Questionnaire Design
Dr Hafsa Raheel
KSU
Thanks to : Dr Amna Rehana
Siddiqui
Professor Ashry Gad & Professor
Awatif
Steps to design a questionnaire
1. Write out the primary and secondary aims of your
study.
2. Write out concepts/information to be collected
that relates to these aims.
3. Review the current literature to identify already
validated questionnaires that measure your
specific area of interest.
4. Compose a draft of your questionnaire.
5. Revise the draft.
6. Assemble the final questionnaire.
Define the aims of the
VERY study
IMPORTANT
• Write out primary and secondary aims using
one sentence per aim. (target population )
• Formulate a plan for the statistical analysis of
each aim.
Objective Question(s) Analysis
Satisfy
2:Define the variables to be
collected
• Detailed list of the information to be collected .
– KAP
– Needs
– Risk factors, behavior, diet, habit
– Demographics , associates
– Some combination of these concepts
• Translate into variables that can be measured.
• Define the role of each variable in the statistical analysis:
– Predictor (independent)
– Outcome (dependent)
– Confounder and/or effect modifier.
3: Review the literature
• Review current literature to identify related
surveys and data collection instruments that
have measured aims similar your aims.
• You may get:
• Validated questionnaires.
• Saving your time.
• Detailed items.
• Comparison of results.
4: Compose the first
draft.
• Determine the mode of survey administration:
-Face-to-face interview.
-Self-administered survey (i.e. mail survey).
-Telephone survey.
-E mail survey.
• Add more questions than will be included in the final
draft.
• Longer questionnaires reduce the response rate.
• Place the most important items in the first half of the
questionnaire.
• Make sure questions flow naturally from one to another.
• At the top, of questionnaire clearly state:
– Introduce your self briefly
– The purpose of the study
– How the data will be used
– Instructions on how to fill out the
questionnaire & how long will it take to fill it in
– Your policy on confidentiality
• Include identifying data on each page of a multi-
page, paper-based questionnaire such as a
respondent ID number in case the pages separate
Assemble the final
questionnaire
• Group questions concerning major subject areas
together and introduce them by heading or short
descriptive statements.
• Order questions in order to stimulate recall.
• Order and format questions to ensure unbiased and
balanced results.
• Place the most important items in the first half of the
questionnaire.
• Make sure questions flow naturally from one to
another.
5: Revise
Shorten the set of questions. If a question does not
address one of the aims, discard.
Refine the questions included their wording by
testing them with a variety of respondents.
Ensure the flow is natural.
Verify that terms and concepts are familiar and
easy to understand for your target audience.
Keep recall to a minimum and focus on the recent
past.
Testing the Survey
Instruments
1. Focus groups discussions
2. Cognitive interviews
3. Field pre-testing
Field Pre-test
Small-scale study in which all the conditions of the
full scale-survey are simulated
Survey modes
Interviewer oral debriefing and written reports
Warning signs:
Variation (Skewed distributions).
Response rate .
“No opinion” and “Don’t know” rates.
Response Patterns.
Flow of the questionnaire.
Construct a question
Question:
• How many cups of coffee or tea do you drink
in a day?
Answer key [1]:
• Question: How many cups of coffee or tea do you
drink in a day?.......double barrel question
• Principle: Ask for an answer in only one dimension.
• Solution: Separate the question into two –
– (1) How many cups of coffee do you drink during a
usual day?
– (2) How many cups of tea do you drink during a
usual day?
Construct a Question
Question:
What brand of computer do you own?
(A) IBM PC
(B) Apple
Answer key [2]:
Question: What brand of computer do you own?
(A) IBM PC
(B) Apple
Principle: Avoid hidden assumptions. Make sure to
accommodate all possible answers.
Solution #s 1 and 2:
(1) Make each response a separate dichotomous item
Do you own an IBM PC? (Circle: Yes or No)
Do you own an Apple computer? (Circle: Yes or No)
(2) Add all possible response categories & allow for multiple responses.
What brand of computer do you own? (Circle all that apply)
Do not own computer
IBM PC
Apple
Other (please specify)________________________
15
Answer key [3]:
• Question: Have you had pain in the last week?
[ ] Never [ ] Seldom [ ] Often [ ] Very often
• Principle: Make sure question and answer options
match.
• Solution: Reword either question or answer to match.
– How often have you had pain in the last week?
[ ] Never [ ] Seldom [ ] Often [ ] Very Often
16
Construct a question
Survey given to teenagers
Question: Where did you grow up as a
child ?
Country
Farm
City
Answer key [4]:(Assume asking a
teenager/adolescence)
Question: Where did you grow up as a child ?
Country
Farm
City
Principle: Avoid questions having non-mutually
exclusive answers.
Solution: Design the question with mutually exclusive
options (meaning they do not overlap each other)
Where did you grow up as a child?
House in the countryside
Farm house in the countryside
Large City neighborhood
Small town semi urban / rural
Other (please specify) ______________________
18
Construct a question
Question:
• Are you against drug abuse? (Circle: Yes or
No)
Yes
No
Answer key [5]:
• Question: Are you against drug abuse? (Circle: Yes or No)
• Principle: Write questions that will produce
variability in the responses.
• Solution: Eliminate the question.
20
Answer key [6]:
Question: Which one of the following do you think increases a
person’s chance of having a heart attack the most? (Check one.)
[ ] Smoking [ ] Being overweight [ ] Stress
Principle: Encourage the respondent to consider each possible
response to avoid the uncertainty of whether a missing item
may represent either an answer that does not apply or an
overlooked item.
Solution: Which of the following increases the chance of
having a heart attack?
Smoking: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
Being overweight: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
Stress: [ ] Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t know
……
21
Answer key [7]:
Question:
(1) Do you currently have a life insurance policy?
(Circle: Yes or No)
If no, go to question 3.
(2) How much is your annual life insurance
premium?
Principle: Avoid branching as much as possible to
avoid confusing respondents.
Solution: If possible, write as one question.
How much did you spend last year for life
insurance? (Write 0 if none).
22
QUALITIES OF THE QUESTIONS:
1. The number of questions should be determined in relevance to
the proposed objectives.
2. Avoid irrelevant questions.
3. The questions must be simple, short, inquire about one thing at a
time.
4. Avoid sensitive and very personal questions, however, if the topic
is of such a nature, leave them to the end.
5. Avoid leading questions.
6. Arrange questions in an orderly manner .
7. Questions relating to the same issue should be kept together.
8. Avoid technical terms.
9. Use local language of community.
06/12/25 Tools for Data collection
Validity and Reliability
• Some common mistakes
Main Mistakes (Q1)
1. Personal information, such as income, should always be kept until the
end of the interview
2. Use of pre-coded income categories
• 1. less than 4000
• 2. 4000 - 7999
Categorical Variable
• 3. 8000-13999 (Ordinal)
• 4. 14000 or above
• 77. Refused For continuous variables like
age, height, weight, etc.
• 99. Don't know avoid using pre-coded options
Main Mistakes (Q2)
Use simple, clear language
“fitness and recreation opportunities”, or “sports and fitness activities”
[Link]
[Link] Categorical Variable
(Nominal)
77. Refused
99. Don't know
Main Mistakes (Q3)
Avoid asking “aided awareness” questions.
Keep questions short.
Q3. Have you recently seen, read, or heard anything about fitness and
recreation programs in your community?
[Link]
[Link]
77. Refused
99. Don't know
Main Mistakes (Q4)
Don’t ask two different questions and give one response category
Divide into two questions
•Are you currently a member of a gym or fitness club?
[Link]
[Link] Categorical Variable
77. Refused (Nominal)
99. Don't know
•Do you participate in any regular physical fitness program?
[Link]
[Link]
77. Refused
99. Don't know
Main Mistakes (Q5)
Use skip pattern if necessary
Q.4 Are you currently a member of a gym or fitness club?
[Link]
[Link] ---------> Go to Question 6
77. Refused
[Link]'t know
Q.5 Please tell me what regular physical activity you participate in.
Open-Ended
____________________
Question
Main Mistakes (Q6)
Keep related questions together
Don’t use abbreviations (PSA – public service announcement)
•Q.6 Where did you read, see, or hear this information?
[Link]
[Link]
[Link] Newspaper
Categorical Variable
[Link] Newspaper (Nominal)
77. Refused
99. Don't know
Main Mistakes (Q7)
Don’t ask two different questions and give one response category
Use the same format for the whole questionnaire
•Q.7 How would you rate the quality of the PSA(s) that you saw or heard?
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
Categorical Variable
[Link] (Ordinal)
[Link]
77. Refused
99. Don't know
Main Mistakes (Q8)
Use simple, common language
Record the “action” in a more objective, direct manner
•Q.7 Would you say that after seeing the advertisement in the media you
started participating in local physical activity programs more frequently than
before?
[Link]
[Link] Closed-Ended
77. Refused Question
99. Don't know
Main Mistakes (Q9)
Don’t use leading questions
Keep related questions together
•What do you recall about the information that you read, saw, or heard?
Open-Ended
_______________ Question
Main Mistakes (Q10)
The introduction tells that the information they give is confidential.
Asking for personal information after ensuring confidentiality needs to be
explained clearly, and the respondent reassured that their name will not be
associated with their responses.
The best way to do so is to state why you are asking, and then give them
the option to provide the information, otherwise it can lead to some
hostility.
Some questionnaire
formats
# Question coding answer
1) What is your age? 1. 15-16
2. 17-18
3. 19-20
4. >21
2) Marital status? 1. Single
2. Married
3. Engaged
4. Separated
5. Widowed
6. Others
3) Which country do you come from ? 1. Saudi Arabia
2. Egypt
3. Syria
4. India
5. Others
4) Which city do you come from? 1. Riyadh
2. Jeddah
3. Dammam
4. Eastern region
06/12/25 5. collection
Data Otherstools
Reference book & page
number for the lecture
resource
• What's wrong with this questionnaire, The health
communication unit, Dalla Lana School of Public Health,
Toronto, Canada
• Ashry Gad Mohamed, Lecture on Questionnaire Design,
College of Medicine & KKUH
• B. Hulley, Designing Clinical Research, Second Edition,
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2001
• Shaikh Shaffi Ahamed, Lecture on Introduction to Biostatistics
& Types of data, College of Medicine & KKUH
Other References
• [Link]/surveys
• “Design and use of questionnaires: a review of best practice applicable to surveys
of health service staff and patients”, Health Technology Assessment, 2001. Vol.5,
No. 31.
• Moser CA, Kalton G. Survey methods in social investigation. 2 nd ed. Aldershot:
Gower; 1971.
• Questionnaire Design lecture, Theresa Scott
• Bourque, Linda and Eve Fielder. 1995. How to Conduct Self- administered and
Mail Surveys: Learning Objectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Converse, Jean M. and Stanley Presser. 1986. “Survey Questions: Handcrafting
the Standardized Questionnaire.” Quantitative Applications in the Social
Sciences (series). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Dillman, Don A. 2000. Mail and Internet Surveys : The Tailored
Design Method. New York: J. Wiley.
• Fink, Arlene. 1995. How To Ask Survey Questions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Fowler, Floyd J. Jr. 1995. Improving Survey Questions: Design and Evaluation.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
• Sudman, Seymore and Norman M. Bradburn. 1982. Asking Questions: A
Practical Guide to Questionnaire Design. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. 41
Thank you
Questions?
