QUESTIONNAIRE

QUESTIONNAIRE

Questionnaire: A questionnaire is a research instrument used in different research methods. It consists of a set of questions or other types of prompts whose objective is to collect information from a respondent. Is important to have clear that the data gathered from a questionnaire it can be qualitative and quantitative.

Characteristics of a questionnaire

 The following are the characteristics that remain constant irrespective of the type of questions you ask in your questionnaire.

1. Sequence of questions

A proper series of questions should be followed to increase the rate of response to the questions.

2. Uniformity

The uniformity of questions is essential to keep respondents involved in the questionnaire until the end.

3. Exploratory

Exploratory characteristics of the questionnaire help you in collecting qualitative data. 

4. Easy to understand

A good survey is easy to understand. It should be designed in such a way that everyone can read and understand the questions irrespective of their education level. 

Advantages of Questionnaires

Some of the many benefits of using questionnaires as a research tool include:

• Practicality: Questionnaires enable researchers to strategically manage their target audience, questions, and format while gathering large data quantities on any subject.
• Cost-efficiency:You don’t need to hire surveyors to deliver your survey questions.
• Speed: You can gather survey results quickly and effortlessly using mobile tools, obtaining responses and insights in 24 hours or less.
• Comparability: Researchers can use the same questionnaire yearly and compare and contrast research results to gain valuable insights and minimize translation errors.
• Scalability: Questionnaires are highly scalable, allowing researchers to distribute them to demographics anywhere across the globe.

Questionnaires also have their disadvantages, such as:

• Answer dishonesty: Respondents may not always be completely truthful with their answers.
• Question skipping: Make sure to require answers for all your survey questions. Otherwise, you may run the risk of respondents leaving questions unanswered.
• Interpretation difficulties: If a question isn’t straightforward enough, respondents may struggle to interpret it accurately. 
• Survey fatigue: Respondents may experience survey fatigue if they receive too many surveys or a questionnaire is too long.
• Analysis challenges: Though closed questions are easy to analyze, open questions require a human to review and interpret them. 
• Unconscientious responses: If respondents don’t read your questions thoroughly or completely, they may offer inaccurate answers that can impact data validity.