Questionnaires

(noun)

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.

Related Terms

Examples of Questionnaires in the following topics:

  • Digital Surveys

    • Digital surveys, also referred to as online questionnaires, are research tools that ask consumers questions in a virtual environment.
    • With the increasing use of the Internet, online questionnaires have become a popular way of collecting information.
    • It is easier to correct errors on an online questionnaire, since the administrator does not have to reprint and redistribute all the questionnaires.
    • Studies indicate that the demographic that responds to online questionnaire invitations are generally younger people.

  • Centrality of experience

    • The instructor in the scenario used the questionnaires to check the learners' frame of mind (centrality of experience) that is constructed from their experiences.

  • Customer Excellence

    • The advantage of using this method over a questionnaire is that you will get more detailed information and feedback, rather than "tick the box"- style responses from a questionnaire.
    • Questionnaires - Distribute one-page questionnaires that ask key questions like: What do you like/dislike?
    • The use of computers in these questionnaires is becoming increasingly popular.

  • Conducting Polls

    • A questionnaire is a series of questions asked to individuals to obtain statistically useful information about a given topic.
    • When properly constructed and responsibly administered, questionnaires become a vital instrument for polling a population.
    • Adequate questionnaire construction is critical to the success of a poll.
    • Ambiguous words, equivocal sentence structures and negatives may cause misunderstanding, possibly invalidating questionnaire results.
    • Finally, questionnaires can be administered by research staff, by volunteers or self-administered by the respondents.

  • Telephone and Internet Polling

    • Interaction between the respondent and the questionnaire is also more dynamic compared to e-mail or paper surveys.
    • Questions with long lists of answer choices can be used to provide immediate coding of answers to certain questions that are usually asked in an open-ended fashion in paper questionnaires.
    • Finally, online surveys can be tailored to the situation (the questionnaire may be preloaded with already available information).
    • It is important that uncontrolled variations in how a questionnaire appears are minimized.
    • Web-based survey methods make the construction and delivery of questionnaire instruments relatively easy, but what is difficult to ensure is that everyone sees the questionnaire as its designer intended it to be.

  • Solicit Information

    • The basic questionnaire is a survey consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents.
    • Questionnaires have advantages over 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.
    • When using a questionnaire or using rating scales it is wise to try them out on a small sample of your audience before you administer them to a large group.
    • You can collect the data directly or you can use computer-assisted web based surveys or interviewing questionnaires.
    • Visitors to the youth fair "YOU" filling out a questionnaire on Wikipedia. "© Raimond Spekking / CC-BY-SA-3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)"

  • Scenario breakdown of the Mezirow phases of transformation

    • In the scenario the instructor gave the questionnaire to the trainees so that they could go through the process of self-examination.
    • The questionnaire the instructor gave allowed the trainees to assess and clarify their assumptions.
    • At the end of the course, the instructor used the post-questionnaire to help the learners reintegrate their new assumptions.

  • A Blended Approach to Leadership

    • Management researcher Bernard Bass developed the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), consisting of 36 items that reflect the leadership aspects associated with both approaches.
    • The questionnaire is most effective with eight to twelve respondents, as this feedback gives leaders a broad set of perspectives from the people who interact with them.

  • Surveys

    • A test-retest reliability entails conducting the same questionnaire to a large sample at two different times.
    • For the questionnaire to be considered reliable, people in the sample do not have to score identically on each test, but rather their position in the score distribution should be similar for both the test and the retest.
    • Finally, there will be greater reliability when instructions for the completion of the questionnaire are clear and when there are limited distractions in the testing environment.
    • Contrastingly, a questionnaire is valid if what it measures is what it had originally planned to measure.
    • Questionnaires are a common research method; the U.S.

  • Tactics for Improving Fit

    • Survey/Questionnaire: Providing the employee with a survey is another effective data-collection strategy.
    • Employee questionnaires can be a useful method of assessing job fit.