Questionnaires are frequently used in quantitative marketing research and social research in general. They are a most valuable method of collecting a wide range of information from a large number of respondents. Good questionnaire construction is critical to the success of a survey.
In appropriate questions, incorrect ordering of questions, incorrect scaling, or bad questionnaire format can make the survey valueless. A useful method for checking a questionnaire for problems is to pretest it. This usually involves giving it to a small sample of respondents, then interviewing the respondents to get their impressions and to confirm that the questions accurately captured their opinions.
Questionnaire Construction Issues:
The research objectives and frame of reference should be defined beforehand, including the questionnaire’s context of time, budget, manpower, intrusion and privacy.
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The nature of the expected responses should be defined and retained for interpretation of the responses, be it preferences (of products or services), facts, beliefs, feelings, descriptions of past behavior, or standards of action.
Unneeded questions are an expense to the researcher and an unwelcome imposition on the respondents. All questions should contribute to the objective of the research.
The topics should fit the respondents’ frame of reference. Their background may affect their interpretation of the questions. Respondents should have enough information or expertise to answer the questions truthfully. The type of scale, index, or typology to be used shall be determined.
The types of questions (closed, multiple-choice, and open) should fit the statistical data analysis techniques available. Questions and prepared responses to choose from should be neutral as to intended outcome. A biased question or questionnaire encourages respondents to answer one way rather than another. Even questions without bias may leave respondents with expectations. The order or “natural” grouping of questions is often relevant.
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The wording should be kept simple- no technical or specialized words. The meaning should be clear. Ambiguous words, equivocal sentence structures and negatives may cause misunderstanding, possibly invalidating questionnaire results.
Double negatives should be reworded as positives. If a survey question actually contains more than one issue, the researcher will not know which one the respondent is answering. Care should be taken to ask one question at a time.
The list of possible responses should be inclusive. Respondents should not find themselves with a category that fits their situation. One solution is to use a final category for “other”.
The possible responses should be mutually exclusive. Categories should not overlap. Respondents should not find themselves in more-than one category, for example in both the “married” category and the “single” category – there may be need for a “not living with spouse” category.
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Writing style should be conversational, yet concise and accurate and appropriate to the target audience.
Most people will not answer personal or intimate questions.
“Loaded” questions evoke emotional responses and may skew results.
Presentation of the questions on the page (or computer screen) and use of white space, colors, pictures, charts, or other graphics may affect respondent’s interest or distract from the questions.
Numbering of questions may be helpful.
Questionnaires can be administered by research staff, by volunteers or self-administered by the respondents. Clearly, detailed instructions are needed in either case, matching the needs of each audience.
Nature of Questionnaires:
This method of data collection is quite popular, particularly in case of big enquiries. It is being adopted by private individuals, research workers, private and public organizations and even by governments. In this method, a questionnaire is sent (usually by post) to the persons concerned with a request to answer the questions and return the questionnaires.
A questionnaire consists of a number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or set of forms. The questionnaire is mailed to respondents who are expected to read and understand the questions and write down the reply in the space meant for the purpose in the questionnaire itself. The respondents have to answer the questions on their own.
The method of collecting data by mailing by the questionnaires to respondents is most extensively employed in various economic and business surveys.
The merits claimed on behalf of this method are as follows:
1. There is low cost even when the universe is large and is widely spread geographically.
2. It is free from the bias of the interviewer, answers are in respondents own words.
3. Respondent has adequate time to give well thought out answers.
4. Respondents, who are not easily approachable, can also be reached conveniently.
5. Large samples can be made use of and thus the results can be made more dependable and reliable.
Purpose of a Questionnaire:
Main aspects of a questionnaire:
Quite often questionnaire is considered as the heart of a survey operation. Hence it should be very carefully constructed. If it is not properly set up, then the survey is bound to fail. This fact requires us to study the main aspects of a questionnaire viz., the general form, question sequence and question formulation and wording.
Researcher should note the following with regard to these three main aspects of a questionnaire:
1. General Form:
So far as the general form of a questionnaire is concerned it can either be structured or unstructured questionnaire. Structured questionnaire are those questionnaire in which there are definite, concrete and pre-determined question. The questions are presented with exactly the same wording and in the same order to all respondents. Resort is taken to this sort of standardization to ensure that all respondents reply to the same set of question.
The form of the question may be either closed (i.e. of the type ‘Yes’ or ‘No’) or open (i.e., inviting free response) but should be stated in advance and not constructed during question. Structured questionnaires may also have fixed alternative questions in which responses of the informants are limited to the stated alternatives.
Thus a highly structured questionnaires is one in which all question and answers are specified and comments in the respondents own words are held to the minimum. When these characteristics are not present in a questionnaire, it can be tamed as unstructured or non-structured questionnaires.
More specifically, we can say that in an unstructured questionnaire, the interviewer is provided with a general guide on the type of information to be obtained, but the exact question formulation is largely his own responsibility and the replies are to be taken down in the respondents own words to the extent possible in some situations tape recorders may be used to achieve this goal questionnaires, one can construct a structured questionnaires for use in the main study.
2. Question Sequence:
In order to make the questionnaires effective and to ensure quality to the replies received, a researcher should pay attention to the question-sequence in preparing the questionnaire. A proper sequence of questions reduces considerably the chances of individual questions that are easiest to answer being put in the beginning.
The first few questions are particularly important because they are likely to influence the attitude of the respondent and in seeking his desired cooperation. The opening question should be such as to arouse human interest.
The following type of questions should generally be avoided as opening questions in a questionnaire:
1. Question that put too great a strain on the memory or intellect of the respondent,
2. Questions of a personal character.
3. Questions related to personal wealth etc.
Following the opening questions, we should have question that are really vital to the research problem and a connecting thread should run through successive question, Ideally, the question sequence should confirm to the respondent’s way of thinking.
Knowing what information is desired, the researcher can rearrange the order or the questions (this is possible in case of unstructured questionnaires) to fit the discussion in each particular case. But in a structured questionnaire the best that can be done is to determine the question-sequence with the help of a Pilot Survey which likely to produce good rapport with most respondents.
3. Question Formulation and Wording:
With regard to this aspect of questionnaire, the researcher should note that each question must be very clear for any sort of misunderstanding can do irreparable harm to a survey. Question should also be impartial in order not to give a biased picture of the true state of affairs. Questions should be constructed with a view to their forming a logical part of a well thought out tabulation plan.
In general, all questions should meet the following standards-(a) should be easily understood; should be simple i.e., should convey only one thought at time; (b) should be concrete and should conform as much as possible to the respondent’s way of thinking.
Design of a Questionnaire for Conducting a Market Survey:
The researcher must pay attention to the following points in constructing an appropriate and effective questionnaires or a schedule:
1. The researcher must keep in view her problem to study for it provides the starting point for developing the questionnaire/schedule. He must be clear about the various aspects of his research problem to be deal with in the course of his research project.
2. Appropriate form of question depends on the nature of information sought, the sampled respondents and the kind of analysis intended. The researcher must decide whether to use closed or open-ended question. Questions should be simple and must be constructed with a view to their forming a logical part of a well thought out tabulation plan. The units of enumeration should also be defined precisely so that they can ensure accurate and full information.
3. Rough draft of the questionnaire/schedule is prepared, giving due thought to the appropriate sequence of putting questions. Questionnaires of schedules previously drafted (If available) may be well be looked into at this stage.
4. Research must invariable re-examine, and in case of need any revise the rough draft for a better one. Technical defects must be minutely scrutinised and removed.
5. Pilot study should be undertaken for pre-testing the questionnaire. The questionnaire may be edited in the light of the results of the pilot study.
6. Questionnaire must contain simple but straight forward directions for the respondents, so that they may not feel any difficulty in answering the questions.
Types of Questions:
(a) Contingency Questions:
A question is answered only if the respondent gives a particular response to a previous question. This avoids asking questions of people that do not apply to them (for example, asking men if they have ever been pregnant).
(b) Matrix Questions:
Identical response categories are assigned to multiple questions. The questions are placed one under the other, forming a matrix with response categories along the top and a list of questions down the side. This is an efficient use of page space and respondents’ time.
(c) Scaled Questions:
Responses are graded on a continuum (example- rate the appearance of the product on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most preferred appearance). Examples of types of scales include the Likert scale, semantic differential scale, and rank-order scale.
(d) Closed Ended Questions:
Respondents’ answers are limited to a fixed set of responses. Most scales are closed ended.
Other Types of Closed Ended Questions Include:
Dichotomous Questions:
The respondent answers with a “yes” or a “no”.
Multiple Choices:
The respondent has several options from which to choose.
(e) Open Ended Questions:
No options or predefined categories are suggested. The respondent supplies their own answer without being constrained by a fixed set of possible responses.
Examples of types of open ended questions include:
Completely unstructured – For example, “What is your opinion of questionnaires?”
Word association – Words are presented and the respondent mentions the first word that comes to mind.
Sentence Completion:
Respondents complete an incomplete sentence. For example, “The most important consideration in my decision to buy a new house is . . .” Story completion: Respondents complete an incomplete story. Picture completion- Respondents fill in an empty conversation balloon. Thematic Apperception Test- Respondents explain a picture or make up a story about what they think is happening in the picture.
Question Sequence:
a. Questions should flow logically from one to the next.
b. The researcher must ensure that the answer to a question is not influenced by previous questions.
c. Questions should flow from the more general to the more specific.
d. Questions should flow from the least sensitive to the most sensitive.
e. Questions should flow from factual and behavioural questions to attitudinal and opinion questions.
f. Questions should flow from unaided to aided questions.
According to the three stages theory (also called the sandwich theory); initial questions should be screening and rapport questions. Then in the second stage you ask all the product specific questions. In the last stage you ask demographic questions.
Questionnaire Design:
Questionnaires are an inexpensive way to gather data from a potentially large number of respondents. Often they are the only feasible way to reach a number of reviewers large enough to allow statistically analysis of the results.
A well-designed questionnaire that is used effectively can gather information on both the overall performance of the test system as well as information on specific components of the system. If the questionnaire includes demographic questions on the participants, they can be used to correlate performance and satisfaction with the test system among different groups of users.
It is important to remember that a questionnaire should be viewed as a multi-stage process beginning with definition of the aspects to be examined and ending with interpretation of the results.
Every step needs to be designed carefully because the final results are only as good as the weakest link in the questionnaire process. Although questionnaires may be cheap to administer compared to other data collection methods, they are every bit as expensive in terms of design time and interpretation.
The steps required to design and administer a questionnaire include in the following steps:
a. Defining the Objectives of the survey.
b. Determining the Sampling Group.
c. Writing the Questionnaire.
d. Administering the Questionnaire.
e. Interpretation of the Results.
This document will concentrate on how to formulate objectives and write the questionnaire. Before these steps are examined in detail, it is good to consider what questionnaires are good at measuring and when it is appropriate to use questionnaires. What can questionnaires measure?
Questionnaires are quite flexible in what they can measure, however they are not equally suited to measuring all types of data.
Subjective vs. Objective and Quantitative vs. Qualitative:
When a questionnaire is administered, the researchers control over the environment will be somewhat limited. This is why questionnaires are inexpensive to administer. This loss of control means the validity of the results is more reliant on the honesty of the respondent.
Consequently, it is more difficult to claim complete objectivity with questionnaire data then with results of a tightly controlled lab test. For example, if a group of participants are asked on a questionnaire how long it took them to learn a particular function on a piece of software, it is likely that they will be biased towards themselves and answer, on average, with a lower than actual time.
A more objective usability test of the same function with a similar group of participants may return a significantly higher learning time. More elaborate questionnaire design or administration may provide slightly better objective data, but the cost of such a questionnaire can be much higher and offset their economic advantage. In general, questionnaires are better suited to gathering reliable subjective measures, such as user satisfaction, of the system or interface in question.
Questions may be designed to gather either qualitative or quantitative data. By their very nature, quantitative questions are more exact then qualitative. For example, the word “easy” and “difficult” can mean radically different things to different people. Any question must be carefully crafted, but in particular questions that assess a qualitative measure must be phrased to avoid ambiguity.
Qualitative questions may also require more thought on the part of the participant and may cause them to become bored with the questionnaire sooner. In general, we can say that questionnaires can measure both qualitative and quantitative data well, but that qualitative questions require more care in design, administration, and interpretation.
When to use a Questionnaire?
There is no all-encompassing rule for when to use a questionnaire. The choice will be made based on a variety of factors including the type of information to be gathered and the available resources for the experiment. A questionnaire should be considered in the following circumstances.
When Resources and Money are Limited:
A Questionnaire can be quite inexpensive to administer. Although preparation may be costly, any data collection scheme will have similar preparation expenses. The administration cost per person of a questionnaire can be as low as postage and a few photocopies.
Time is also an important resource that questionnaires can maximize. If a questionnaire is self-administering, such as an e-mail questionnaire, potentially several thousand people could respond in a few days. It would be impossible to get a similar number of usability tests completed in the same short time.
When it is Necessary to Protect the Privacy of the Participants:
Questionnaires are easy to administer confidentially. Often confidentiality is the necessary to ensure participants will respond honestly if at all. Examples of such cases would include studies that need to ask embarrassing questions about private or personal behavior.
When Corroborating other Findings:
In studies that have resources to pursue other data collection strategies, questionnaires can be a useful confirmation tools. More costly schemes may turn up interesting trends, but occasionally there will not be resources to run these other tests on large enough participant groups to make the results statistically significant. A follow-up large scale questionnaire may be necessary to corroborate these earlier results.
(I) Defining the Objectives of the Survey:
The importance of well-defined objectives cannot be over emphasized. A questionnaire that is written without a clear goal and purpose is inevitably going to overlook important issues and waste participants’ time by asking useless questions. The questionnaire may lack a logical flow and thereby cause the participant to lose interest. Consequential, what useful data you may have collected could be further compromised.
The problems of a poorly defined questionnaire do not end here, but continue on to the analysis stage. It is difficult to imagine identifying a problem and its cause, let alone its solution, from responses to broad and generalizing questions. In other words, how would it be possible to reach insightful conclusions if one didn’t actually know what they had been looking for or planning to observe.
An objective such as “to identify points of user dissatisfaction with the interface and how these negatively affect the software’s performance” may sound clear and to the point, but it is not.
The questionnaire designer must clarify what is meant by user dissatisfaction. Is this dissatisfaction with the learning of the software, the power of the software, of the ease of learning the software? Is it important for the users to learn the software quickly if they learn it well? What is meant by the software’s performance? How accurate must the measurements be?
All of these issues must be narrowed and focused before a single question is formulated. A good rule of thumb is that if you are finding it difficult to write the questions, then you haven’t spent enough time defining the objectives of the questionnaire. Go back and do this step again. The questions should follow quite naturally from the objectives.
(II) Writing the Questionnaire:
At this point, we assume that we have already decided what kind of data we are to measure, formulated the objectives of the investigation, and decided on a participant group. Now we must compose our questions.
If the preceding steps have been faithfully executed, most of the questions will be on obvious topics. Most questionnaires, however, also gather demographic data on the participants. This is used to correlate response sets between different groups of people.
It is important to see whether responses are consistent across groups. For example, if one group of participants is noticeably less satisfied with the test interface, it is likely that the interface was designed without fair consideration of this group’s specific needs.
This may signify the need for fundamental redesign of the interface. In addition, certain questions simply may only be applicable to certain kinds of users. For example, if one is asking the participants whether they find the new tutorial helpful, we do not want to include in our final tally the responses of experienced users who learned the system with an older tutorial. There is no accurate way to filter out these responses without simply asking the users when they learned the interface.
Typically, demographic data is collected at the beginning of the questionnaire, but such questions could be located anywhere or even scattered throughout the questionnaire. One obvious argument in favor of the beginning of the questionnaire is that normally background questions are easier to answer and can ease the respondent into the questionnaire. One does not want to put off the participant by jumping in to the most difficult questions. We are all familiar with such kinds of questions.
It is important to ask only those background questions that are necessary. Do not ask income of the respondent unless there is at least some rational for suspecting a variance across income levels.
There is often only a fine line between background and personal information. You do not want to cross over in to the personal realm unless absolutely necessary. If you need to solicit personal information, phrase your questions as unobtrusively as possible to avoid ruffling your participants and causing them to answer less than truthfully.
What kind of Questions do we ask?
In general, there are two types of questions one will ask, open format or closed format.
Open format questions are those that ask for unprompted opinions. In other words, there are no predetermined set of responses, and the participant is free to answer however he chooses. Open format questions are good for soliciting subjective data or when the range of responses is not tightly defined. An obvious advantage is that the variety of responses should be wider and more truly reflect the opinions of the respondents.
This increases the likelihood of you receiving unexpected and insightful suggestions, for it is impossible to predict the full range of opinion. It is common for a questionnaire to end with and open format question asking the respondent for her unabashed ideas for changes or improvements.
Open format questions have several disadvantages. First, their very nature requires them to be read individually. There is no way to automatically tabulate or perform statistical analysis on them. This is obviously more costly in both time and money, and may not be practical for lower budget or time sensitive evaluations. They are also open to the influence of the reader, for no two people will interpret an answer in precisely the same way.
This conflict can be eliminated by using a single reader, but a large number of responses can make this impossible. Finally, open format questions require more thought and time on the part of the respondent. Whenever more questions are asked to the respondent, chances of getting tired or bored increases.
Closed format questions usually take the form of a multiple-choice question. They are easy for the respondent. There is no clear consensus on the number of options that should be given in a closed format question. Obviously, there needs to be sufficient choices to fully cover the range of answers but not so many that the distinction between them becomes blurred. Usually this translates into five to ten possible answers per questions.
For questions that measure a single variable or opinion, such as ease of use or liability, over a complete range (easy to difficult, like to dislike), conventional wisdom says that there should be an odd number of alternatives. This allows a neutral or no opinion response. Other schools of thought contend that an even number of choices is best because it forces the respondent to get off the fence.
This may induce the some inaccuracies for often the respondent may actually have no opinion. However, it is equally arguable that the neutral answer is over utilized, especially by bored questionnaire takers. For larger questionnaires that test opinions on a very large number of items, such as a music test, it may be best to use an even number of choices to prevent large numbers of no-thought neutral answers.
Closed format questions offer many advantages in time and money. By restricting the answer set, it is easy to calculate percentages and other hard statistical data over the whole group or over any subgroup of participants. Modern scanners and computers make it possible to administer, tabulate, and perform preliminary analysis in a matter of days.
Closed format questions also make it easier to track opinion over time by administering the same questionnaire to different but similar participant groups at regular intervals. Finally closed format questions allow the researcher to filter out useless or extreme answers that might occur in an open format question.
Whether your questions are open or closed format, there are several points that must be considered when writing and interpreting questionnaires:
Clarity:
This is probably the area that causes the greatest source of mistakes in questionnaires. Questions must be clear, succinct, and unambiguous. The goal is to eliminate the chance that the question will mean different things to different people. If the designers fail to do this, then essentially participants will be answering different questions.
To this end, it is best to phrase your questions empirically if possible and to avoid the use of necessary adjectives.
For example, if asking a question about frequency, rather than supplying choices that are open to interpretation such as:
a. Very Often
b. Often
c. Sometimes
d. Rarely
e. Never
It is better to quantify the choices, such as:
a. Every Day or More
b. 2-6 Times a Week
c. About Once a Week
d. About Once a Month
e. Never
There are other more subtle aspects to consider such as language and culture. Avoid the use of colloquial or ethnic expressions that might not be equally used by all participants. Technical terms that assume a certain background should also be avoided.
Leading Questions:
A leading question is one that forces or implies a certain type of answer. It is easy to make this mistake not in the question, but in the choice of answers. A closed format question must supply answers that not only cover the whole range of responses, but that are also equally distributed throughout the range. All answers should be equally likely.
An obvious, nearly comical, example would be a question that supplied these answers choices:
a. Superb
b. Excellent
c. Great
d. Good
e. Fair
f. Not so Great
A less blatant example would be a Yes/No question that asked: Is this the best CAD interface you have every used?
In this case, even if the participant loved the interface, but had a favorite that was preferred, she would be forced to answer No. Clearly, the negative response covers too wide a range of opinions.
A better way would be to ask the same question but supply the following choices:
a. Totally Agree
b. Partially Agree
c. Neither Agree or Disagree
d. Partially Disagree
e. Totally Agree
This example is also poor in the way it asks the question. Its choice of words makes it a leading question and a good example for the next section on phrasing.
Phrasing:
Most adjectives, verbs, and nouns in English have either a positive or negative connotation. Two words may have equivalent meaning, yet one may be a compliment and the other an insult. Consider the two words “child-like” and “childish”, which have virtually identical meaning. Child-like is an affectionate term that can be applied to both men and women, and young and old, yet no one wishes to be thought of as childish.
In the above example of “Is this the best CAD interface you have every used?” clearly “best” has strong overtones that deny the participant an objective environment to consider the interface. The signal sent the reader is that the designers surely think it is the best interface, and so should everyone else. Though this may seem like an extreme example, this kind of superlative question is common practice.
A more subtle, but no less troublesome, example can be made with verbs that have neither strong negative or positive overtones.
Consider the following two questions:
Do you agree with the Governor’s plan to oppose increased development of wetlands? Do you agree with the Governor’s plan to support curtailed development of wetlands?
They both ask the same thing, but will likely produce different data. One asks in a positive way, and the other in a negative. It is impossible to predict how the outcomes will vary, so one method to counter this is to be aware of different ways to word questions and provide a mix in your questionnaire.
If the participant pool is very large, several versions may be prepared and distributed to cancel out these effects.
(a) Embarrassing Questions:
Embarrassing questions dealing with personal or private matters should be avoided. Your data is only as good as the trust and care that your respondents give you. If you make them feel uncomfortable, you will lose their trust. Do not ask embarrassing questions.
(b) Hypothetical Questions:
Hypothetical are based, at best, on conjecture and, at worst, on fantasy. Question such as- If you were governor, what would you do to stop crime?
These forces the respondent to give thought to something he may have never considered. This does not produce clear and consistent data representing real opinion. Do not ask hypothetical questions.
(c) Prestige Bias:
Prestige bias is the tendency for respondents to answer in a way that make them feel better. People may not lie directly, but may try to put a better light on themselves. For example, it is not uncommon for people to respond to a political opinion poll by saying they support Samaritan social programs, such as food stamps, but then go on to vote for candidates who oppose those very programs.
Data from other questions, such as those that ask how long it takes to learn an interface, must be viewed with a little skepticism. People tend to say they are faster learners than they are.
There is little that can be done to prevent prestige bias. Sometimes there just is no way to phrase a question so that all the answers are noble. The best means to deal with prestige bias is to make the questionnaire as private as possible. Telephone interviews are better than person-to-person interviews, and written questionnaires mailed to participants are even better still. The farther away the critical eye of the researcher is, the more honest the answers.
Conclusions:
Questionnaire design is a long process that demands careful attention. A questionnaire is a powerful evaluation tool and should not be taken lightly. Design begins with an understanding of the capabilities of a questionnaire and how they can help your research.
If it is determined that a questionnaire is to be used, the greatest care goes into the planning of the objectives. Questionnaires are like any scientific experiment. One does not collect data and then see if they found something interesting. One form a hypothesis and an experiment that will help prove or disprove the hypothesis.
Questionnaires are versatile, allowing the collection of both subjective and objective data through the use of open or closed format questions. Modern computers have only made the task of collecting and extracting valuable material more efficient. However, a questionnaire is only as good as the questions it contains.
There are many guidelines that must be met before questionnaire can be considered a sound research tool. The majority deal with making the questionnaire understandable and free of bias. Mindful review and testing is necessary to weed out minor mistakes that can cause great changes in meaning and interpretation. When these guidelines are followed, the questionnaire becomes a powerful and economic evaluation tool.
Collection of Data through Questionnaires:
This method of data collection is quite popular, particularly in case of big enquiries. It is being adopted by private individuals, research workers, private and public organization and even by governments.
In this method a questionnaire consists of a number of questions printed or typed in a definite order on a form or set if forms. The questionnaire is mailed to respondents who are expected to read and understand the questions and wire down the reply in the space meant for the purpose in the questionnaire itself. The respondents have to answer the questions on their now.
The method of collecting data by mailing the questionnaires to respondents most extensively employed in various economic and business surveys.
The merits claimed on behalf of this method are as follows:
1. It is free from the bias of the interviewer, answer are in respondents’ own words,
2. There is low cost even when the universe is large and is widely spread geographically.
3. Respondents have adequate time to give well thought out answers.
4. Respondents, who are not readily approachable, can also be reached conveniently.
5. Large samples can be made use of and thus the results can be made more dependable and reliable.
The main demerits of this system can also be listed here:
1. Low rate of return of the duty filled in questionnaires; bias due to no-response is often indeterminate.
2. It can be used only when respondents are educated and cooperating.
3. The control over questionnaire may be lost once it is sent.
4. There is inbuilt inflexibility because of the difficulty of amending the approach one questionnaires have been dispatched.
5. There is also the possibility of ambiguous replies or omission of replies altogether to certain question; interpretation of omissions is difficult.
6. It is difficult to know whether willing respondents are truly representative.
7. This method is likely to be the slowest of all.
Before using method, it is always advisable to conduct ‘pilot study’ (Pilot Survey) for testing the questionnaires. In a big enquiry the significance of pilot survey is felt very much. Pilot survey is infact the replica and rehearsal of the main survey. Such survey being conducted by experts brings to the light the weaknesses (if any) of the questionnaires and also of the survey techniques. From the experience gained in this way, improvement can be effected.