Questionnaires play an important role in research. They help us gather data that can reveal hidden insights about individuals. But they do have limitations.
Questions can be self-administered, with participants answering all questions themselves, or researcher-administered, where the research team interviews a sample of respondents by phone, in-person, or online. Self-administered questionnaires tend to have lower response rates than researcher-administered questionnaires, due in part to the impersonal nature of mailed paper surveys and automated telephone menu systems.
Web-based questionnaires have a number advantages, such as a greater reach than surveys conducted via telephone or mail and the possibility of reaching an international audience. However, they also come with issues, such as the difficulty of reaching a representative demographic sample. They are also affected by factors such as screen sizes and platforms for hardware, operating systems, and browser settings.
When designing a survey, it is important to consider the research goals and the goals. When you’re creating questions, it’s crucial to know the target audience. For example you should know if they can understand and respond to the question or whether they have the time to fill out a lengthy questionnaire.
It’s also important to test the new questionnaires ahead of time through qualitative methods like focus groups or cognitive interviews. pre-testing (often using an opt-in survey) to ensure that they’re functioning as intended. Questionnaires are prone to „question-order effects”, where answers to earlier questions may influence the responses to subsequent ones.