FIT4005 Chap.4 Designing Surveys and Questionnaires
Designing Surveys and Questionnaires
Week 4 covers the survey, one of the most common and easily deployed research designs, and the questionnaire that sits inside it. You learn what kinds of information a questionnaire can capture, the conditions under which it is the right instrument, and the sampling choices behind it, including simple random and snowball sampling.
Most of the chapter is about writing items: the closed formats of yes or no, multiple choice, Likert, rating and ranking questions, and the classic faults of ambiguous, double-barrelled, leading, loaded, prestige-biased, jargon-laden and poorly scaled questions.
The worked model builds a mini-topic for a closed-question survey and justifies each choice, the pattern Task B of Assignment 1 rewards.
Questionnaires work best when you already know what answers to expect and need them at scale. They are weak at uncovering reasons you did not anticipate, which is why the unit pairs them with interviews.
Task B shows the balance in practice: a short, closed instrument that must also distinguish low, medium and high engagement groups, so every item has to earn its place by supporting a comparison the evaluation needs.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Survey and questionnaire
- 02
Information a questionnaire can capture
- 03
When a questionnaire is appropriate
- 04
Simple random and snowball sampling
- 05
Closed question formats
- 06
Seven classic question faults
- 07
Piloting and critique
Worked example · free
Repair a flawed questionnaire block
- +2Item 1 is double-barrelled; split it into one item on classes and one on trainers.
- +2Item 2 is leading; ask whether the new screen was faster, slower or about the same as the old one.
- +2Item 3 has disordered options; order them Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Often, or ask for days per week.
Key terms
- Questionnaire
- A purposefully designed set of written questions used within a survey to collect data from a sample.
- Likert scale
- A closed format recording how strongly a respondent agrees with a statement, typically on a five or seven point scale.
- Snowball sampling
- Recruiting further respondents through existing respondents, suited to populations that are hard to locate.
- Leading question
- An item whose wording pushes respondents toward a particular answer.
- Social desirability bias
- The tendency of respondents to give answers that present them favourably, common in self-reported data.
- Double-barrelled question
- An item that asks about two things at once, so a single answer cannot be interpreted.
Designing Surveys and Questionnaires FAQ
When is a questionnaire the right tool?
The Week 4 slides list four conditions: you have a good idea of what answers to expect, respondents can read the items or have them administered, you want counts and frequencies, and you want to generalise to a larger population.
What is the difference between leading and loaded questions?
A leading question pushes respondents toward an answer through its framing, such as asking whether they agree that something is better. A loaded question embeds a value judgement or emotional word, such as describing a change as unfair.
How many questions can Task B use?
The Assignment 1 brief allows no more than 20 closed questions completable in no more than 10 minutes. The questions and answers document adds that the limit counts every question created across all sections of the form.
Should a questionnaire include demographic questions?
Include them when you need to compare segments or check representativeness, as in the week's case study recruited through social media advertising. Keep them minimal and relevant to the study's purpose.
Why does Task B use only closed questions?
Closed questions keep the survey short, comparable and quick to analyse across a whole trial group, which suits an organisational evaluation. The brief also requires the form to be understandable without extra explanation, so clear options matter more than open comment boxes.
Assessment move
Collect bad survey questions from real apps and classify each against the seven faults, then rewrite it. That habit makes the quiz and Task B much faster. When drafting your own instrument, work from topic to mini-topics to items, and write a one-line justification beside each item covering its placement, wording and answer scale. Pilot the form with a few people and time them.
Keep the rationale tied to reliability and efficiency, since the rubric marks topic coverage, clarity and efficiency, and justification of design. After drafting, check the rubric's three Task B criteria in turn: does every topic get relevant items, is the form clear and within the limits, and does the rationale justify selection, types, structure, reliability and efficiency?
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