Questionnaire Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

A questionnaire, or survey instrument, is a structured set of questions administered to individuals to obtain information. Frequently used in survey, political behavior, and public opinion research, a questionnaire involves either the direct or indirect solicitation of information from individuals. Questionnaires are used to gauge a respondent’s attitudes on a topic, obtain factual information on the individual, or ask respondents to self-report about behaviors or habits. Questionnaires are particularly useful in obtaining data on a population too large for measurement on practical grounds by drawing from a sample of individuals from within that population. While questionnaires differ based on the subject being researched, the purpose of a questionnaire is to ensure that each individual respondent completes a more or less standardized instrument, thereby ensuring both the reliability and the validity of the data obtained.

While a questionnaire can assume several forms, the method of data collection involves a carefully structured or scripted series of questions that may then be presented to individuals in a variety of ways. Some questionnaires are administered by an interviewer. These can be done face-to-face or by telephone via a traditional landline phone or a cellular phone. Questionnaires may also be self-administered. Self-administered questionnaires can be administered electronically (e.g., over the Internet or by email) or in hard copy (e.g., by mail or placed in drop-off locations for potential respondents to find). Furthermore, a researcher may employ a mixed-mode design, which may incorporate multiple administration methods. The chosen methodology generally relies upon a variety of practical considerations, namely cost, time frame, the nature of the study, and the size and composition of the populations involved.

A questionnaire can either be scientific or nonscientific in nature, a designation frequently contingent upon how it is administered. Scientific questionnaires are generally considered nonexperimental in design, but may be incorporated into some experimental designs. Scientific questionnaires can be classified into one of three general categories: a cross-sectional design, wherein the survey is administered once to a sample; a panel study, which is a type of cross-sectional design in which the same respondents are administered a questionnaire at multiple points in time; or a time-series analysis, which involves a questionnaire administered at multiple points in time, but not necessarily to the same set of respondents. Nonscientific questionnaires do not generally follow any prescribed scientific guidelines—either in terms of composition or administration—and thus the measures cannot be considered accurate or valid and should not be used for scientific research purposes.

Building a questionnaire is a complex task. For a questionnaire to be reliable and to provide valid measures for quantitative analysis, a researcher must fulfill a multitude of methodological obligations simultaneously. Questions can be asked on any topic and in any number of ways, so it is not sufficient simply to write a series of questions and disseminate a questionnaire without first considering several factors. These factors include careful selection of the types of questions that will provide an adequate measure of the phenomenon being researched, the wording of questions, the order of the questions, the careful selection of the sample that will ultimately receive the questionnaire, and the interviewing techniques and survey methods best suited for the administration of the survey instrument.

Ignoring any one of these potential methodological pitfalls can result in invalid or unreliable data. For instance, invalid measures of the phenomenon or phenomena being analyzed may result from failing to control for question wording effects, which may influence a respondent’s answer to a question. Invalid measures can also result from question-order effects, as earlier items may affect responses to questions later in the questionnaire. The result in either case is potentially false or misleading information. Furthermore, if the sampling frame chosen is not representative of the population being studied, the results will also be rendered invalid and, therefore, unusable.

Bibliography:

Asher, Herbert. Polling and the Public: What Every Citizen Should Know. 7th ed. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2007.
Bradburn, Norman, Seymour Sudman, and Brian Wansink. Asking Questions: The Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design—For Market Research, Political Polls, and Social and Health Questionnaires. Rev. ed. San Francisco:Wiley, 2004.
Dillman, Don A., Jolene D. Smyth, and Leah Melani Christian. Internet, Mail, and Mixed-mode Surveys:The Tailored Design Method. 3rd ed. Hoboken, N.J.:Wiley, 2009.
Groves, Robert M., F. J. Fowler, Mick P. Couper, James M. Lepkowski, Eleanor Singer, and R.Tourangeau. Survey Methodology. New York:Wiley,2004.
Schuman, Howard, and Stanley Presser. Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys: Experiments on Question Form, Wording, and Context. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, 1996.

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