Competitive analysis of Banquet or restaurant menus and pricing optimization

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Designing an effective questionnaire

This guidance provides you with hints and tips on:

• The design and structure of your questionnaire

• Question types

• What can have a negative impact

• Increasing response rates

• Analysis

Before you start writing your questionnaire it is important that you are clear about the main

aims and objectives. These should then enable you to develop your questionnaire more

easily and ensure that you are asking questions that will give you the information that you

need. The structure of your questionnaire doesn’t have to follow the same order as the

aims and objectives but should be logical from the respondent’s point of view. Use the

following additional hints and tips to help you design an effective questionnaire:

• In practice, there is no right or wrong question or answer. Your questions should be

linked to the data you need to obtain. Bear in mind that different questions can get

different answers.

• Whenever possible, a questionnaire should follow some form of natural flow,

reflecting a train of thought, a logical conversation, or a sequence of events,

depending on the subject matter.

• Include a simple introduction – this can help encourage participation. In this you

should tell the respondent:

- who you are

- the purpose of your survey and why you want their input

- a reason why they should take part

- how long it will take them

- terms of anonymity and confidentiality

- how the results will be used

- when and how they will receive feedback

- who they can contact if they have for any queries

• It is always best to start with a simple question. Sensitive topics should be explored

through appropriately sensitive or even indirect questions and are best to be placed

towards the end of the survey.

• Group similar questions together – you may want to include section headings if

appropriate.

• Questions should be relevant, concise, clear and efficient. Most people make the

mistake of asking too many and questions that they will not use. You want to get a

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good response so clear and concise questions will help to achieve this. Be really strict

when thinking about your questions – ask yourself how will this question add insight

or understanding?

• Only one question should be asked at a time- if you ask two questions in one

sentence then you will be unclear about what an answer is referring to.

• Care should be taken to ensure that respondents are not lead to answer in a

particular way. For example, any facts to be communicated to the respondent

should be set out in a neutral manner. Positive phrases such as “the proposal is a

good idea” in a question without a balancing negative phrase may lead the

respondent to a positive view.

• Think about the type of questions you are asking. Are you asking questions that can

be answered:

- Accurately (What is your age?)

- Through memory (e.g. how many times in the past 12 months have you

visited….?)

- Through a best choice of options, none of which may correspond precisely to

the respondent’s view/behaviour (e.g. Which of these three statements

comes closest to describing your view…?)

- Through estimation, guesswork or even speculation

• Appropriate answers should be available to reflect the reality of the range of

responses. Available answers should be clear and understandable, with little

ambiguity as possible and should be phrased to the respondent’s way of

thinking/talking.

• Don’t know or No view should be available to the respondent as it is often a perfectly

valid answer, and a “not answered” response. You may also need to include a not

applicable if necessary.

• Where it is difficult to predict the full range of answers, you could provide an ‘other

or please specify’ category with a box to enter free text.

• Where appropriate, consider using questions from previous research as this gives

comparability and can enhance the value of the data collected.

• Ensure that the design and the way that the questionnaire is written is appropriate

for the audience. All council questionnaires should offer to provide questionnaires in

different formats if necessary.

• Ask yourself, will your respondents understand your questions and options, be

willing to answer your questions and able to answer them.

• Always pilot your questionnaire either with colleagues or people from your target

audience. The aim here is to detect any flaws in your questioning and correct these

prior to the main survey. This may also help you to change some open questions to

questions with options. You may also be able to do a trial analysis on your sample.

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• Questionnaires should be formally agreed by all interested parties. It is important

that everyone agrees that the aims and objectives will be sufficiently met by the

questions asked.

Question types

The type of questions used in your questionnaire play a key role in producing unbiased or

relevant responses and the quality of data you receive back. Question types range from

open-ended (asking for comments) to closed-ended (yes/no). These are described in more

detail below. The consultation portal also provides you with examples of question types

that you can use or adapt for your consultation.

Open-Ended

Open –ended questions allow people to answer a question in their own words. The Council

wants to ensure that people have an opportunity to express their views and feelings and

open text boxes can allow respondents to raise issues that you might not of thought of,

however, think carefully about your consultation and what you are trying to find out as

sometimes respondents might find it difficult to express their feelings, it can take longer for

the respondent to complete and analysing comments can be time consuming. The best way

to collect comments is by using text boxes as opposed to using lines or a clear space.

Closed-Ended

Closed-ended questions include pre-designed answers with a small or large set of choices.

When providing a set of choices it is important to cover all the possible answers that are

expected. You may also want to include an ‘other’ category or comments box as it can be

difficult to pre-determine all of the possible answers. There are different types of closed

questions that you might want to use. This includes:

Multiple Choice

This type includes a set of pre-designed answers, for example yes/no/don’t know or

once/twice/three times).

Ranked questions

This type of question can be used when all the choices listed need to be ranked, for example

you might ask people to rank how important services are from 1 st

to 5 th

Choice. It is

important to pilot these questions to ensure that they are clear and will be completed

correctly.

Rating questions

This type of question can be used when you want to measure people’s ideas, opinions,

knowledge or feelings, for example you might ask people to what extent they agree or

disagree with something as demonstrated below:

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Balanced vs. unbalanced rating scales

A five-point rating scale is usually sufficient and easily understood by people. However,

there is no set limit on the number of categories to use. Using too few could give less useful

information and too many could make it hard to answer. It is better to provide a balanced

scale as it means that an equal number of positive and negative options are included which

helps to avoid bias.

Example 1 – balanced

Excellent Good Average Poor Very Poor

This example includes two positives, two negatives and a neutral midpoint.

Example 2 – unbalanced

Excellent Very good Good Average Poor

There are some occasions in which an unbalanced scale is suitable. For example in a

customer satisfaction survey, few customers may say that something is unimportant. In the

example below ‘important’ will become the midpoint.

Extremely important

Very important

Important

Neither important nor unimportant

Not important

Not applicable (N/A) / Don’t know / No view

It is advisable to allow people to opt out if they don’t know/have no view or if it does not

apply to them as it will help increase the response rate and quality of data collected.

The following aspects can have a negative impact on your consultation:

• Excessively lengthy questionnaires – consider whether a question is required to meet

the aims and objectives, or whether it is “nice to know”.

• Lack of honesty/transparency

• Excessive “about you” section – personal data should be relevant

• Repetitive questioning

• Lack of opportunity for respondents to have their say – when asking closed questions

you may also want to ask ‘why do you say that’ or ‘provide further comments

below’. This encourages respondents to feel that the council is interested and values

their views. It may prove beneficial to the consultation as it may cover aspects that

are not covered in the questionnaire, provide other opinions and give a breadth of

views.

• Boring questionnaires – whenever possible try to use different forms of questioning

to break the routine

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Increasing response rates

• Design a survey that is easy to follow with clear and direct instructions/questions

• Make your questionnaire interesting, of value, short, clearly thought through, and

well presented.

• Telling the respondent when and how they will get feedback or entry into a prize

draw can help encourage participation.

• Introductory letters, reply paid envelopes and follow-up telephone calls can also

help to raise the response rate.

• Requesting participation in advance can encourage involvement

• Provide instructions for your questionnaire at the beginning and throughout where

necessary so it is easy to complete

• Allow enough time to complete the survey and for people to get involved

• Ensure that you have communicated your survey to the right people

• If possible, send reminders during the survey period for those that have not

completed it

Analysis

• As part of the design process you should consider how you expect to analyse and

report the results.

• Ensure that any conclusions you make are supported by data. Ensure that any

reports and presentations clearly distinguish between facts and interpretation.

• Ensure that you deal with answers in a way that respects respondents’ views. This

will help retain the confidence of the general public, ensuring future co-operation.

With any research, care is needed to avoid over-interpretation of results. Think about who

and how many people responded to your consultation, the method (s) you used and when

you consulted (did any internal or external factors influence how people responded). It is

fine to be selective in highlighting results, but be careful not to distort them. Consider what

other information supports your consultation or should be included when reporting or

presenting the results. Contact the Chief Executive’s Department on x3221 or x2046 for

further advice and support on analysis.