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ELECTRONIC QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN AND SURVEYS 249

Example 10.7 I sincerely appreciate your time and cooperation. Please check to make sure that you
have not skipped any questions inadvertently, and then drop the questionnaire in
the locked box, clearly marked for the purpose, at the entrance of your department.

Thank you!
Review of Questionnaire Design

We have devoted a lot of attention to questionnaire design because question-
naires are the most common method of collecting data. The principles of ques-
tionnaire design relate to how the questions are worded and measured, and how
the entire questionnaire is organized. To minimize respondent biases and mea-
surement errors, all the principles discussed have to be followed carefully.
Questionnaires are most useful as a data collection method especially when large
numbers of people are to be reached in different geographical regions. They are a
popular method of collecting data because researchers can obtain information fairly
easily, and the questionnaire responses are easily coded. When well-validated
instruments are used, the findings of the study benefit the scientific community
since the results can be replicated and additions to the theory base made.
There are several ways of administering questionnaires. Questionnaires can be
personally administered to respondents, inserted in magazines, periodicals, or
newspapers, mailed to respondents, or electronically distributed through e-
mail—both via the Internet and Intranet. Software is also available to frame sub-
sequent questions based on the subject’s response to the preceding question.
Companies’ web sites can also elicit survey responses, for example, reactions to
customer service, product utility, and the like. Global research is now vastly facil-
itated by the electronic system.

Pretesting of Structured Questions
Whether it is a structured interview where the questions are posed to the respon-
dent in a predetermined order, or a questionnaire that is used in a survey, it is
important to pretest the instrument to ensure that the questions are understood
by the respondents (i.e., there is no ambiguity in the questions) and that there
are no problems with the wording or measurement. Pretesting involves the use
of a small number of respondents to test the appropriateness of the questions
and their comprehension. This helps to rectify any inadequacies, in time, before
administering the instrument orally or through a questionnaire to respondents,
and thus reduce biases.
It would be good to debrief the results of the pretest and obtain additional
information from the small group of participants (who would serve the role of a
focus group) on their general reactions to the questionnaire and how they felt
about completing the instrument.

ELECTRONIC QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN AND SURVEYS
Online questionnaire surveys are easily designed and administered when micro-
computers are hooked up to computer networks. Data disks can also be mailed