Planning an
Applied Research
Project
Chapter 11 – Research Techniques:
Questionnaires
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
» Describe the purposes of questionnaires
» Identify the six types of questionnaires and their
merits
» Explain the advantages and disadvantages of
questionnaires as a data gathering method
» Create a range of question types
» Improve the response rate of a questionnaire
» Explain the need to protect the privacy of an
individual respondent’s answers
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Key Terms
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Back translation
Category questions
Check box
Classification data
Closedended
questions
» Doorknob
questionnaires
» Dropdown box
» Funnel approach
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
» Inperson
questionnaires
» Incentives
» Intercept administration
» Interviewer
administered
questionnaires
» Loaded questions
» Leading questions
» List questions
» Likert scale
Key Terms (cont’d)
» Mailed
questionnaires
» Online questionnaires
» Openended
questions
» Order bias
» Personally distributed
questionnaires
» Pop up box
» Radio button
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
» Ranking questions
» Rating questions
» Selfadministered
questionnaires
» Status bar
» Telephone
questionnaires
Purposes of Questionnaires
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Provide statistical information
Enable correlations
Test or retest theories, prove a hypothesis
Sample a specific population
Support a notion, even if illdefined
Obtain patterns of responses
Compare responses over subsets of respondents
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Questionnaires
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Doorknob questionnaires
In person questionnaires
Interviewer administered questionnaires
Mailed questionnaires
Online questionnaires
Personally distributed questionnaires
Selfadministered questionnaires
Telephone questionnaires
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Developing Questionnaires
» Clarify purpose of the questionnaire
» Write questions (using a range of appropriate
formats)
» Revise and edit questions
» Sequence the questions
» Check clarity of questions with colleagues
» Rewrite and format questions
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Types of Questions
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Category questions
Close ended
Leading questions
List questions
Loading questions
Open ended questions
Ranking questions
Rating questions
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Questionnaire Administration
» Intercept method
» Mailing questionnaire
» Doorknob questionnaire – leaving it on the
doorknob of an apartment, house, or other form of
residence
» In person administration
» Internet questionnaire
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Increasing Response Rates
»
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Professional looking questionnaire
Clear purpose statement
Quality of the sponsor
An incentive
Status bar at bottom of page
SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) if mailed
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Permission Letter
» Request to complete a questionnaire
» Explanation of the purpose of the questionnaire
» Information about sponsor or sponsoring
organization
» Information about protecting confidentiality and
privacy
» Explanation of how to complete the questionnaire
» Age requirement to complete the questionnaire
» Name and address of researcher
» Way to contact the researcher
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Review of Class Session
» Anything unclear?
» One thing that I learned from this class is …
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.