SURVEY & QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

Collecting Primary Data to Answer Research Questions

Jane Bourke, Ann Kirby & Justin Doran

Published by NuBooks, an imprint of Oak Tree Press, Ireland.

www.oaktreepress.com / www.SuccessStore.com

© 2016 Jane Bourke, Ann Kirby & Justin Doran

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 84621 187 4 (PDF)

ISBN 978 1 84621 188 1 (ePub)

ISBN 978 1 84621 189 8 (Kindle)

Cover image: Copyright: pilart / 123RF Stock Photo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, without written permission of the publisher. Such written permission must also be obtained before any part of this publication is stored in a retrieval system of any nature. Requests for permission should be directed to info@oaktreepress.com.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1: THE RESEARCH QUESTION

2: RESEARCH APPROACHES

3: QUESTION DESIGN

4: FACTUAL & NON-FACTUAL QUESTIONS

5: LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT

6: CODING

7: VALIDITY & RELIABILITY

8: QUESTIONNAIRE LAYOUT

APPENDIX: SMALL BUSINESS QUESTIONNAIRE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

OAK TREE PRESS

NU BOOKS

INTRODUCTION

This e-book presents practice-oriented guidance on survey and questionnaire design, as well as exercises and video presentations, to assist you in your research. It is based on lecture notes and hand-outs used by the authors in the various classes they have taught over the past number of years.

Within the research process, you may wish to collect primary data using a survey. Surveys have a number of different steps that need to be addressed. Designing surveys requires you to:

• Set objectives for information collection;
• Design your research around those objectives;
• Prepare a reliable survey instrument;
• Manage and code the instrument;
• Analyse data;
• Report results.

The first, most important step is to develop a research question that helps generate data. Once the research question has been agreed on, it will guide the other stages of development in the survey design. It will help to determine, for example:

• The design and types of questions to be included in the questionnaire (closed or open questions?);
• Who the questionnaire needs to be distributed to;
• What type of data is needed (qualitative, quantitative or both?);
• How the data is collected and presented.

These stages of development in the research process are all influenced by the research question. Some time should be given to its construction, focusing specifically on whether the research question, as expressed, will find a resolution to the problem identified.

Sections 1 and 2 of this ebook are devoted primarily to the construction of the research question and its importance in influencing the design of the survey. Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 concentrate on the development of the questionnaire or survey instrument. Section 7 ensures that the survey instrument is valid and reliable. Finally, Section 8 considers the layout of your survey questionnaire.

Good luck with your surveying!