Surveys by questionnaires (on paper or online)
Basic questionnaire requirements:
- comprehensive, unambiguous, precisely formulated (hint: test it on friends)
- no leading questions (i. e. questions that covertly influence the interviewee)
- keep questions as short as possible
- always ask about one subject at a time
- no double negations
- motivating ("Your opinion is important!")
Order:
- icebreaker question to make the start easy
- questions on subjects
- to acquire important data
- ordered by topic
- from general to specific
- control questions and questions for plausibility (i. e. put questions you have already asked in other words to identify ambiguous answers)
- person-related questions (to identify corelations between answers and specific groups, e. g. female students or very young students)
Question types
Open questions
- direct questions that the interviewee is meant to answer freely, i. e. without answer options to choose from (e. g. „Where do you see room for improvements regarding the school
- advantage: interviewee are not forced into a framework of possible answers but express freely their opinions, attitudes and suggestions
- problem: numerous different answers that may vary either significantly or hardly at all; assessment of answers is complex
closed questions
- direct questions with answering options (e. g. „I believe there should be warm meals in the cafeteria.“ „Yes“/“No“)
- advantage: quick and easy answers, easy assessment
- problem: answers should cover the whole range of possible answers, there should be no need for the interviewee to elaborate on their answer
kinds of closed questions
- questions offering alternatives: interviewees may pick just one option from the range of possible answers
- selective questions: interviewee may pick several or even all options from the range of possible answers
- scale questions: interviewees give their opinion in an assessment scale (e. g. „How good is the choice of meals in the cafeteria?“ scale from 1 = very poos to 6 = excellent)
- dialogue questions: the interviewee may only agree with one point of view (e. g. „A says that the food is delicious, B says that it does not. Who do you agree with?“)
Possible problems during interviews
- interviewer unconsciously rephrases the question so that it suggests something different
- interviewee wants to please the interviewer or does not want to appear unpleasant and consequently avoid unpopular answers
- interviewer influences unconsciously the answers of the interviewee through glances or gestures
- interviewee ticks only middle answers or only yes or no because they are unmotivated