

P[Yes] = P[Yes|S.Q] * P[S.Q] + P[Yes|I.Q] * 
P[I.Q]
where
S.Q = Sensitive Question
I.Q  = Innocent Question

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Sequence And Layout Decisions
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Open with an easy and non­threatening question
Ensure that questionnaire has smooth and logical flow 
from one topic to the next
Proceed from broad general questions to more specific 
ones
Do not place sensitive or difficult questions dealing with 
income status, ability etc at the beginning of the 

questionnaire
Use good quality of paper
Make physical layout appealing and interesting

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Organization of a Typical Questionnaire

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