Questionnaires

Questionnaires are research tools used to collect data from individuals through a series of questions. They are commonly used in surveys to gather information about opinions, behaviours or characteristics of a population or sample.

Leading questions

\[ \text{Everyone loves football. Do you?}\]

It is important that questions in a questionnaire do not present any bias so that the responses are a true reflection of the respondents views.

Ambiguous questions

\[\text{How often do you exercise?}\]

Questions need to be clear about what they are asking. Try and always include a time scale and be specific about what you are asking. What kind of exercise? A bit of walking, or playing a sport?

Gaps and overlaps

\[ \text{How many siblings do you have?}\]

\[ \text{▢ 1-2 ▢ 2-3 ▢ 4+}\]

It can be a great idea to have tick boxes with questionnaires so that the respondent know exactly what you are asking and the data can be easily analysed. But make sure there are no gaps or overlaps. There is nowhere for someone to respond who has no siblings, and two boxes they can tick if they have 2.