Survey research requires the development of questionnaires. Questionnaire development and administration uses ten basic steps:

1. Write more items than you will need so you can narrow to the best ones.
2. Write items that are statements of desired behavior, not statements of fact.
3. Use “should” in your statements to show present rather than past behavior.
4. Write each statement clearly and concisely, avoiding ambiguity.
5. Separate all statements so none will express more than one attitude.
6. Word statements so that about half of the items are reversed.
7. Add the appropriate options with words and numbers so that options align separately from statements.
8. Pre-test items with target public members to assure reliability and validity.
9. Eliminate those items that fail to differentiate between people with different attitudes on the issue, or revise the statements as necessary and pre-test again.
10. Administer the final questionnaire.

Questionnaires for course surveys are best completed in groups. Because of time constraints, you may want to consider telephone, face-to-face, or email surveys for this assignment.

Instructions for conducting the pre-test are provided in the textbook. A Questionnaire Grading Sheet simplifies grading of this assignment.

Return to Pre-tests.