page11
S
URVEY
G
UIDE
11
To measure occurrence, ask for number of times per day/week/month, rather
than asking respondents to select a category (several times a week, once a
week, once a month). However, if the event in question is difficult to count or
estimate, response categories (zero times, 1-3 times, 4 or more times) may help
respondents provide an answer.
D
ESIGN OF
S
ELF
-A
DMINISTERED
Q
UESTIONNAIRES
A self-administered questionnaire is a survey that collects data without the use
of a telephone or in-person interviewer. It can be either a paper or web-based
instrument. In both cases, the design of the questionnaire is crucial to reducing
non-responses and measurement error.
With self-administered questionnaires, it is especially valuable to provide a
context for the survey as a whole
–
how the data will be used, whether
responses are anonymous, etc. The earlier and more effectively this is done, the
less likely people will be to dismiss the survey before they even start
responding. The introductory email or letter or the front cover of a paper survey
are appropriate places to provide the context.
Important design considerations include:

Physical format of a paper instrument (how pages are oriented, stapled,
folded, etc.) is simple for the respondent to work with and for data entry
staff to process

Launching and moving through a web-based survey is intuitive and works
with multiple browsers

Order of questions is polite and logical to the respondent

Begin with questions that reflect the announced subject of the study,
catch the respondent’s attention, and are easy to answer

Ask people to recall things in the order in which they happened

Ask about topic details before asking for an overall assessment

Group items that are similar in topic, then group items within the topic
that have similar response options

Place personal and demographic questions at the end of the survey

Visual layout is clean, simple, and consistent

Distinguish question text, answer choices and instructions and be
consistent in how you do this

Limit the number of variations in type or font, the use of white type on
black background, and the use of all capital letters

Use indentation and white space to make it easy to navigate through
sections of the survey and to identify the next question

On a paper survey, provide lines for answering open-ended questions
(the more lines, the more respondents will write)