Questionnaire Format

Introduction Before executing any survey a researcher should ask himself few questions in particular:

• why you are asking the questions

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• who the results are for
• how you are going to analyse the data when you get them

The choice of method therefore depends on the questions that researcher want answered. If he want to know what people do in a particular situation then a questionnaire will probably be suficient. If its to identify why something has occurred, a questionnaire will provide less valid responses than in-depth interviews or focus groups because in-depth interviews and focus groups allow the respondent the freedom to express things in context that may not have thought of before. This course work is dedicated to the questionnaire method of research in management.

The work is separated into two parts: part one is giving an overview information of about questionnaires and part two is consider questionnaires as a research method in different type of management. Questionnaire is a formalized set of questions, usually paper based or delivered online, submitted for replies that can be analyzed for usable information:

1. social research
2. marketing research
3. management research

Questionnaire design process:

1. Specify the Information needed
2. Specify the Type of Interviewing method. As it was said before each research should begin with some common steps such as specifying the necessary information and deciding which method of interviewing should be conducted for this particular research including all the advantages and possible obstacles. Also the researcher should assess what information will be sought after a thorough scanning of secondary sources of data and determine the target respondent.
3. Decide on the type of questionnaire and its structure
4. Evaluation of question content.
5. Check question phrasing.

Before including a question in the schedule, examine whether:

• This question is really essential The respondent can understand the question. (i. e. is it too technical, ambiguous, or advanced for the target respondent? )
• The respondent can answer the question. (Say, the respondents possess sufficient knowledge. As such, it is better not to ask too much of factual data or about past history. )
• The respondent will answer the question. Specially, if it invades into one's privacy or it requires too much effort to answer, then they usually refuse to cooperate

Check question phrasing.For Example:

• Do words have ambiguity in meaning? Are there any implied alternatives in the question?
• Are there some assumptions to be made to answer the question'?
• Will the respondents approach the question from the same frame of reference as designed by the researcher?

6. Determine form of response to each question: The response format may be open or closed ended. In general, the type of response format will depend on the objective of the research, nature of data to be collected and analysis to be performed.

7. Determine sequence of questions.

Use simple and interesting opening questions. Put the questions in logical manner Ask for classificatory data at the end

8. Assess the physical layout of the questionnaire. Naturally, the questionnaire must be printed properly; put in elegant form and facilitate handling.

9. Pre-test the questionnaire. It is normal practice to pretest a questionnaire on a small number of target respondents. The pretest is done to assess both individual questions and their sequence of response pattern. Accordingly, a researcher must revise questions which cause problems.

• While developing a questionnaire, researcher must:
• Use simple words in framing the questions Avoid ambiguous- questions
• Avoid implicit alternatives
• Avoid questions that require too much memory recall and calculation
• Avoid double barreled questions

Ideally, a questionnaire should first secure' some basic information to get the respondent's cooperation and gradually try to collect more information about the phenomenon of interest. It is easier to administer a multiple choice response categories that requires one simple tick.

Questionnaire format depends upon the amount of structure and disguise required during data collection:

Structure At the time of fronting the questionnaire the researcher must appropriately determine the degree of structure to be imposed on the questionnaire. A highly structured questionnaire is one in which the question to be asked and the responses permitted are explicitly pre-specified. On the other hand in a non-structured questionnaire the questions to be asked are kept flexible in their own words and also the respondents are allowed to answer the questions in a manner they like. The response pattern may vary from open-ended to closed-ended.

In open-ended question the respondent is free to choose the possible response, whereas in the closed ended from the researcher pre specifies certain options and the respondent is allowed to choose the alternatives from the given options. Disguise Disguised questions is one where purpose is not made obvious to the respondents and is asked in an indirect manner. Non-disguised questions, on the other hand, are ones which are direct and the purpose of asking them is known clearly is the respondents. Disguised questions are used in the conditions when the issues concerned are such that respondents may not give correct answer to direct questions.

• Questionnaires by the format can be divided into the following categories:
• Structured non-disguised questionnaire
• Structured-disguised questionnaire
• Questions are listed in a pre-arranged order
• Respondents are told about the purpose of collecting information
• Questions are listed in a pre-arranged order
• Respondents are not told about the purpose of conducting survey
• Non-structured non-disguised questionnaire
• Non-structured disguised questionnaire
• Questions are not structured

One major problem with very long questionnaires is the likelihood of participants skim reading them, which increases the likelihood of participants misinterpreting complex questions. This is also a problem with back-ground information or instructions given at the beginning of the questionnaire.

Many of these problems can be counteracted with careful design of the questionnaire. The amount of motivation felt by participants to complete the questionnaire can affect how much they are prepared to concentrate on completing it. For example, participants who feel the outcomes of the research will directly bene? t them may feel more motivated to complete a questionnaire and vice versa. Since a spread of different types of users is often required, it is important to understand these variations when designing and piloting the questionnaire.

To increase the usability and effectiveness of the questionnaire tool it is important to consider questionnaire is structured. This means reviewing the sequence of questions very carefully. Grouping questions together under a common theme heading will help the respondent contextualize the subsequent questions. This approach will also help identify how the sequence is likely to affect the respondent. The order in which questions are presented may bias your respondent to give more or less favorable responses.

This can also happen with the response scales whereby a respondent gives the same answer throughout a section without reading the questions. To counteract this can either counterbalance the questions or can counterbalance the response. Piloting the questionnaire should help identify these problems and correct them in the ? nal version. Question wording When designing questions it is important to consider if each question will have the same meaning for everyone. It is, therefore important to make sure frame of reference is clear. Providing de? nitions or examples is a useful way to overcome these problems.

Some researchers provide scenarios at the beginning of sections to contextualize the questions. Keeping questions as short and simple as possible will increase the likelihood that they will be understood as well as the accuracy of responses. Questions that are complicated by double negatives or loaded words are particularly hard for a respondent to answer. It is also important not to ask more than one question at once (e. g. ‘How do you rate the system response times to urgent and non-urgent request? ’).

Similarly it is essential not to ask a question that requires them to interpret meaning of a term (e. g. Do you attend online tutorials on a regular basis? ’ What is meant by the concept ‘regular basis’, is it once a day or once a week? ). Providing a range within which to choose a response will help to clarify these choices. Ranges can also help respondents feel happier about answering some questions. For example, being asked to write down age can feel far more invasive than choosing from a selection of age ranges.

Ultimately, it is always important to consider what biases you may be relaying through the wording of a question. Leading questions are frequently the major problem with most questionnaires (e. . ‘Why do you think online assessment is wrong? ’). Similarly questions that invite a socially desirable response will produced a biased set of responses. Finally, assuming a respondent will be able to remember accurate details of events several months ago is unrealistic and will produce inaccurate responses.

Question types

Contingency questions - A question that is answered only if the respondent gives a particular response to a previous question. This avoids asking questions of people that do not apply to them (for example, asking men if they have ever been pregnant).

Matrix questions - Identical response categories are assigned to multiple questions. The questions are placed one under the other, forming a matrix with response categories along the top and a list of questions down the side. This is an efficient use of page space and respondents’ time.

Closed ended questions - Respondents’ answers are limited to a fixed set of responses. Most scales are closed ended. Other types of closed ended questions include Yes/no questions - The respondent answers with a "yes" or a "no".

Multiple choice - The respondent has several option from which to choose. Scaled questions - Responses are graded on a continuum (example : rate the appearance of the product on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most preferred appearance Open ended questions - No options or predefined categories are suggested. The respondent supplies their own answer without being constrained by a fixed set of possible responses. Examples of types of open ended questions include: * Completely unstructured - For example, "What is your opinion on questionnaires? "

Word association - Words are presented and the respondent mentions the first word that comes to ind. * Sentence completion - Respondents complete an incomplete sentence. For example, "The most important consideration in my decision to buy a new house is . . . "

Story completion - Respondents complete an incomplete story.

Picture completion - Respondents fill in an empty conversation balloon.

Thematic apperception test - Respondents explain a picture or make up a story about what they think is happening in the picture Question Sequence Items on a questionnaire should be grouped into logically coherent sections.

Grouping questions that are similar will make the questionnaire easier to complete, and the respondent will feel more comfortable. Questions that use the same response formats, or those that cover a specific topic, should appear together. Each question should follow comfortably from the previous question. Writing a questionnaire is similar to writing anything else. Transitions between questions should be smooth. Questionnaires that jump from one unrelated topic to another feel disjointed and are not likely to produce high response rates.

Most investigators have found that the order in which questions are presented can affect the way that people respond. Questions in the latter half of a questionnaire were more likely to be omitted, and contained fewer extreme responses. Some researchers have suggested that it may be necessary to present general questions before specific ones in order to avoid response contamination. Other researchers have reported that when specific questions were asked before general questions, respondents tended to exhibit greater interest in the general questions. It is not clear whether or not question-order affects response.

A few researchers have reported that question-order does not effect responses, while others have reported that it does. Generally, it is believed that question-order effects exist in interviews, but not in written surveys. Some general rules about question sequence:

• flow logically from one to the next
• researcher must ensure that the answer to a question is not influenced by previous questions
• flow from the more general to the more specific
• flow from the least sensitive to the most sensitive
• flow from factual and behavioral questions to attitudinal and opinion questions
• flow from unaided to aided questions

Coding and Tabulating

Coding is the technical name used to categorize the data collected. It involves specifying the alternative categories or classes into which responses are to be placed and assigning code numbers to the classes. In fact, coding closed-ended questions are simple, depending on the response pattern one may design the various codes for different responses. Open-ended questions are, however, very difficult to code. Here no uniform rules exit. The researchers have been found to apply their own discretion in developing the coding procedure..

Tabulation consists of simply counting the number of cases that fall into the various categories. It may take the form of simple or cross tabulation. Simple tabulation involves counting the responses based on one variable. One may apply various statistical tools like mean, median, mode, standard deviation or variance to condense and interpret the data. To present the data in graphical form one may make use of various forms of statistical graphs like histogram, frequency polygon, ogive etc. A brief description of these tools is given below.

Histogram: It is a form of bar chart where the values of the variable are placed on the X-axis and the frequency of each distinct occurrence is indicated on the Y-axis.

Frequency polygon: Figure obtained from the histogram by joining the midpoints of the bars of the histogram with straight lines.

Ogive: This graph shows the number of cases having a value less than or equal to specified quantity; that is, the cummulative frequency is generated. Afterwards the cummulative frequencies are plotted along the Y- axis against the given combination of values of the variable (or X-axis).

Advantages and Disadvantages of Questionnaires

The researcher is able to contact large numbers of people quickly, easily and efficiently using a postal questionnaire | The format of questionnaire design makes it difficult for the researcher to examine complex issues and opinions. Even where open-ended questions are used, the depth of answers that the respondent can provide tend to be more-limited than with almost any other method of research. This makes it difficult for a researcher to gather information that is rich in depth and detail.

Questionnaires are relatively quick and easy to create, code and interpret (especially if closed questions are used). In addition, the respondent- not the researcher - does the time-consuming part of completing the questionnaire| With a postal questionnaire, the researcher can never be certain the person to whom the questionnaire is sent actually fills it in. For example, if your research is concerned with finding-out the opinions of women on a range of issues, it would be less than useful if an unknown number of the questionnaires sent by the researcher were filled-in by men| A questionnaire is easy to standardise.

For example, every respondent is asked the same question in the same way. The researcher, therefore, can be sure that everyone in the sample answers exactly the same questions, which makes this a very reliable method of research. Where the researcher is not present, it's always difficult to know whether or not a respondent has understood a question properly. Questionnaires can be used to explore potentially embarrassing areas (such as sexual and criminal matters) more easily than other methods. The questionnaire can, for example, be both anonymous and completed in privacy.

This increases the chances of people answering questions honestly because they are not intimidated by the presence of a researcher. | The researcher has to hope the questions asked mean the same to all the respondents as they do to the researcher. This is a problem that can - to some extent - be avoided by conducting a Pilot Study prior to conducting the real survey | Relatively inexpensive method, does not require any investments. The response rate (that is, the number of questionnaires that are actually returned to the researcher) tends to be very low for postal questionnaires.

A 20 - 25% return of questionnaires is probably something that most researchers would happily settle for and this may mean that a carefully-designed sample becomes unrepresentative of a target population. The problem of the self-selecting sample is particularly apparent in relation to questionnaires. When a response rate is very low the responses received may only be the opinions of a very highly motivated section of the sample (that is, people with strong opinions who take the time and trouble to complete and return a questionnaire)

Questionnaires in Management

Management questionnaires are an important way of knowing about the productivity, sales and morale of the company. It provides an opening into the hearts and minds of the employees and enables the management to take corrective steps to change and improve the work environment for enhanced productivity. Managers need to prepare questions for recruitment of staffs, which involves all type of questions from technical to personal. Even managers themselves have to answer questions for their own appraisal process.

Before designing the management questionnaire, it is necessary to understand the goal of the questionnaire? What are benefits of the questionnaire to the management and company as a whole? Start with a brief introduction, highlight the objective and motive of the questionnaire and what you aim to achieve from this survey. You can define a wide range of questions on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to make it comprehensive. Make sure the questions are independent in nature and easy to understand.

Top level managers need to question their subordinates about their work and need to know about their psychology Thus management questionnaires prove to be very beneficial for various different types of organizations. These questionnaires are not only important for employers but for employees as well. Management questionnaires are used in different type of management such as: * Performance management A performance management questionnaire is an essential instrument for collecting data. This data can be used to enhance management performance.

By carrying out a survey on performance management, companies are in a better position to identify areas that require improvement and implement ways through which improvement of performance can be achieved.

Project management

A project management questionnaire covers various areas in line with a particular project, the strategic processes of project management, how management processes are coordinated right from their initiation to their eventual completion. This helps to keep track of the progress that is being made and what else can be done.

Time Management

A time management questionnaire is formulated for the purpose of evaluating individuals on their time management habits and character traits. Time is an essential resource and effective time management has a significant impact on performance. A time management questionnaire helps people identify areas of their life in which they can improve.

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management is the sensitive procedure being initiated by the corporate to ensure the growth process in which the raw material is supplied to the concerned department to boost the production.

In supply chain questionnaire, the concerned department will follow certain working standards to answer all the questions. On the basis of the outcome of this questionnaire, an organization can easily evaluate the percentage of success of the supply chain department.

Human Resource Management

A Human Resource Management Questionnaire is a set of questions regarding the management of the human resource department of an organization. It has information regarding the number of employees involved and the structure and functioning of the human resource department.

Bibliography

1. Kinnear, Thomas C. and James R. Taylor, " Marketing Research - An Applied Approach" McGraw-Hill International Edition.
2. Adams, Anne and Cox, Anna L. (2008). Questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus groups. In: Cairns, Paul and Cox, Anna L. eds. Research Methods for Human Computer Interaction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
3. Questionnaire Design. A. N. Oppenheim Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd. ; New edition edition (17 Aug 2000)
4. Developing a Questionnaire (Real world research). Bill Gillham. Continuum (1 Jun 2000)

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