Step three - method
Choose the most appropriate questionnaire method for the sample of people taking part.
Questionnaire methods include:
- face-to-face interviews
- phone interviews
- questionnaires sent through post
- online questionnaires
Real-life example one
If people over the age of 80 are being targeted in your research, online questionnaires may not be the most suitable method to use, as some people over 80 may not be familiar with being online.
Real-life example two
If young children are being targeted for your research, telephone interviews would not be suitable as there would be issues of safety. Also, very young children would not have the attention span to answer questions over the telephone, and would not be old enough to express an opinion.
Step four - questions
Decide on the type and format of questions and the wording. The purpose of your research, which will have been established in step one of developing a questionnaire, will help you decide what type of questions to use:
- open questions
- closed questions
- a combination of both
There are also many ways to form a question. Carefully consider how the responses to the questions are going to be analysed. Closed questions are much quicker to collate and analyse. In fact, this can be done instantly if online survey applications are used such as Moodle, GoogleForms and Surveymonkey.
