Questionnaires are an integral part of research that allows us to collect data that will allow us to discover the hidden truths about individuals. But they are not without their limitations.
Questions can be self-administered, with participants answering all questions themselves, or researcher-administered, where the research team interviews a sample of respondents by phone, in-person, or online. Self-administered questionnaires tend to have lower response rates than researcher-administered questionnaires, due in part to the impersonal nature of mailed paper surveys and automated telephone menu systems.
Web-based questionnaires have a number advantages, including a larger audience than traditional surveys that are conducted via mail or phone and the possibility of reaching an international audience. However, they also come with problems, like the difficulty in reaching a representative demographic sample. They can also be susceptible to issues like screen size and operating system, hardware platform, and browser settings that may affect the response.
When you design a survey it is essential to consider the research goals and the goals. It’s also essential to know the audience you’re asking that ask if they are able and answer the questions in the language you’re using, or if they have time to complete a lengthy questionnaire.
To ensure that new questionnaires function as intended, it’s crucial to test them before hand using qualitative methods such as focus groups, cognitive interviewing, or pretesting. Additionally, questionnaires are susceptible to “question order effects” where responses to earlier questions could affect the responses to later questions.
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