Questionnaire survey for quantitative research

Survey vs Questionnaire: Differences and Definitions

A questionnaire is used to collect data from a list of questions. It’s not used to look for trends, behavior or a bigger picture. A survey is data collection through a set of questions for the purposes of statistical analysis

To put it simply – a questionnaire is a list of written questions aimed at getting information about individuals. A questionnaire is usually limited in scope, and it isn’t used for gathering data or analyzing statistics.

A survey involves gathering data to use for analysis and forecasting. As opposed to its questionnaire cousin, the data isn’t analyzed in isolation. Surveys do look for trends, behavior, and the bigger picture.

Here’s another way to put it: A questionnaire is one-purpose data collection through a set of questions. A survey is data collection through a set of questions for the purposes of statistical analysis.

The definition of a questionnaire

Here’s an example of a questionnaire. Flashback to the last time you joined a gym, maybe you went for a health check when you signed up. You would have been asked to answer a list of specific questions about medical history.

That was a questionnaire. The information you provided is used to assess risk, help with diagnoses and paint a picture of your medical history. It’s not used to look for trends, behavior or a bigger picture.

The definition of a survey

Think of a survey as a major project, aimed at using data to reach informed conclusions. Yes, that’s right – a survey could be regarded as a questionnaire on steroids.

With a survey, you can dig deeper and find out peoples’ opinions and ideas. You can ask demographic survey questions, you can find out how engaged your employees are, or you can do market research. And much more.

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The objectives of the study relating to the questionnaire

1. Relating research objectives to business objectives The brief that the researcher receives may sometimes include the business objectives for the study and the research

Stakeholders in the questionnaire

Clearly there are a number of different stakeholders in the questionnaire, on each of whom the way in which it is written and laid out

The questionnaire in the survey process

The questionnaire represents one part of the survey process. It is, however, a very vital part of the process. A poorly written questionnaire will not

Interviewer-administered interviews

The key benefits of having an interviewer administer the questionnaire are: Queries about the meaning of a question can be dealt with. A misunderstood question

Collecting unbiased and accurate data by questionnaire

Clearly, the data collected should be as accurate as possible. However, complete accuracy is almost impossible to obtain in surveys where respondents are asked to

Recruitment questionnaires

Recruitment questionnaires are used in qualitative research and for recruitment of respondents for some types of quantitative research (eg clinics held in central locations). The

Screening questions in the questionnaire

Following the exclusion question, the next part of the questionnaire will be to screen the respondents for eligibility for the survey, depending on whether or

Exclusion question in the questionnaire

A common, although not universal, practice is to exclude respondents from research surveys who work in market research, marketing or the client’s industry. This will

Sequencing the sections of the questionnaire

The questionnaire can be properly planned once the principal and analysis information requirements have been decided. It is most commonly divided into three sections: exclusion

Defining the information required in the questionnaire

It should be clear from the research objectives and the business objectives what information areas the questionnaire needs to cover. This is the principal information

Introduction

A questionnaire that is going to provide accurate, good-quality information needs to be thought about and planned, before a single question is written. The sequence

Self-completion surveys

Self-completion methods, whether paper based or electronic, can benefit from the complete absence of an interviewer from the process. This removes a major source of

Open-ended questions in the questionnaire

An open-ended question is an open question where the response is recorded verbatim. An open-ended question is nearly always also an open question. (It would

Prompted questions in the questionnaire

Spontaneous responses rarely tell the researcher the complete picture regarding what the respondent knows or feels, but only what is front-of- mind. However, most people

Spontaneous questions in the questionnaire

A spontaneous question is any question for which the respondent is not given a repertoire of possible answers from which to choose. All open- ended

Open and closed questions in the questionnaire

An open question is one where the range of possible answers is not suggested in the question and which respondents are expected to answer in

Question types in the questionnaire

Any question in an interview can be classified in a number of different ways: open or closed, depending whether or not the answer can come

Main questionnaire

The main questionnaire can now be planned. Once into the main questionnaire, the writer must consider the order in which the various topics are presented

Comparative scaling techniques of questions in the questionnaire

1. Paired comparisons With paired comparisons, respondents are asked to choose between two objects based on the appropriate criterion, eg that one is more important

Attitudinal rating scales of questions in the questionnaire

A number of forms of rating scale have been developed specifically to address responses to a series of attitudinal dimensions. The three most commonly used

Itemized rating scales of questions in the questionnaire

Itemized rating scales are used to help the researcher obtain a measure of attitudes. The researcher first develops a number of dimensions – attitude statements,

Attitude measurement in the questionnaire

The measurement of attitude poses more problems than does the measurement of behaviour. Respondents are able to respond relatively easily to behavioural questions, limited only

Data types in the questionnaire

Responses are measured using four types of data: nominal; ordinal; interval; ratio. These are frequently described as ‘measurement scales’, though most researchers would not necessarily

Pre-coded questions in the questionnaire

1. Pre-coded open questions Frequently with interviewer-administered surveys, a list of pre-codes is provided with open questions for the interviewer’s use. This may simply be

Determining the pre-codes of questions in the questionnaire

The pre-codes that are used on the questionnaire determine what data are collected. If the pre-codes have insufficient accuracy or are incomplete, then data will

Avoiding ambiguity in the question

Ambiguity is to be avoided at all costs. If a question is ambiguous, then the respondent may be presented with the dilemma of hearing or

Use of language in the questionnaire

When writing the questionnaire it is the questionnaire writer’s job to ensure that the respondents will understand the questions and that the respondents will not

The measure dimensions of questions in the questionnaire

1. Determining the attributes to measure No matter which scale is used the crucial factor to get right is the wording of the items against

Measuring brand image by the questionnaire survey

A frequent objective with brand and communication studies is to measure brand image: that is, the perceptions that people hold of the main brands, how

Rating scales of questions in customer satisfaction research

Deciding which scale to use Using rating scales in customer satisfaction research presents the questionnaire writer with a number of choices for the most appropriate

Questionnaire in Omnibus studies

An omnibus survey is a particular type of study on which clients buy space for their own questions. The questionnaire can therefore cover a number

Questionnaire in Tracking studies

Consistency of question wording is important in ongoing or tracking studies, in order to ensure that changes in data over time are not due to

Standardizing questions in the questionnaire

Where a question has been asked in a previous study it is usually to the advantage of the researcher to ensure that, unless there is

Question order in the questionnaire

There are certain rules regarding the ordering of questions that must always be borne in mind. These have been covered in Chapter 3 and include:

Order bias and prompts in the questionnaire

The order in which prompts are presented to respondents, whether on the questionnaire or screen, shown on a card or read out, can have a

Using prompts in the questionnaire

Show cards are frequently used to provide the respondents with prompted answers in face-to-face interviews. In self-completion inter-views the prompts are provided with the question,

Why pilot questionnaires?

There are two key tests for a questionnaire: reliability and validity. A questionnaire is reliable if it provides a consistent distribution of responses from the

Enhancing the experience on the Online questionnaires

Some of the advances offered by web-based questionnaires are the enhancements that can be made to the ways in which the questions are asked, material

Replicating existing approaches to the Online questionnaires

As with CAPI and CATI, electronic formatting of the questionnaire brings opportunities to replicate and improve on pen and paper approaches. Thus it is possible

CAPI and CATI as forms of electronic questionnaires

CAPI, CATI and all forms of electronic questionnaires have a number of advantages over paper questionnaires which have already been touched on in Chapter 2.

Self-completion paper questionnaire

Much of the success of a paper-based self-completion survey depends on the appearance of the questionnaire and the ease with which respondents can use it.

Interviewer-administered paper questionnaires

If a paper questionnaire is being used, the primary concern with regard to layout is that the interviewer can follow the questionnaire sequence easily, asking

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Why do people mix up the two?

Well, it’s simple—they’re very similar. In fact, a big part of any survey involves a questionnaire. Marketing professionals and research specialists have always differentiated the two, but things have changed since the advent of the Internet. As more individuals and organizations started to manage their own research projects, the two terms became interchangeable.

“Survey” has become a synonym for “questionnaire”—and vice versa.

Now, just to dial your level of confusion up to 11, there’s also such a thing as a survey questionnaire. It starts as a simple questionnaire but later transforms into a survey—mindblown.

Imagine you’re trying to gauge how your employees feel about working with you. By using Likert Scale Questionnaires, you can ask people to express their feelings on a scale of, say, one to five. Then by aggregating the scores, you can get an overall picture of satisfaction levels within your organization.

Advantages of questionnaires include increased speed of data collection, low or no cost requirements, and higher levels of objectivity compared to many alternative methods of primary data collection. However, questionnaires have certain disadvantages such as selection of random answer choices by respondents without properly reading the question. Moreover, there is usually no possibility for respondents to express their additional thoughts about the matter due to the absence of a relevant question.

There are following types of questionnaires

Computer questionnaire. Respondents are asked to answer the questionnaire which is sent by mail. The advantages of the computer questionnaires include their inexpensive price, time-efficiency, and respondents do not feel pressured, therefore can answer when they have time, giving more accurate answers. However, the main shortcoming of the mail questionnaires is that sometimes respondents do not bother answering them and they can just ignore the questionnaire.

Telephone questionnaire. Researcher may choose to call potential respondents with the aim of getting them to answer the questionnaire. The advantage of the telephone questionnaire is that, it can be completed during the short amount of time. The main disadvantage of the phone questionnaire is that it is expensive most of the time. Moreover, most people do not feel comfortable to answer many questions asked through the phone and it is difficult to get sample group to answer questionnaire over the phone.

In-house survey. This type of questionnaire involves the researcher visiting respondents in their houses or workplaces. The advantage of in-house survey is that more focus towards the questions can be gained from respondents. However, in-house surveys also have a range of disadvantages which include being time consuming, more expensive and respondents may not wish to have the researcher in their houses or workplaces for various reasons.

Mail Questionnaire. This sort of questionnaires involve the researcher to send the questionnaire list to respondents through post, often attaching pre-paid envelope. Mail questionnaires have an advantage of providing more accurate answer, because respondents can answer the questionnaire in their spare time. The disadvantages associated with mail questionnaires include them being expensive, time consuming and sometimes they end up in the bin put by respondents.

Questionnaires can include the following types of questions:

Open question questionnaires. Open questions differ from other types of questions used in questionnaires in a way that open questions may produce unexpected results, which can make the research more original and valuable. However, it is difficult to analyze the results of the findings when the data is obtained through the questionnaire with open questions.

Multiple choice questions. Respondents are offered a set of answers they have to choose from. The downsize of questionnaire with multiple choice questions is that, if there are too many answers to choose from, it makes the questionnaire, confusing and boring, and discourages the respondent to answer the questionnaire.

Dichotomous Questions. This type of questions gives two options to respondents – yes or no, to choose from. It is the easiest form of questionnaire for the respondent in terms of responding it.

Scaling Questions. Also referred to as ranking questions, they present an option for respondents to rank the available answers to the questions on the scale of given range of values (for example from 1 to 10).

Survey Monkey represents one of the most popular online platforms for facilitating data collection through questionnaires. Substantial benefits offered by Survey Monkey include its ease to use, presentation of questions in many different formats and advanced data analysis capabilities.