mng501 research methodology week 7b questionnaire …

MNG501

1

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Week 7b Questionnaire

Quality and Design

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publically accessible website, in whole or in part.

Chapter 15Questionnaire

Design

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

EIGHTH EDITION

BUSINESS MARKET RESEARCH

ZIKMUND BABINCARR GRIFFIN

© 2010 South-Western/Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publically accessible website, in whole or in part. 15–3

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Explain the significance of decisions about questionnaire design and wording

2. Define alternatives for wording open-ended and fixed-alternative questions

3. Summarize guidelines for questions that avoid mistakes in questionnaire design

4. Describe how the proper sequence of questions may improve a questionnaire

5. Discuss how to design a questionnaire layout6. Describe criteria for pretesting and revising a

questionnaire and for adapting it to global markets

After studying this chapter, you should be able to


Questionnaire Quality and Design:Basic Considerations

• Questionnaire design is one of the most critical stages in the survey research process. A questionnaire (survey) is only as good as the

questions it asks—ask a bad question, get bad results.

Composing a good questionnaire appears easy, but it is usually the result of long, painstaking work.

The questions must meet the basic criteria of relevance and accuracy.


Decisions in Questionnaire Design

1. What should be asked?

2. How should questions be phrased?

3. In what sequence should the questions be arranged?

4. What questionnaire layout will best serve the research objectives?

5. How should the questionnaire be pretested? Does the questionnaire need to be revised?


What Should Be Asked?

• Questionnaire Relevancy All information collected should address a research

question in helping the decision maker in solving the current business problem.

• Questionnaire Accuracy Increasing the reliability and validity of respondent

information requires that: Questionnaires should use simple, understandable, unbiased,

unambiguous, and nonirritating words. Questionnaire design should facilitate recall and motivate

respondents to cooperate. Proper question wording and sequencing to avoid confusion

and biased answers.


Wording Questions

• Open-ended Response Questions Pose some problem and ask respondents to answer

in their own words. Advantages:

Are most beneficial in exploratory research, especially when the range of responses is not known.

May reveal unanticipated reactions toward the product. Are good first questions because they allow respondents to

warm up to the questioning process.

Disadvantages: High cost of administering open-ended response questions. The possibility that interviewer bias will influence the answer. Bias introduced by articulate individuals’ longer answers.


Wording Questions (cont’d)

• Fixed-alternative QuestionsQuestions in which respondents are given specific,

limited-alternative responses and asked to choose the one closest to their own viewpoint.

Advantages: Require less interviewer skill Take less time to answer Are easier for the respondent to answer Provides comparability of answers

Disadvantages: Lack of range in the response alternatives Tendency of respondents to choose convenient alternative


Types of Fixed-Alternative Questions

• Simple-dichotomy (dichotomous) Question Requires the respondent to choose one of two alternatives (e.g.,

yes or no).

• Determinant-choice Question Requires the respondent to choose one response from among

multiple alternatives (e.g., A, B, or C).

• Frequency-determination Question Asks for an answer about general frequency of occurrence (e.g.,

often, occasionally, or never).

• Checklist Question Allows the respondent to provide multiple answers to a single

question by checking off items.


Phrasing Questions for Self-Administered,Telephone, and Personal Interview Surveys• Influences on Question Phrasing: The means of data collection—telephone interview,

personal interview, self-administered questionnaire—will influence the question format and question phrasing. Questions for mail, Internet, and telephone surveys must be

less complex than those used in personal interviews.

Questionnaires for telephone and personal interviews should be written in a conversational style.


EXHIBIT 15.1 Reducing Question Complexity by Providing Fewer Responses for Telephone Interviews


Guidelines for Constructing Questions

• Avoid complexity: Simpler language is better.

• Avoid leading and loaded questions.

• Avoid ambiguity: Be as specific as possible.

• Avoid making assumptions.

• Avoid burdensome questions that may tax the respondent’s memory.


What Is the Best Question Sequence?

Order bias Bias caused by the influence of earlier questions in a

questionnaire or by an answer’s position in a set of answers.

Funnel technique Asking general questions before specific questions in order to

obtain unbiased responses.

Filter question A question that screens out respondents who are not

qualified to answer a second question.

Pivot question A filter question used to determine which version of a second

question will be asked.


EXHIBIT 15.2Flow of Questions to Determine the Level of Prompting Required to Stimulate Recall


What Is the Best Layout?

• Traditional QuestionnairesMultiple-grid question

Several similar questions arranged in a grid format.

The title of a questionnaire should be phrased carefully: To capture the respondent’s interest, underline the

importance of the research Emphasize the interesting nature of the study Appeal to the respondent’s ego Emphasize the confidential nature of the study To not bias the respondent in the same way that a leading

question might


EXHIBIT 15.3 Layout of a Page from a Telephone Questionnaire


EXHIBIT 15.4 Telephone Questionnaire with Skip Questions


EXHIBIT 15.5 Personal Interview Questionnaire


EXHIBIT 15.6 Example of a Skip Question


Internet Questionnaires

• Graphical User Interface (GUI) Software The researcher can control the background, colors,

fonts, and other features displayed on the screen so as to create an attractive and easy-to-use interface between the user and the Internet survey.

• Layout Issues Paging layout - going from screen to screen. Scrolling layout – entire questionnaire appears on

one page and respondent has the ability to scroll down.


Internet Questionnaire Layout

• Push Button A small outlined area, such as a rectangle or an

arrow, that the respondent clicks on to select an option or perform a function, such as submit.

• Status Bar A visual indicator that tells the respondent what

portion of the survey he or she has completed.• Radio Button A circular icon, resembling a button, that activates

one response choice and deactivates others when a respondent clicks on it.


Internet Questionnaire Layout (cont’d)

• Drop-down Box A space saving device that reveals responses when they are

needed but otherwise hides them from view.

• Check Boxes Small graphic boxes, next to an answers, that a respondent

clicks on to choose an answer; typically, a check mark or an X appears in the box when the respondent clicks on it.

• Open-ended Boxes Boxes where respondents can type in their own answers to

open-ended questions.

• Pop-up Boxes Boxes that appear at selected points and contain information or

instructions for respondents.


EXHIBIT 15.7 Question in an Online Screening Survey for Joining a Consumer Panel


EXHIBIT 15.8 Alternative Ways of Displaying Internet Questions


Internet Questionnaire Layout (cont’d)

• Software That Makes Questionnaires Interactive Variable piping software

Allows variables to be inserted into an Internet questionnaire as a respondent is completing it.

Error trapping software Controls the flow of an Internet questionnaire.

Forced answering software Prevents respondents from continuing with an Internet

questionnaire if they fail to answer a question.

Interactive help desk A live, real-time support feature that solves problems or

answers questions respondents may encounter in completing the questionnaire.


Pretesting and Revising Questionnaires

• Pretesting Process Seeks to determine whether respondents have any

difficulty understanding the questionnaire and whether there are any ambiguous or biased questions.

• Preliminary Tabulation A tabulation of the results of a pretest to help

determine whether the questionnaire will meet the objectives of the research.


Designing Questionnaires for Global Markets

• Back Translation Taking a questionnaire that has previously been

translated into another language and having a second, independent translator translate it back to the original language.

A questionnaire developed in one country may be difficult to translate because equivalent language concepts do not exist or because of differences in idiom and vernacular.

mng501 research methodology week 7b questionnaire …

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