Survey research requires the development of questionnaires. Questionnaire development and administration uses ten basic steps:
- Write more items than you will need so you can narrow to the best ones.
- Write items that are statements of desired behavior, not statements of fact.
- Use “should” in your statements to show present rather than past behavior.
- Write each statement clearly and concisely, avoiding ambiguity.
- Separate all statements so none will express more than one attitude.
- Word statements so that about half of the items are reversed.
- Add the appropriate options with words and numbers so that options align separately from statements.
- Pre-test items with target public members to assure reliability and validity.
- 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.
- 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.