1. Marketing Research and the Questionnaire

2. Steps in Designing and Administering Questionnaire
Define the Objective(s) of the Survey
Determine the Sampling Group
Design and Write the Questionnaire
Pilot the Questionnaire
Administer the Questionnaire
Tabulate the Results
Interpret the Results
Write the Report.

3. Defining the Objective
The importance of a well-defined objective can not be overstated
A questionnaire that is written without a clear goal and purpose is going to:
Overlook important issues
Waste participants’ time by asking useless questions
Goal:
To find out if there is a gender difference in people’s attitudes to the media
To find out how the work and study habits of students relate to their academic success
Rule of thumb:
If you are finding it hard to write the questions, you haven’t spent enough time defining the objective(s) of the questionnaire.

4. Validity and Reliability
Questionnaires should provide data that is both valid and reliable
Validity:
Exists when the questions asked measure what was intended to be measured
Poorly written questions will NOT have validity
Reliability
Exists when a research technique produces nearly identical results in repeated trials
Questions must ask the same type of information from all respondents
Questions that are unclear and poorly written do NOT give reliable results.

5. Writing Questions
Survey questions can either be open ended or forced choice.
Open Ended Questions
Questions that ask respondents to construct their own response to a question
Open ended questions generate a wide variety of responses
Generally hard to categorize and tabulate
Forced Choice
Questions that ask respondents to choose from possibilities given on the questionnaire
These are the simplest to write and easiest to tabulate
These can be either:
Two Choice
Multiple Choice
Rating or Ranking Scales
Level of Agreement Scales.

6. Two Choice Questions
Two-choice questions give the respondent only two options
Yes/No
Should only be used when looking for a response on ONE issue
Were our facilities clean Yes No
Was your server courteous Yes No
Sometimes Yes/No questions are used as filter questions
Have you for any reason been suspended from school last year
Yes No – ( go to question 8).

7. Multiple Choice Questions
Multiple choice questions give the respondent several options
Multiple choice questions must be comprehensive enough to include all possible responses
Many multiple choice questions include a final option of OTHER
Increases reliability
An outdoor equipment manufacturer might use the following type of question
What is your primary intended use for this product? (check only one)
A. Backpacking/Hiking
B. Camping
C. Fishing
D. Hunting
E. Other _________________________ .

8. Rating Scale Questions
Rating Scale questions ask respondents to rank a product based on a scale
A variety of scales may be used
Very Satisfied to Very Dissatisfied
Excellent to Poor
Please rate the following:
Reservations Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
Check-In Process Excellent Good Average Fair Poor
Parking Excellent Good Average Fair Poor.

9. Level of Agreement Questions
When assessing attitudes or opinions:
it is a good idea to write statements that reflect those attitudes or opinions
Then ask respondents for their level of agreement
Commonly used options include
Strongly Agree [SA]
Agree [A]
Neutral [N]
Disagree [D]
Strongly disagree [SD]
7. “I am extremely health conscious”
SA A N D SD
When using this type of question the full words would appear above each column to avoid confusion.

10. Guidelines for Writing Questions
Each question should be clearly written, and as brief as possible
Use the same rating or ranking question for all similar questions
Do not ask leading questions or suggest an answer
Introduces bias into the survey
An unintended influence on the data gathering method
Avoid questions that require the respondent to guess at the meaning of your question
Always pretest the wording of your question.