A questionnaire is a research instrument comprising a series of questions and other prompts to gather information from respondents. The questionnaire is used as a tool to collect data for research and opinion collection.
Questionnaires can open-ended or closed depending on the need for research or study.
The following are characteristics of a good questionnaire:
- The questionnaire should deal with important topics to create interest among respondents. As a questionnaire involved sending written questions to respondents and in some cases respondents answer it alone, then you need to structure your questionnaire in such a way that it arouses the interest of the respondents to answer the questions. Avoid including boring questions in your questionnaire such as those which cover petty issues this can lead to a lack of responses.
- It should seek only that data that can not be obtained from other sources. the questions included in your questionnaire should seek information that cannot be obtained from other sources such as observation or interview. This is important because many of the respondents are busy therefore to save their valuable time and obtain a quick response you need to keep your questionnaire short.
- It should be as short as possible but should be comprehensive.
- It should be attractive.
- Directions should be clear and complete.
- It should be represented in good Psychological order proceeding from general to more specific responses.
- Double negatives in questions should be avoided.
- Putting two questions in one question also should be avoided. Every question should seek to obtain only one specific information
- It should avoid annoying or embarrassing questions.
- It should be designed to collect information that can be used subsequently as data for analysis.
- It should consist of a written list of questions.
We hope that you have found this article useful. What do you think are characteristics of good questionnaire? Share your answer on the comment below