The art of preparing an effective research questionnaire

They have to collect information and data from a sample group of people, analyze them and then arrive at conclusions. When it comes to getting data from the real world and that too data that is original in nature, students are often confused as to how they would collect the data and what techniques they would use.

There are many techniques that research students use. Some of them take interviews while others just stand back and observe. Each method has its own plus points and its own negative points. There is also the comfort level that each researcher has and what kind of skills they have with regard to each method of interview.

One of the methods that are used by many researchers is the questionnaire. The researcher makes a list of questions, and then distributes that list among a sample audience so that he can come to know information about them which he will later use for his project.

The advantage that the researcher has with this method is that he can simply give the questionnaire to the respondent and the respondent can fill it up at his own discretion and then give it back to the researcher. The researcher can meanwhile carry on his work and not have to face the nitty gritty of actually have to be present when the answers are being given. Of course, he always has the option of being there at the scene when he wants to and if he feels that the respondent would answer better in case he was explained the questions in detail.

One of the first things that the researcher should do is to try a sample questionnaire first. He should make a list of questions and try them out on a colleague. After the trial in case the researcher feels that the questionnaire is perfect and can be deployed in real life then he can do so. On the other hand if he feels that there is something lacking in the questionnaire and he is not getting the answers that he was looking for then he should spend some time re-drafting the questionnaire and making sure that it is perfect the next time around.

There will be times when the researcher will have to make several drafts of the questionnaire. He will feel that he is not getting the information that he was looking for. The feedback that he receives from his colleagues might also be on similar lines, and they might also tell him that maybe he should be drafting a different set of questions. The researcher might also feel that even though the questions are good, there wording is too complicated and there is a possibility that people might not understand it correctly.

Researchers know that they have to be patient when they are drafting the questionnaire. There have been times when the questionnaire was drafted in a rush and subsequently there was nothing useful that was learnt from the survey. The whole exercise became a waste in time, and the project was stalled because the right information was not obtained. That is the reason that no matter how long it takes and how many attempts it takes, the researcher should make sure that the questionnaire is perfect and that there are no flaws in it and that people are able to understand it without any hassles.

The researcher should also make sure that the answers are very clear and respondents do not struggle with the answers. Most of them ideally should be yes and no type answers. The respondents could also be required to choose and tick in a variety of boxes so that they do not have to get confused over the kind of answers they are going to give. This kind of easy to give responses also ensures that respondents are enthusiastic about completing the questionnaire. In case it is too long or too complicated then they might not feel like taking part in the survey. So it is best if the researcher keeps the questionnaire short, simple and sweet.