Ing. Valeria Mirabella E-mail: valeria.mirabella@gmail.com Questionnaires Ing. Valeria Mirabella E-mail: valeria.mirabella@gmail.com

Questionnaires Questionnaires are a useful method to investigate user needs, expectations, perspectives, priorities and preferences. Useful in user requirement but also in evaluation phase to invesrigate user satisfaction, user attitudes and opinions, relevance of collections and services to user needs, trends.

Making a survey Determine what information is required. What do you want to find out? Decide on the audience for the questionnaire Decide on the method of data collection

Making a survey Draft the questionnaire, considering content, wording, format, structure and layout Pilot/test the questionnaire with colleagues or a sample of potential respondents and revise the questionnaire Plan the timing of the questionnaire Analyse the responses Write up, present and use the findings

Types of questions Open questions Closed questions Multiple Choice Scaled Ranked

Open questions An open-ended question is designed to encourage a full, meaningful answer using the subject's own knowledge and/or feelings. It is the opposite of a closed-ended question, which encourages a short or single-word answer (+) May result in unexpected and anecdotal information (-) Time-consuming to complete and to analyze.

Multiple choice questions Offering several answers from which you should choose one (ore more?) Eg From which locations do you access our site? Library Elsewhere on campus Off campus

Scaled questions Offering scaled answers from which you should choose (just one) Eg I feel good about my work on the job Strongly Disagree Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Agree Strongly Agree How many possible answers?

Ranked questions This question type allows you to present your participants with a list of possible answers/options, which they may then rank in order of preference

What makes a good survey? The questions are clear and precise, collectively allowing for detailed, unambiguous and meaningful answers. All predefined answers provided and their formats are appropriate to the question. There is room for people to add additional information if they need.

What makes a good survey? Avoid any unnecessary question Use conditions to avoid asking questions not relevant for a specific participant Keep questions and answers short easily readable Avoid confusing participants with different scales