MU0050 – Research Methodology

MBA Semester – III

Assignment Set –2

Q.1 What is Questionnaire? Discuss the main points that you will take into
account while drafting a Questionnaire.

Ans. A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions

and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents.
Although they are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not
always the case. The questionnaire was invented by Sir Francis Galton.

Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are
cheap, do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone
surveys, and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data.
However, such standardized answers may frustrate users. Questionnaires are also
sharply limited by the fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and
respond to them. Thus, for some demographic groups conducting a survey by
questionnaire may not be practical.

As a type of survey, questionnaires also have many of the same problems relating to
question construction and wording that exist in other types of opinion polls.

Types

A distinction can be made between questionnaires with questions that measure

separate variables, and questionnaires with questions that are aggregated into either a
scale or index. Questionnaires within the former category are commonly part of
surveys, whereas questionnaires in the latter category are commonly part of tests.

Questionnaires with questions that measure separate variables, could for instance
include questions on:

• preferences (e.g. political party)

• behaviors (e.g. food consumption)
• facts (e.g. gender)

Questionnaires with questions that are aggregated into either a scale or index, include
for instance questions that measure:

• latent traits (e.g. personality traits such as extroversion)

• attitudes (e.g. towards immigration)
• an index (e.g. Social Economic Status)
 Examples

• A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) is a questionnaire to assess the type of

diet consumed in people, and may be used as a research instrument. Examples
of usages include assessment of intake of vitamins or toxins such as acrylamide.

Question types :

Open – ended
Closed – ended

Usually, a questionnaire consists of a number of questions that the respondent has to

answer in a set format. A distinction is made between open-ended and closed-ended
questions. An open-ended question asks the respondent to formulate his own answer,
whereas a closed-ended question has the respondent pick an answer from a given
number of options. The response options for a closed-ended question should be
exhaustive and mutually exclusive.

Four types of response scales for closed-ended questions are

distinguished:

• Dichotomous, where the respondent has two options

• Nominal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two unordered
options
• Ordinal-polytomous, where the respondent has more than two ordered options
• (Bounded)Continuous, where the respondent is presented with a continuous
scale

A respondent's answer to an open-ended question is coded into a response scale

afterwards. An example of an open-ended question is a question where the testee has
to complete a sentence.

Basic rules for questionnaire item construction

• Use statements which are interpreted in the same way by members of different
subpopulations of the population of interest.
• Use statements where persons that have different opinions or traits will give
different answers.
• Think of having an "open" answer category after a list of possible answers.
• Use only one aspect of the construct you are interested in per item.
• Use positive statements and avoid negatives or double negatives.
• Do not make assumptions about the respondent.
• Use clear and comprehensible wording, easily understandable for all
educational levels
• Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
• Avoid items that contain more than one question per item (e.g. Do you like
strawberries and potatoes?).
Questionnaire administration modes

Main modes of questionnaire administration are:

• Face-to-face questionnaire administration, where an interviewer presents the

items orally.
• Paper-and-pencil questionnaire administration, where the items are presented
on paper.
• Computerized questionnaire administration, where the items are presented on
the computer.
• Adaptive computerized questionnaire administration, where a selection of
items is presented on the computer, and based on the answers on those items,
the computer selects following items optimized for the testee's estimated ability
or trait.

Main Points while Drafting a Questionnaire :

Good questionnaire questions have several points working for them. Planning and
drafting good questions for a questionnaire is not an easy task as it demands a deep
understanding of the research purpose and the corresponding procedures, The
following points reveal, to a good extent, the characteristics of good questionnaire
questions –

• The questions should focus solely on the research topic and aim at evoking the
truth of the study
• For concrete responses, it is better to make the questions one-dimensional, so
that the answers are variegated yet in a particular direction to bring coherence
in processing the research
• The questions of the questionnaire are good if they present with a wide range of
practical answers. That means a provision of multiple options instead of
dichotomous alternatives of replying must be integrated to make the inquiry
more wholesome.
• A very important element to be accounted for while planning good
questionnaire questions is to make the answers prominently exclusive in order
to erase or minimize the factor of ambiguity in the minds of the respondents.
• From an overall perspective, the process of transition from one question to the
next should be very smooth in order to make the full structure of the
questionnaire more scientific.
• Usage of terms or complex phrases is strictly prohibited in framing good
questionnaire questions so that the confidence of the respondents remains
intact while answering
• Another crucial point about good questionnaire questions is that they don’t
tend to assume an answer from the participants.

Q.2. What do you mean by primary data ? What are the various
methods of collecting primary data ?
 Ans.

Primary Data : Data observed or collected directly from first-hand experience.

Published data and the data collected in the past or other parties is called secondary
data.