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:

1. icebreaker question to make the start easy
2. questions on subjects 
   • to acquire important data
   • ordered by topic
   • from general to specific

3. control questions and questions for plausibility (i. e. put questions you have already asked in other words to identify ambiguous answers)
4. 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