Step 3:Decide On The Wordings Of The

Questions & Layout Of The Questionnaire

• The basic component of a questionnaire is the words. The
researcher should be careful in considering the words to be
used in creating the questions for collecting raw data from
respondents.
• The words used can influence respondents reaction to the
question. Even a small change in the words can affect the
respondents answers.
• The wording used in the questionnaire & the language used
should be appropriate & understandable by the respondents.
 Certain guidelines in deciding the
wordings of the questionnaire
• The vocabulary should be simple, direct & familiar to all
respondents. If the wordings or language is not understood by
the respondent, then it may lead to wrong answers. The
wording & language should be selected keeping in mind the
educational level of the respondents.
• The words used should not give rise to ambiguity or vagueness.
• Double barelled questions should be avoided. The respondent
may agree with one part of the question but not the other.
For ex: are you satisfied with the salary & increments given?
• The questions asked should be applicable to all the respondents.
• Simple short questions should be asked instead of long ones.
 STEP 4: PRE-TESTING THE
QUESTIONNAIRE
• The purpose of a pretest is to ensure that the questionnaire
meets the researchers expectations in terms of the information
to be obtained.
• The objective of the pretest is to identify & correct the
deficiencies in the questionnaire. It may lead to revising the
questions many times.
• It involves the use of small number of respondents to test the
appropriateness of the questions.
• 15 respondents are sufficient for a short & straight forward
questionnaire, whereas 25 may be needed in case of a long &
complex questionnaire with many branches & multiple
options.
 Contd..
Some types of pretesting are discussed below:
• Researcher pretesting:
It is conducted in the initial stages so as to build more
structure into the test. Fellow researchers can be involved.
Many suggestions & discussions may take place leading to a
refined questionnaire.
• Participant pretesting:
It involves testing the questionnaire in the field by involving
the participants.
 Contd..
• Collaborative pretesting:
It can be conducted by the researcher where the
researcher informs or alerts the participants of
their involvement in the preliminary test of the
questionnaire. This makes the participants as the
collaborators in the process of refinement of the
questionnaire.
• Non collaborative pretesting:
In this type of pretesting the researcher does not
inform the participant that the activity is a
pretest.
 SCALING
• In the field of business research, Measurement or scaling
implies in conversion of the charateristics or qualitative data
into quantitative data. After this conversion scaling is done.
 SCALING TECHNIQUES
• Scaling techniques are broadly classified into
• Comparative scaling techniques
• Non comparative scaling techniques.
• Comparative scaling techniques:
comparative scales involve direct comparison of
stimulus objects. This technique is a non numeric
scaling technique as ordinal data cannot be used for
numeric operations. They force the respondents to
choose between the stimulus objects.
For ex: Respondents are asked whether they like to use
toothpaste of brand A or brand B, the respondents have to
choose one out of A or B even if there is very small difference
in their liking of the two brands.
 Contd…
Non comparative scaling techniques:
In Non comparative scales, each object is scaled
independently of the others.

For ex, the respondents are asked to give preference score on a 1

to 6 scale to brand A of the toothpaste. Here 1=no prefererd at
all & 6= highly prefered. Similar scores can be obtained for brand
B & brand C. because of the numeric data & wide applications,
Non comparative scales are widely used in research.
 ATTITUDE MEASURING SCALES
• Opinion scales
• Factor scales
• Multi dimensional scales
• Rating scales
 Opinion scales
• Opinion scales are based on opinions as the
basis of attitudes. A persons attitude towards
some specific person, subject matter or object
can be known by analysis of his opinions
concerning them.
 RATING SCALES
The striking feature of the rating scales lies in the fact that here
attitudes are evaluated not on the basis of the opinions of the
subjects, but on the basis of the opinions & judgement of the
experimenter himself.
•Through the following means, the experimenter collects the data
in the rating scales:
– Non verbal behaviour
– Verbal behaviour
– Clinical type interview
– Immediate experience
 TYPES OF RATING SCALES
Relative scale:
The experimenter in this scale gives to the individuals attitude,
a placing in the scale extending from the highest to lowest quantity. In
studying the individual in the circumstances of the human group, the
position of the individual relative to the positions of others, is
considered. Thus, in this scale the individual is alloted a relative to the
positions on a similar scale,which is his placing in comparison with
other individuals.
Absolute scale:
This scale provides absolute value to an individual in the
population. Here a particular part of population is examined & then the
opinions of an individual are analysed. The investigator then places the
opinions of individual on the scale, showing the percentage of the
population concurring with his opinions as well as percentage differing
from him. This also gives the absolute position of his opinions.
SOURCES OF ERRORS IN MEASUREMENT
OF ATTITUDES USING SCALING
TECHNIQUES
Respondent:
The respondent may not be willing to express strong negative
feelings, at other times he may have insufficient knowledge but may
not admit his ignorance. These may lead to guess estimates of scale
factors. Extraneous factors like fatigue, boredom may also affect
correctness of response from respondents.
Situational:
situational factors may cause errors in measurement. Any
conditions, place or timing that can have serious effect on correctness
of results may place a strain on the interview. Therefore all situational
factors should be considered carefully before the scaling instrument is
utilized to elicit responses from respondents.
 Contd..
Computational:
Errors may also be due to incorrect coding of scales,
faulty tabulation, & /or statistical calculations, particularly when
the data is analysed.
Instrument:
Errors may also arise because of the defective measuring
instrument. The use of esoteric words, poor printing, etc. may
also lead to errors in measurement.
 SOCIO-METRY
• Socio- Metry refers to the measurement of attitudes of social
acceptance or rejection through expressed preferences among
members of a social grouping.
 CHECKLIST
• A checklist is a type of informational job aid used to reduce
failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory
& attention. It helps to ensure consistency & completeness in
carrying out a task.
• A basic example is the “to do list”
• A checklist is an informational maintained to reduce the risk of
skipping something important or minute due to lack of
attention or potential limits of human memory/mind. A
checklist may be activity based, day or week based.
• Checklists are used in almost every industry to some extent.
The reason is obvious, minimize critical errors & get the right
work done.
 PRE- TESTING OF TOOLS
• Pre-testing is the administration of the data collection with a
small set of respondents from the population for the full scale
survey. If problems occur in the pre-test, it is likely that
similar problems will arise in full scale administration. The
purpose of pre-testing is to identify problems with the data
collection instrument & find possible solutions.
• Principles for pre-testing:
– pre-testing should be conducted in circumstances that are
as possible to actual data collection & on population
members as similar as possible to those that will be
sampled.
– Careful notes should be taken on the problems
encountered & possible solutions should be identified.
 PILOT STUDY
• A pilot study is a standard scientific tool for soft research,
allowing scientists to conduct a preliminary analysis before
committing to a full blown study or experiment.
• A pilot study or piloting is defined as “the checking of the
procedures to be used in a study to see that there are no
problems”.
 PROCESSING OF DATA
• Data processing means any operation performed on the data
such as collection, use, management or disclosure.
• Data processing mainly involves various manipulations
necessary for preparing the data for analysis. The process
could be manual or electronic. it involves editing , coding,
computerisation and preparation of tables and diagrams.
 MEANING OF DATA PROCESSING
• Data processing refers to the activities of converting of raw
data into meaningful information. Various activities such as
checking, editing, coding, computing of the scores,
preparation of charts etc.
• For ex: typing sales numbers into an inventory control
software program.
 CHECKING OF DATA
• Checking of data is the process of determining whether
information gathered during the process of data collection is
complete and accurate.
 EDITING OF DATA
• Editing of data is the activity aimed at detecting and correcting
errors.It involves a careful scrutiny of the completed
questionnaires and schedules.Editing is done to assure that the
data are accurate, consistent with other facts gather, uniformly
entered.
 CODING OF DATA
• Coding refers to the process of assigning numerals or other
symbols to answers so that responses can be put into a limited
number of categories or classes. Such classes should be
appropriate to the research problem under consideration.
 TRANSCRIPTION
• When only a few schedule are processed and hand tabulated ,
tabulation can directly be made from the schedules. On the
other hand direct tabulation from the edited schedules is
difficult if the number of schedules and the number of
responses in them are large. Suppose an interview schedule
contains 180 responses requiring tabulation and 210 simple
and cross tables are to be constructed, each schedule has to be
handled at least 210 for tabulation. This will result in
mutilation of the schedule and ommission and commission
may easily occur in tabulation. In order to avoid these
drawbacks, data contained in schedules are transferred to
another material for the purpose of tabulation. This
intermediary process is called transcription.
 TABULATION
• Tabulation is the process of arranging data into rows and
columns. Rows are horizontal arrangements whereas columns
are vertical arrangements. Tabulation may be simple, double
or complex depending upon the type of classification.
 TYPES OF TABULATION
• Simple tabulation or one way tabulation:
When the data are tabulated to one characteristic, it is said to
be simple tabulation or one way tabulation.
For ex: tabulation of data on population of world classified by
one characteristic like religion is example of simple tabulation.
• Double tabulation or two way tabulation:
when the data are tabulated according to two characteristics at
a time, it is said to be two way tabulation.
For ex: tabulation of data on population of world classified by
two characteristics like religion & gender is example of
double tabulation.
 contd,..
• Complex tabulation:
when the data are tabulated according to many characteristics,
it is said to be complex tabulation.
For ex: tabulation of data on population of world classified by
two characteristics like religion, gender & literacy etc.
Contd…
SIMPLE TABULATION

Marks in Statistics(x) No. of students

15 7
30 3
45 15
50 6
Total 31

DOUBLE TABULATION

Marks in Statistics(x)
10 20 25 35 Total
Marks in Accounts(y)

15 1 2 3 1 7

30 2 1 - - 3

45 5 4 5 1 15

50 1 2 2 1 6

Total 9 9 10 3 31
 USEFULNESS OF TABLES
• The usefulness of tables is to present the data
in such a way that they become more
meaningful & can easily understood by a
common man.
• Tables can be prepared manually & by
computers. Tables are useful to the
researchers & the readers in 2 ways:
• It present an overall view if findings in a simpler way.
• They display relationships in a comparable way
between parts of the findings.
 Essential parts of table
• Title of the table:
A title is a heading at the top of the table describing its contents. A title usually tells us, what is
the nature of the data, where the data are, what time period do the data cover, how are the data
classified.
• Caption:
The headings for various column & rows are called caption & row caption.
• Box head:
The portion of the table containing column caption is called box head.
• Stub:
The portion of the table containing row caption is called stub.
• Body of the table:
The body of the table contains the statistical data which have to be presented in different rows
& columns.
• Head notes:
Head notes appears between title & body of the table & enclosed in brackets.. For ex: in lakhs,
in thousands etc..
• Foot notes:
A foot note is always given at the bottom of the table but the above source note.
• Source note:
A source note is placed immeaditely below the table but after the footnote. It refers to the
source from where the information has been taken.
 Preparation of tables
• Tables should include only essential data. Each table
should be double spaced with an explanatory title &
sufficient experimental detail.