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• Questionnaire Design | Methods, Question Types & Examples

Questionnaire Design | Methods, Question Types & Examples

Published on July 15, 2021 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on June 22, 2023.

A questionnaire is a list of questions or items used to gather data from respondents about their attitudes, experiences, or opinions. Questionnaires can be used to collect quantitative and/or qualitative information.

Questionnaires are commonly used in market research as well as in the social and health sciences. For example, a company may ask for feedback about a recent customer service experience, or psychology researchers may investigate health risk perceptions using questionnaires.

Table of contents

Questionnaires vs. surveys, questionnaire methods, open-ended vs. closed-ended questions, question wording, question order, step-by-step guide to design, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about questionnaire design.

A survey is a research method where you collect and analyze data from a group of people. A questionnaire is a specific tool or instrument for collecting the data.

Designing a questionnaire means creating valid and reliable questions that address your research objectives , placing them in a useful order, and selecting an appropriate method for administration.

But designing a questionnaire is only one component of survey research. Survey research also involves defining the population you’re interested in, choosing an appropriate sampling method , administering questionnaires, data cleansing and analysis, and interpretation.

Sampling is important in survey research because you’ll often aim to generalize your results to the population. Gather data from a sample that represents the range of views in the population for externally valid results. There will always be some differences between the population and the sample, but minimizing these will help you avoid several types of research bias , including sampling bias , ascertainment bias , and undercoverage bias .

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Questionnaires can be self-administered or researcher-administered . Self-administered questionnaires are more common because they are easy to implement and inexpensive, but researcher-administered questionnaires allow deeper insights.

Self-administered questionnaires

Self-administered questionnaires can be delivered online or in paper-and-pen formats, in person or through mail. All questions are standardized so that all respondents receive the same questions with identical wording.

Self-administered questionnaires can be:

• cost-effective
• easy to administer for small and large groups
• anonymous and suitable for sensitive topics

But they may also be:

• unsuitable for people with limited literacy or verbal skills
• susceptible to a nonresponse bias (most people invited may not complete the questionnaire)
• biased towards people who volunteer because impersonal survey requests often go ignored.

Researcher-administered questionnaires

Researcher-administered questionnaires are interviews that take place by phone, in-person, or online between researchers and respondents.

Researcher-administered questionnaires can:

• help you ensure the respondents are representative of your target audience
• allow clarifications of ambiguous or unclear questions and answers
• have high response rates because it’s harder to refuse an interview when personal attention is given to respondents

But researcher-administered questionnaires can be limiting in terms of resources. They are:

• costly and time-consuming to perform
• more difficult to analyze if you have qualitative responses
• likely to contain experimenter bias or demand characteristics
• likely to encourage social desirability bias in responses because of a lack of anonymity

Your questionnaire can include open-ended or closed-ended questions or a combination of both.

Using closed-ended questions limits your responses, while open-ended questions enable a broad range of answers. You’ll need to balance these considerations with your available time and resources.

Closed-ended questions

Closed-ended, or restricted-choice, questions offer respondents a fixed set of choices to select from. Closed-ended questions are best for collecting data on categorical or quantitative variables.

Categorical variables can be nominal or ordinal. Quantitative variables can be interval or ratio. Understanding the type of variable and level of measurement means you can perform appropriate statistical analyses for generalizable results.

Examples of closed-ended questions for different variables

Nominal variables include categories that can’t be ranked, such as race or ethnicity. This includes binary or dichotomous categories.

It’s best to include categories that cover all possible answers and are mutually exclusive. There should be no overlap between response items.

In binary or dichotomous questions, you’ll give respondents only two options to choose from.

White Black or African American American Indian or Alaska Native Asian Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Ordinal variables include categories that can be ranked. Consider how wide or narrow a range you’ll include in your response items, and their relevance to your respondents.

Likert scale questions collect ordinal data using rating scales with 5 or 7 points.

When you have four or more Likert-type questions, you can treat the composite data as quantitative data on an interval scale . Intelligence tests, psychological scales, and personality inventories use multiple Likert-type questions to collect interval data.

With interval or ratio scales , you can apply strong statistical hypothesis tests to address your research aims.

Pros and cons of closed-ended questions

Well-designed closed-ended questions are easy to understand and can be answered quickly. However, you might still miss important answers that are relevant to respondents. An incomplete set of response items may force some respondents to pick the closest alternative to their true answer. These types of questions may also miss out on valuable detail.

To solve these problems, you can make questions partially closed-ended, and include an open-ended option where respondents can fill in their own answer.

Open-ended questions

Open-ended, or long-form, questions allow respondents to give answers in their own words. Because there are no restrictions on their choices, respondents can answer in ways that researchers may not have otherwise considered. For example, respondents may want to answer “multiracial” for the question on race rather than selecting from a restricted list.

• How do you feel about open science?
• How would you describe your personality?
• In your opinion, what is the biggest obstacle for productivity in remote work?

Open-ended questions have a few downsides.

They require more time and effort from respondents, which may deter them from completing the questionnaire.

For researchers, understanding and summarizing responses to these questions can take a lot of time and resources. You’ll need to develop a systematic coding scheme to categorize answers, and you may also need to involve other researchers in data analysis for high reliability .

Question wording can influence your respondents’ answers, especially if the language is unclear, ambiguous, or biased. Good questions need to be understood by all respondents in the same way ( reliable ) and measure exactly what you’re interested in ( valid ).

Use clear language

You should design questions with your target audience in mind. Consider their familiarity with your questionnaire topics and language and tailor your questions to them.

For readability and clarity, avoid jargon or overly complex language. Don’t use double negatives because they can be harder to understand.

Use balanced framing

Respondents often answer in different ways depending on the question framing. Positive frames are interpreted as more neutral than negative frames and may encourage more socially desirable answers.

Use a mix of both positive and negative frames to avoid research bias , and ensure that your question wording is balanced wherever possible.

Unbalanced questions focus on only one side of an argument. Respondents may be less likely to oppose the question if it is framed in a particular direction. It’s best practice to provide a counter argument within the question as well.

Avoid leading questions

Leading questions guide respondents towards answering in specific ways, even if that’s not how they truly feel, by explicitly or implicitly providing them with extra information.

It’s best to keep your questions short and specific to your topic of interest.

• The average daily work commute in the US takes 54.2 minutes and costs $29 per day. Since 2020, working from home has saved many employees time and money. Do you favor flexible work-from-home policies even after it’s safe to return to offices?
• Experts agree that a well-balanced diet provides sufficient vitamins and minerals, and multivitamins and supplements are not necessary or effective. Do you agree or disagree that multivitamins are helpful for balanced nutrition?

Keep your questions focused

Ask about only one idea at a time and avoid double-barreled questions. Double-barreled questions ask about more than one item at a time, which can confuse respondents.

This question could be difficult to answer for respondents who feel strongly about the right to clean drinking water but not high-speed internet. They might only answer about the topic they feel passionate about or provide a neutral answer instead – but neither of these options capture their true answers.

Instead, you should ask two separate questions to gauge respondents’ opinions.

Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

Do you agree or disagree that the government should be responsible for providing high-speed internet to everyone?

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You can organize the questions logically, with a clear progression from simple to complex. Alternatively, you can randomize the question order between respondents.

Logical flow

Using a logical flow to your question order means starting with simple questions, such as behavioral or opinion questions, and ending with more complex, sensitive, or controversial questions.

The question order that you use can significantly affect the responses by priming them in specific directions. Question order effects, or context effects, occur when earlier questions influence the responses to later questions, reducing the validity of your questionnaire.

While demographic questions are usually unaffected by order effects, questions about opinions and attitudes are more susceptible to them.

• How knowledgeable are you about Joe Biden’s executive orders in his first 100 days?
• Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Joe Biden is managing the economy?
• Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president?

It’s important to minimize order effects because they can be a source of systematic error or bias in your study.

Randomization

Randomization involves presenting individual respondents with the same questionnaire but with different question orders.

When you use randomization, order effects will be minimized in your dataset. But a randomized order may also make it harder for respondents to process your questionnaire. Some questions may need more cognitive effort, while others are easier to answer, so a random order could require more time or mental capacity for respondents to switch between questions.

Step 1: Define your goals and objectives

The first step of designing a questionnaire is determining your aims.

• What topics or experiences are you studying?
• What specifically do you want to find out?
• Is a self-report questionnaire an appropriate tool for investigating this topic?

Once you’ve specified your research aims, you can operationalize your variables of interest into questionnaire items. Operationalizing concepts means turning them from abstract ideas into concrete measurements. Every question needs to address a defined need and have a clear purpose.

Step 2: Use questions that are suitable for your sample

Create appropriate questions by taking the perspective of your respondents. Consider their language proficiency and available time and energy when designing your questionnaire.

• Are the respondents familiar with the language and terms used in your questions?
• Would any of the questions insult, confuse, or embarrass them?
• Do the response items for any closed-ended questions capture all possible answers?
• Are the response items mutually exclusive?
• Do the respondents have time to respond to open-ended questions?

Consider all possible options for responses to closed-ended questions. From a respondent’s perspective, a lack of response options reflecting their point of view or true answer may make them feel alienated or excluded. In turn, they’ll become disengaged or inattentive to the rest of the questionnaire.

Step 3: Decide on your questionnaire length and question order

Once you have your questions, make sure that the length and order of your questions are appropriate for your sample.

If respondents are not being incentivized or compensated, keep your questionnaire short and easy to answer. Otherwise, your sample may be biased with only highly motivated respondents completing the questionnaire.

Decide on your question order based on your aims and resources. Use a logical flow if your respondents have limited time or if you cannot randomize questions. Randomizing questions helps you avoid bias, but it can take more complex statistical analysis to interpret your data.

Step 4: Pretest your questionnaire

When you have a complete list of questions, you’ll need to pretest it to make sure what you’re asking is always clear and unambiguous. Pretesting helps you catch any errors or points of confusion before performing your study.

Ask friends, classmates, or members of your target audience to complete your questionnaire using the same method you’ll use for your research. Find out if any questions were particularly difficult to answer or if the directions were unclear or inconsistent, and make changes as necessary.

If you have the resources, running a pilot study will help you test the validity and reliability of your questionnaire. A pilot study is a practice run of the full study, and it includes sampling, data collection , and analysis. You can find out whether your procedures are unfeasible or susceptible to bias and make changes in time, but you can’t test a hypothesis with this type of study because it’s usually statistically underpowered .

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Student’s  t -distribution
• Normal distribution
• Null and Alternative Hypotheses
• Chi square tests
• Confidence interval
• Quartiles & Quantiles
• Cluster sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Data cleansing
• Reproducibility vs Replicability
• Peer review
• Prospective cohort study

Research bias

• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Placebo effect
• Hawthorne effect
• Hindsight bias
• Affect heuristic
• Social desirability bias

A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analyzing data from people using questionnaires.

Closed-ended, or restricted-choice, questions offer respondents a fixed set of choices to select from. These questions are easier to answer quickly.

Open-ended or long-form questions allow respondents to answer in their own words. Because there are no restrictions on their choices, respondents can answer in ways that researchers may not have otherwise considered.

A Likert scale is a rating scale that quantitatively assesses opinions, attitudes, or behaviors. It is made up of 4 or more questions that measure a single attitude or trait when response scores are combined.

To use a Likert scale in a survey , you present participants with Likert-type questions or statements, and a continuum of items, usually with 5 or 7 possible responses, to capture their degree of agreement.

You can organize the questions logically, with a clear progression from simple to complex, or randomly between respondents. A logical flow helps respondents process the questionnaire easier and quicker, but it may lead to bias. Randomization can minimize the bias from order effects.

Questionnaires can be self-administered or researcher-administered.

Researcher-administered questionnaires are interviews that take place by phone, in-person, or online between researchers and respondents. You can gain deeper insights by clarifying questions for respondents or asking follow-up questions.

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Dissertation surveys: Questions, examples, and best practices

Collect data for your dissertation with little effort and great results.

Dissertation surveys are one of the most powerful tools to get valuable insights and data for the culmination of your research. However, it’s one of the most stressful and time-consuming tasks you need to do. You want useful data from a representative sample that you can analyze and present as part of your dissertation. At SurveyPlanet, we’re committed to making it as easy and stress-free as possible to get the most out of your study.

With an intuitive and user-friendly design, our templates and premade questions can be your allies while creating a survey for your dissertation. Explore all the options we offer by simply signing up for an account—and leave the stress behind.

How to write dissertation survey questions

The first thing to do is to figure out which group of people is relevant for your study. When you know that, you’ll also be able to adjust the survey and write questions that will get the best results.

The next step is to write down the goal of your research and define it properly. Online surveys are one of the best and most inexpensive ways to reach respondents and achieve your goal.

Before writing any questions, think about how you’ll analyze the results. You don’t want to write and distribute a survey without keeping how to report your findings in mind. When your thesis questionnaire is out in the real world, it’s too late to conclude that the data you’re collecting might not be any good for assessment. Because of that, you need to create questions with analysis in mind.

You may find our five survey analysis tips for better insights helpful. We recommend reading it before analyzing your results.

Once you understand the parameters of your representative sample, goals, and analysis methodology, then it’s time to think about distribution. Survey distribution may feel like a headache, but you’ll find that many people will gladly participate.

Find communities where your targeted group hangs out and share the link to your survey with them. If you’re not sure how large your research sample should be, gauge it easily with the survey sample size calculator.

Need help with writing survey questions? Read our guide on well-written examples of good survey questions .

Dissertation survey examples

Whatever field you’re studying, we’re sure the following questions will prove useful when crafting your own.

At the beginning of every questionnaire, inform respondents of your topic and provide a consent form. After that, start with questions like:

• Please select your gender:
• What is the highest educational level you’ve completed?
• High school
• Bachelor degree
• Master’s degree
• On a scale of 1-7, how satisfied are you with your current job?
• Please rate the following statements:
• I always wait for people to text me first.
• Strongly Disagree
• Neither agree nor disagree
• Strongly agree
• My friends always complain that I never invite them anywhere.
• I prefer spending time alone.
• Rank which personality traits are most important when choosing a partner. Rank 1 - 7, where 1 is the most and 7 is the least important.
• Flexibility
• Independence
• How openly do you share feelings with your partner?
• Almost never
• Almost always
• In the last two weeks, how often did you experience headaches?

Dissertation survey best practices

There are a lot of DOs and DON’Ts you should keep in mind when conducting any survey, especially for your dissertation. To get valuable data from your targeted sample, follow these best practices:

Use the consent form.

The consent form is a must when distributing a research questionnaire. A respondent has to know how you’ll use their answers and that the survey is anonymous.

Avoid leading and double-barreled questions

Leading and double-barreled questions will produce inconclusive results—and you don’t want that. A question such as: “Do you like to watch TV and play video games?” is double-barreled because it has two variables.

On the other hand, leading questions such as “On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate the amazing experience with our customer support?” influence respondents to answer in a certain way, which produces biased results.

Use easy and straightforward language and questions

Don’t use terms and professional jargon that respondents won’t understand. Take into consideration their educational level and demographic traits and use easy-to-understand language when writing questions.

Mix close-ended and open-ended questions

Too many open-ended questions will annoy respondents. Also, analyzing the responses is harder. Use more close-ended questions for the best results and only a few open-ended ones.

Strategically use different types of responses

Likert scale, multiple-choice, and ranking are all types of responses you can use to collect data. But some response types suit some questions better. Make sure to strategically fit questions with response types.

Ensure that data privacy is a priority

Make sure to use an online survey tool that has SSL encryption and secure data processing. You don’t want to risk all your hard work going to waste because of poorly managed data security. Ensure that you only collect data that’s relevant to your dissertation survey and leave out any questions (such as name) that can identify the respondents.

Create dissertation questionnaires with SurveyPlanet

Overall, survey methodology is a great way to find research participants for your research study. You have all the tools required for creating a survey for a dissertation with SurveyPlanet—you only need to sign up . With powerful features like question branching, custom formatting, multiple languages, image choice questions, and easy export you will find everything needed to create, distribute, and analyze a dissertation survey.

Happy data gathering!

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Surveys for Master and Bachelor Degree Thesis

This template will help you get information on how parents can provide support for their children’s educational development.

Try Other Survey Templets for Education

Qualitative or quantitative research is an important and sometimes even necessary element of a master’s or bachelor’s thesis. Startquestion allows you to create student surveys on any topic without limiting the number of questions. The questionnaire can be shared via a link or sent directly to the indicated e-mail address. The tool also allows you to end the survey after reaching the specified response limit.

Each student can automatically generate a report containing charts and data summaries on his personal account on the platform. The ability to download it in DOC or PDF format allows direct pasting to the content of the work.

An example of a survey template for a thesis is presented below, including an introduction informing about the purpose of the study, sample types of questions, a certificate, and a thank you note.

Do you want to know specific examples of surveys for your master’s thesis? See sample surveys for students and research reports for diploma theses created on Startquestion.

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The key to the success of the Voice of Customer project is integrating the client’s internal systems with the online research software. The first experience with this survey software was so encouraging that Medicover Poland decided to transfer all the conducted research to the Startquestion platform.

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Dissertation & Thesis Survey Design 101

5 Common Mistakes To Avoid (+ Examples)

By: David Phair (PhD) & Kerryn Warren (PhD) | April 2022

Surveys are a powerful way to collect data for your dissertation, thesis or research project. Done right, a good survey allows you to collect large swathes of useful data with (relatively) little effort. However, if not designed well, you can run into serious issues.

Over the years, we’ve encountered numerous common mistakes students make when it comes to survey design. In this post, we’ll unpack five of these costly mistakes.

Overview: 5 Survey Design Mistakes

• Having poor overall survey structure and flow
• Using poorly constructed questions and/or statements
• Implementing inappropriate response types
• Using unreliable and/or invalid scales  and measures
• Designing without consideration for analysis techniques

Mistake #1: Having poor structure and flow

One of the most common issues we see is poor overall survey structure and flow . If a survey is designed badly, it will discourage participants from completing it. As a result, few participants will take the time to respond to the survey, which can lead to a small sample size and poor or even unusable results . Let’s look at a few best practices to ensure good overall structure and flow.

1. Make sure your survey is aligned with your study’s “golden thread”.

The first step might seem obvious, but it’s important to develop survey questions that are tightly aligned with your research question(s), aims and objectives – in other words, “your golden thread”. Your survey serves to generate the data that will answer these key ideas in your thesis; if it doesn’t do that, you’ve got a serious problem. To put it simply, it’s critically important to design your survey questions with the golden thread of your study front of mind at all times.

2. Order your questions in an intuitive, logical way.

The types of questions you ask and when you ask them are vital aspects when designing an effective survey. To avoid losing respondents, you need to order your questions clearly and logically.

In general, it’s a good idea to ask exclusion questions upfront . For example, if your research is focused on an aspect of women’s lives, your first question should be one to determine the gender of the respondent (and filter out unsuitable respondents). Once that’s out of the way, the exclusion questions can be followed by questions related to the key constructs or ideas and/or the dependent and independent variables in your study.

Lastly, the demographics-related questions are usually positioned at the end of the survey. These are questions related to the characteristics of your respondents (e.g., age, race, occupation). It’s a good idea to position these questions at the end of your survey because respondents can get caught up in these identity-related questions as they move through the rest of your survey. Placing them at the end of your survey helps ensure that the questions related to the core constructs of your study will have the respondents’ full attention.

3. Design for user experience and ease of use.

This might seem obvious, but it’s essential to carefully consider your respondents’ “journey” when designing your survey. In other words, you need to keep user experience and engagement front of mind when designing your survey.

One way of creating a good user experience is to have a clear introduction or cover page upfront. On this intro page, it’s good to communicate the estimated time required to complete the survey (generally, 15 to 20 minutes is reasonable). Also, make u se of headings and short explainers to help respondents understand the context of each question or section in your survey. It’s also helpful if you provide a progress indicator to indicate how far they are in completing the survey.

Naturally, readability is important to a successful survey. So, keep the survey content as concise as possible, as people tend to drop out of long surveys. A general rule of thumb is to make use of plain, easy-to-understand language . Related to this, always carefully edit and proofread your survey before launching it. Typos, grammar and formatting issues will heavily detract from the credibility of your work and will likely increase respondent dropout.

In cases where you have no choice but to use a technical term or industry jargon, be sure to explain the meaning (define the term) first. You don’t want respondents to be distracted or confused by the technical aspects of your survey. In addition to this, create a logical flow by grouping related topics together and moving from general to more specific questions.

You should also think about what devices respondents will use to access your survey. Because many people use their phones to complete your survey, making it mobile-friendly means more people will be able to respond, which is hugely beneficial. By hosting your survey on a trusted provider (e.g., SurveyMonkey or Qualtrix), the mobile aspect should be taken care of, but always test your survey on a few devices.  Aside from making the data collection easier, using a well-established survey platform will also make processing your survey data easier.

4.  Prioritise ethics and data privacy.

The last (and very important) point to consider when designing your survey is the ethical requirements. Your survey design must adhere to all ethics policies and data protection laws of your country. If you (or your respondents) are in Europe for instance, you’ll need to comply with GDPR. It’s also essential to highlight to your respondents that all data collected will be handled and stored securely , to minimise any concerns about the confidentiality and safety of their data.

Mistake #2: Using poorly constructed questions

Another common survey design issue we encounter is poorly constructed questions and statements. There are a few ways in which questions can be poorly constructed. These usually fall into four broad categories: 

• Loaded questions
• Leading questions
• Double-barreled questions
• Vague questions 

Let’s look at each of these. 

A loaded question assumes something about the respondent without having any data to support that assumption. For example, if the question asks, “Where is your favourite place to eat steak?”, it assumes that the respondent eats steak. Clearly, this is problematic for respondents that are vegetarians or vegans, or people that simply don’t like steak. 

A leading question pushes the respondent to answer in a certain way. For example, a question such as, “How would you rate the excellent service at our restaurant?” is trying to influence the way that the respondent thinks about the service at the restaurant. This can be annoying to the respondent (at best) or lead them to respond in a way they wouldn’t have, had the question been more objective.

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A double-barreled question is a question that contains two (or more) variables within it. It essentially tries to ask two questions at the same time. An example of this is

“ Do you enjoy eating peanut butter and cheese on bread?”

As you can see, this question makes it unclear whether you are being asked about whether they like eating the two together on bread, or whether they like eating one at a time. This is problematic, as there are multiple ways to interpret this question, which means that the resultant data will be unusable. 

A vague question , as the name suggests, is one where it is unclear what is being asked or one that is very open-ended . Of course, sometimes you do indeed want open questions, as they can provide richer information from respondents. However, if you ask a vague question, you’ll likely get a vague answer. So, you need to be careful. Consider the following fairly vague question:

“What was your experience at this restaurant?”. 

A respondent could answer this question by just saying “good” or “bad” – or nothing at all. This isn’t particularly helpful. Alternatively, someone might respond extensively about something unrelated to the question. If you want to ask open-ended questions, interviewing may be a better (or additional) data method to consider, so give some thought to what you’re trying to achieve. Only use open-ended questions in a survey if they’re central to your research aims . 

To make sure that your questions don’t fall into one of these problematic categories, it’s important to keep your golden thread (i.e., your research aims, objectives and research questions ) in mind and consider the type of data you want to generate. Also, it’s always a good idea to make use of a pilot study to test your survey questions and responses to see whether any questions are problematic and whether the data generated is useful.

Mistake #3: Using inappropriate response types

When designing your survey, it’s essential to choose the best-suited response type/format for each question. In other words, you need to consider how the respondents will input their responses into your survey. Broadly speaking, there are three response types .

The first response type is categorical.  

These are questions where the respondent will choose one of the pre-determined options that you provide, for example: yes/no, gender, ethnicity, etc.

For categorical responses, there will be a limited number of choices and respondents will only be able to pick one. This is useful for basic demographic data where all potential responses can be easily grouped into categories. 

The second response type is scales . 

Scales offer respondents the opportunity to express their opinion on a spectrum . For example, you could design a 3-point scale with the options of agree, neutral and disagree. Scales are useful when you’re trying to assess the extent to which respondents agree with specific statements or claims. This data can then be statistically analysed in powerful ways. 

Scales can, however, be problematic if they have too many or too few points . For example, if you only have “strongly agree”, “neutral” and “strongly disagree”, your respondent might resort to selecting “neutral” because they don’t feel strongly about the subject. Conversely, if there are too many points on the scale, your respondents might take too much time to complete the survey and become frustrated in the process of agonising over what exactly they feel. 

The third response type is the free form text box (open-ended response). 

We mentioned open-ended questions earlier and looked at some of the ways in which they can be problematic. But, because free-form responses are useful for understanding nuances and finer details, this response type does have its benefits. For example, some respondents might have a problem with how the other questions in your survey are presented or asked, and therefore an open-ended response option gives them an opportunity to respond in a way that reflects their true feelings. 

As you can see, it’s important to carefully consider which response types you use, as each one has its own purpose, pros and cons . Make sure that each response option is appropriate for the type of question and generates data that you will be able to analyse in a meaningful way.

It’s also good to keep in mind that you as the researcher will need to process all the data generated by the survey. Therefore, you need to consider how you will analyse the data from each response type. Use the response type that makes sense for the specific question and keep the analysis aspect in mind when choosing your response types.

Mistake #4: Using poorly design scales/measures

We’ve spoken about the design of the survey as a whole, but it’s also important to think carefully about the design of individual measures/scales. Theoretical constructs are typically measured using Likert scales. To measure these constructs effectively, you’ll need to ensure that your scales produce valid and reliable data.

Validity refers to whether the scale measures what you’re trying to measure . This might sound like a no-brainer, but oftentimes people can interpret questions or statements in diverse ways. Therefore, it’s important to think of whether the interpretations of the responses to each measure are sound relative to the original construct you are measuring and the existing literature relating to it.

Reliability, on the other hand, is related to whether multiple scales measuring the same construct get the same response (on average, of course). In other words, if you have three scales measuring employee satisfaction, they should correlate, as they all measure the same construct. A good survey should make use of multiple scales to measure any given construct, and these should “move” together – in other words, be “reliable”.

If you’re designing a survey, you’ll need to demonstrate the validity and reliability of your measures. This can be done in several ways, using both statistical and non-statistical techniques. We won’t get into detail about those here, but it’s important to remember that validity and reliability are central to making sure that your survey is measuring what it is meant to measure.

Importantly, when thinking about the scales for your survey, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are pre-developed and tested scales available for most areas of research, and it’s preferable to use a “tried and tested” scale, rather than developing one from scratch. If there isn’t already something that fits your research, you can often modify existing scales to suit your specific needs.

Mistake #5: Not designing with analysis in mind

Naturally, you’ll want to use the data gathered from your survey as effectively as possible. Therefore, it’s always a good idea to start with the end (i.e., the analysis phase) in mind when designing your survey. The analysis methods that you’ll be able to use in your study will be dictated by the design of the survey, as it will produce certain types of data. Therefore, it’s essential that you design your survey in a way that will allow you to undertake the analyses you need to achieve your research aims. 

Importantly, you should have a clear idea of what statistical methods you plan to use before you start designing your survey. Be clear about which specific descriptive and inferential tests you plan to do (and why). Make sure that you understand the assumptions of all the statistical tests you’ll be using and the type of data (i.e., nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio ) that each test requires. Only once you have that level of clarity can you get started designing your survey. 

Finally, and as we’ve emphasized before, it’s essential that you keep your study’s golden thread front of mind during the design process. If your analysis methods don’t aid you in answering your research questions, they’ll be largely useless. So, keep the big picture and the end goal front of mind from the outset.

Recap: Survey Design Mistakes

In this post we’ve discussed some important aspects of survey design and five common mistakes to avoid while designing your own survey. To recap, these include:

If you have any questions about these survey design mistakes, drop a comment below. Alternatively, if you’re interested in getting  1-on-1 help with your research , check out our dissertation coaching service or book a free initial consultation with a friendly coach.

Psst… there’s more (for free)

This post is part of our dissertation mini-course, which covers everything you need to get started with your dissertation, thesis or research project. 

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Frequently asked questions.

There are a few key steps in creating a dissertation for use in your thesis. Firstly, you should think about the topic you are studying and who you need to respond to your questionnaire. You then need to think about how you can deliver the questions, this can be in the form of in-person interviews or emails. You can begin to formulate your questions and format.

Visit the Studying for a PhD section for more information and advice.

Prof Martyn Denscombe, author of “ The Good Research Guide, 6th edition ”, gives expert advice on using a questionnaire survey for your postgraduate dissertation.

Questionnaire surveys are a well-established way of collecting data. They can be used with relatively small-scale research projects, and research questionnaires can be designed and delivered quite quickly and cheaply. It is not surprising, therefore, that when it comes to conducting research for a master’s dissertation, questionnaire surveys feature prominently as the research method of choice.

Occasionally such thesis surveys will be sent out by post, and sometimes the questionnaires will be distributed by hand. But the popularity of questionnaire surveys in the context of master’s dissertations is principally due to the benefits of using online web-based questionnaires. There are two main aspects to this.

First, the software for producing and delivering web questionnaires, with their features such as drop-down menus and tick-box answers, is user-friendly and inexpensive.

Second, online surveys make it possible to contact people across the globe without travelling anywhere which, given the time and resource constraints faced when producing a dissertation, makes online surveys all the more enticing. (And, for the more adventurous students, there are also developing possibilities for the use of social media such as Facebook and SMS texts for contacting people to participate in the survey.)

In the context of a master’s dissertation, however, the quality of the survey data is a vital issue. The grade for the dissertation will depend on being able to defend the use of the data from the survey as the basis for advanced, master’s level academic enquiry. Which means it is not good enough to simply rely on getting 100 or so people to complete your questionnaire. Students are expected to be aware of the pros and cons of questionnaire surveys and to be able to justify the value of the data they have collected in the face of probing questions such as:

• Who are the respondents and how they were selected?
• How representative are the respondents of the whole group being studied?
• What response rate was achieved by the survey?
• Are the questions suitable in relation to the topic and the particular respondents?
• What likelihood is there that respondents gave honest answers to the questions?

This is where The Good Research Guide, 6th edition becomes so valuable.

It not only identifies the key points that need to be addressed in order to conduct a competent questionnaire survey, it gets right to the heart of the matter with plenty of practical guidance on how to deal with the issues. In a straightforward style, using plain language, this bestselling book covers a range of alternative strategies and methods for conducting small-scale social research projects and outlines some of the main ways in which the data can be analysed.

Read Prof Martyn Denscombe’s advice on using a Case Study for your postgraduate dissertation

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How else can a sample survey help you? Our sample survey examples—or customizable survey templates that span every use case, can allow you to overcome writer’s block and help you identify the questions you want to ask the most. Plus, by looking through an example of a survey, you’ll get a sense for the  question types  you can use, how you can order the questions, and the ways you can apply  survey logic .

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Dissertation Questionnaire

A dissertation is a document usually a requirement for a doctoral degree especially in the field of philosophy. This long essay discusses a particular subject matter uses questionnaires   and other sources of data and is used to validate its content. The  questionnaire’s importance is evident in the processes of data gathering as it can make the dissertation factual, effective and usable.

Having a well-curated and formatted document to follow when making a dissertation can be very beneficial to an individual who is currently immersed in the data gathering stage of the specific research study. We have gathered downloadable samples and templates of questionnaires so it will be easier for you to curate your own.

Dissertation Timeline Gantt Chart Template

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Dissertation Project Gantt Chart Template

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Dissertation Plan Gantt Chart Template

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Dissertation Research Questionnaire

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Sample Dissertation Questionnaire

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What Is a Dissertation Questionnaire?

A dissertation questionnaire can be defined as follows:

• It is a document used in the processes of data gathering.
• Questionnaires in PDF used for a dissertation contain questions that can help assess the current condition of the community which is the subject of study within the dissertation.
• It specifies the questions that are needed to be answered to assure that there is a basis in terms of the results that will be presented in a dissertation.

How to Write a Dissertation Questionnaire

Writing an efficient and comprehensive dissertation questionnaire can greatly affect the entire dissertation. You can make one by following these steps:

• Be specific with the kind of dissertation that you are creating and align the purposes of the dissertation questionnaire that you need to make to your study.
• List down the information needed from the community who will provide the answers to your questions.
• Open a software where you can create a questionnaire template. You may also download  survey questionnaire examples   and templates to have a faster time in formatting the document.
• The purpose of the dissertation questionnaire.
• The guidelines and instructions in answering the dissertation questions.
• The name of the person to who will use the questionnaire results to his/her dissertation.
• The institution to whom the dissertation will be passed.
• List down the questions based on your needs.

Undergraduate Dissertation Questionnaire

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Project Management Dissertation

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Guidelines for Writing a Dissertation Questionnaire

There are no strict rules in writing a dissertation questionnaire. However, there are some tips that can help you to create a dissertation questionnaire that is relevant to the study that you are currently doing. Some guidelines:

• Make sure that you are well aware of the data that is needed in your dissertation so you can properly curate questions that can supply your information needs.
• It will be best to use a dissertation questionnaire format that is organized, easy to understand, and properly structured. This will help the people who will answer the dissertation questionnaire quickly know how they can provide the items that you would like to know.
• Always make sure that your instructions in answering the questions are precise and directly stated.
• You may look at  questionnaires in Word   for comparisons. Doing this will help you assess whether there are still areas of improvement that you may tap with the content and format of the dissertation questionnaire that you have created.

Keeping this guidelines in mind and implementing them accordingly will allow you to create a dissertation questionnaire that is beneficial to the processes that you need to have an outstanding dissertation.

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Home » Questionnaire – Definition, Types, and Examples

Questionnaire – Definition, Types, and Examples

Table of Contents

Questionnaire

Definition:

A Questionnaire is a research tool or survey instrument that consists of a set of questions or prompts designed to gather information from individuals or groups of people.

It is a standardized way of collecting data from a large number of people by asking them a series of questions related to a specific topic or research objective. The questions may be open-ended or closed-ended, and the responses can be quantitative or qualitative. Questionnaires are widely used in research, marketing, social sciences, healthcare, and many other fields to collect data and insights from a target population.

History of Questionnaire

The history of questionnaires can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, who used questionnaires as a means of assessing public opinion. However, the modern history of questionnaires began in the late 19th century with the rise of social surveys.

The first social survey was conducted in the United States in 1874 by Francis A. Walker, who used a questionnaire to collect data on labor conditions. In the early 20th century, questionnaires became a popular tool for conducting social research, particularly in the fields of sociology and psychology.

One of the most influential figures in the development of the questionnaire was the psychologist Raymond Cattell, who in the 1940s and 1950s developed the personality questionnaire, a standardized instrument for measuring personality traits. Cattell’s work helped establish the questionnaire as a key tool in personality research.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the use of questionnaires expanded into other fields, including market research, public opinion polling, and health surveys. With the rise of computer technology, questionnaires became easier and more cost-effective to administer, leading to their widespread use in research and business settings.

Today, questionnaires are used in a wide range of settings, including academic research, business, healthcare, and government. They continue to evolve as a research tool, with advances in computer technology and data analysis techniques making it easier to collect and analyze data from large numbers of participants.

Types of Questionnaire

Types of Questionnaires are as follows:

Structured Questionnaire

This type of questionnaire has a fixed format with predetermined questions that the respondent must answer. The questions are usually closed-ended, which means that the respondent must select a response from a list of options.

Unstructured Questionnaire

An unstructured questionnaire does not have a fixed format or predetermined questions. Instead, the interviewer or researcher can ask open-ended questions to the respondent and let them provide their own answers.

Open-ended Questionnaire

An open-ended questionnaire allows the respondent to answer the question in their own words, without any pre-determined response options. The questions usually start with phrases like “how,” “why,” or “what,” and encourage the respondent to provide more detailed and personalized answers.

Close-ended Questionnaire

In a closed-ended questionnaire, the respondent is given a set of predetermined response options to choose from. This type of questionnaire is easier to analyze and summarize, but may not provide as much insight into the respondent’s opinions or attitudes.

Mixed Questionnaire

A mixed questionnaire is a combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions. This type of questionnaire allows for more flexibility in terms of the questions that can be asked, and can provide both quantitative and qualitative data.

Pictorial Questionnaire:

In a pictorial questionnaire, instead of using words to ask questions, the questions are presented in the form of pictures, diagrams or images. This can be particularly useful for respondents who have low literacy skills, or for situations where language barriers exist. Pictorial questionnaires can also be useful in cross-cultural research where respondents may come from different language backgrounds.

Types of Questions in Questionnaire

The types of Questions in Questionnaire are as follows:

Multiple Choice Questions

These questions have several options for participants to choose from. They are useful for getting quantitative data and can be used to collect demographic information.

• a. Red b . Blue c. Green d . Yellow

Rating Scale Questions

These questions ask participants to rate something on a scale (e.g. from 1 to 10). They are useful for measuring attitudes and opinions.

• On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this product to a friend?

Open-Ended Questions

These questions allow participants to answer in their own words and provide more in-depth and detailed responses. They are useful for getting qualitative data.

• What do you think are the biggest challenges facing your community?

Likert Scale Questions

These questions ask participants to rate how much they agree or disagree with a statement. They are useful for measuring attitudes and opinions.

How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statement:

“I enjoy exercising regularly.”

• a . Strongly Agree
• c . Neither Agree nor Disagree
• d . Disagree
• e . Strongly Disagree

Demographic Questions

These questions ask about the participant’s personal information such as age, gender, ethnicity, education level, etc. They are useful for segmenting the data and analyzing results by demographic groups.

• What is your age?

Yes/No Questions

These questions only have two options: Yes or No. They are useful for getting simple, straightforward answers to a specific question.

Have you ever traveled outside of your home country?

Ranking Questions

These questions ask participants to rank several items in order of preference or importance. They are useful for measuring priorities or preferences.

Please rank the following factors in order of importance when choosing a restaurant:

• a. Quality of Food
• c. Ambiance
• d. Location

Matrix Questions

These questions present a matrix or grid of options that participants can choose from. They are useful for getting data on multiple variables at once.

Dichotomous Questions

These questions present two options that are opposite or contradictory. They are useful for measuring binary or polarized attitudes.

Do you support the death penalty?

How to Make a Questionnaire

Step-by-Step Guide for Making a Questionnaire:

• Define your research objectives: Before you start creating questions, you need to define the purpose of your questionnaire and what you hope to achieve from the data you collect.
• Choose the appropriate question types: Based on your research objectives, choose the appropriate question types to collect the data you need. Refer to the types of questions mentioned earlier for guidance.
• Develop questions: Develop clear and concise questions that are easy for participants to understand. Avoid leading or biased questions that might influence the responses.
• Organize questions: Organize questions in a logical and coherent order, starting with demographic questions followed by general questions, and ending with specific or sensitive questions.
• Pilot the questionnaire : Test your questionnaire on a small group of participants to identify any flaws or issues with the questions or the format.
• Refine the questionnaire : Based on feedback from the pilot, refine and revise the questionnaire as necessary to ensure that it is valid and reliable.
• Distribute the questionnaire: Distribute the questionnaire to your target audience using a method that is appropriate for your research objectives, such as online surveys, email, or paper surveys.
• Collect and analyze data: Collect the completed questionnaires and analyze the data using appropriate statistical methods. Draw conclusions from the data and use them to inform decision-making or further research.
• Report findings: Present your findings in a clear and concise report, including a summary of the research objectives, methodology, key findings, and recommendations.

Questionnaire Administration Modes

There are several modes of questionnaire administration. The choice of mode depends on the research objectives, sample size, and available resources. Some common modes of administration include:

• Self-administered paper questionnaires: Participants complete the questionnaire on paper, either in person or by mail. This mode is relatively low cost and easy to administer, but it may result in lower response rates and greater potential for errors in data entry.
• Online questionnaires: Participants complete the questionnaire on a website or through email. This mode is convenient for both researchers and participants, as it allows for fast and easy data collection. However, it may be subject to issues such as low response rates, lack of internet access, and potential for fraudulent responses.
• Telephone surveys: Trained interviewers administer the questionnaire over the phone. This mode allows for a large sample size and can result in higher response rates, but it is also more expensive and time-consuming than other modes.
• Face-to-face interviews : Trained interviewers administer the questionnaire in person. This mode allows for a high degree of control over the survey environment and can result in higher response rates, but it is also more expensive and time-consuming than other modes.
• Mixed-mode surveys: Researchers use a combination of two or more modes to administer the questionnaire, such as using online questionnaires for initial screening and following up with telephone interviews for more detailed information. This mode can help overcome some of the limitations of individual modes, but it requires careful planning and coordination.

Example of Questionnaire

Title of the Survey: Customer Satisfaction Survey

Introduction:

We appreciate your business and would like to ensure that we are meeting your needs. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey so that we can better understand your experience with our products and services. Your feedback is important to us and will help us improve our offerings.

Instructions:

Please read each question carefully and select the response that best reflects your experience. If you have any additional comments or suggestions, please feel free to include them in the space provided at the end of the survey.

1. How satisfied are you with our product quality?

• Very satisfied
• Somewhat satisfied
• Somewhat dissatisfied
• Very dissatisfied

2. How satisfied are you with our customer service?

3. How satisfied are you with the price of our products?

4. How likely are you to recommend our products to others?

• Very likely
• Somewhat likely
• Somewhat unlikely
• Very unlikely

5. How easy was it to find the information you were looking for on our website?

• Somewhat easy
• Somewhat difficult
• Very difficult

6. How satisfied are you with the overall experience of using our products and services?

7. Is there anything that you would like to see us improve upon or change in the future?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Conclusion:

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Your feedback is valuable to us and will help us improve our products and services. If you have any further comments or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Applications of Questionnaire

Some common applications of questionnaires include:

• Research : Questionnaires are commonly used in research to gather information from participants about their attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and experiences. This information can then be analyzed and used to draw conclusions and make inferences.
• Healthcare : In healthcare, questionnaires can be used to gather information about patients’ medical history, symptoms, and lifestyle habits. This information can help healthcare professionals diagnose and treat medical conditions more effectively.
• Marketing : Questionnaires are commonly used in marketing to gather information about consumers’ preferences, buying habits, and opinions on products and services. This information can help businesses develop and market products more effectively.
• Human Resources: Questionnaires are used in human resources to gather information from job applicants, employees, and managers about job satisfaction, performance, and workplace culture. This information can help organizations improve their hiring practices, employee retention, and organizational culture.
• Education : Questionnaires are used in education to gather information from students, teachers, and parents about their perceptions of the educational experience. This information can help educators identify areas for improvement and develop more effective teaching strategies.

Purpose of Questionnaire

Some common purposes of questionnaires include:

• To collect information on attitudes, opinions, and beliefs: Questionnaires can be used to gather information on people’s attitudes, opinions, and beliefs on a particular topic. For example, a questionnaire can be used to gather information on people’s opinions about a particular political issue.
• To collect demographic information: Questionnaires can be used to collect demographic information such as age, gender, income, education level, and occupation. This information can be used to analyze trends and patterns in the data.
• To measure behaviors or experiences: Questionnaires can be used to gather information on behaviors or experiences such as health-related behaviors or experiences, job satisfaction, or customer satisfaction.
• To evaluate programs or interventions: Questionnaires can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of programs or interventions by gathering information on participants’ experiences, opinions, and behaviors.
• To gather information for research: Questionnaires can be used to gather data for research purposes on a variety of topics.

When to use Questionnaire

Here are some situations when questionnaires might be used:

• When you want to collect data from a large number of people: Questionnaires are useful when you want to collect data from a large number of people. They can be distributed to a wide audience and can be completed at the respondent’s convenience.
• When you want to collect data on specific topics: Questionnaires are useful when you want to collect data on specific topics or research questions. They can be designed to ask specific questions and can be used to gather quantitative data that can be analyzed statistically.
• When you want to compare responses across groups: Questionnaires are useful when you want to compare responses across different groups of people. For example, you might want to compare responses from men and women, or from people of different ages or educational backgrounds.
• When you want to collect data anonymously: Questionnaires can be useful when you want to collect data anonymously. Respondents can complete the questionnaire without fear of judgment or repercussions, which can lead to more honest and accurate responses.
• When you want to save time and resources: Questionnaires can be more efficient and cost-effective than other methods of data collection such as interviews or focus groups. They can be completed quickly and easily, and can be analyzed using software to save time and resources.

Characteristics of Questionnaire

Here are some of the characteristics of questionnaires:

• Standardization : Questionnaires are standardized tools that ask the same questions in the same order to all respondents. This ensures that all respondents are answering the same questions and that the responses can be compared and analyzed.
• Objectivity : Questionnaires are designed to be objective, meaning that they do not contain leading questions or bias that could influence the respondent’s answers.
• Predefined responses: Questionnaires typically provide predefined response options for the respondents to choose from, which helps to standardize the responses and make them easier to analyze.
• Quantitative data: Questionnaires are designed to collect quantitative data, meaning that they provide numerical or categorical data that can be analyzed using statistical methods.
• Convenience : Questionnaires are convenient for both the researcher and the respondents. They can be distributed and completed at the respondent’s convenience and can be easily administered to a large number of people.
• Anonymity : Questionnaires can be anonymous, which can encourage respondents to answer more honestly and provide more accurate data.
• Reliability : Questionnaires are designed to be reliable, meaning that they produce consistent results when administered multiple times to the same group of people.
• Validity : Questionnaires are designed to be valid, meaning that they measure what they are intended to measure and are not influenced by other factors.

Advantage of Questionnaire

Some Advantage of Questionnaire are as follows:

• Standardization: Questionnaires allow researchers to ask the same questions to all participants in a standardized manner. This helps ensure consistency in the data collected and eliminates potential bias that might arise if questions were asked differently to different participants.
• Efficiency: Questionnaires can be administered to a large number of people at once, making them an efficient way to collect data from a large sample.
• Anonymity: Participants can remain anonymous when completing a questionnaire, which may make them more likely to answer honestly and openly.
• Cost-effective: Questionnaires can be relatively inexpensive to administer compared to other research methods, such as interviews or focus groups.
• Objectivity: Because questionnaires are typically designed to collect quantitative data, they can be analyzed objectively without the influence of the researcher’s subjective interpretation.
• Flexibility: Questionnaires can be adapted to a wide range of research questions and can be used in various settings, including online surveys, mail surveys, or in-person interviews.

Limitations of Questionnaire

Limitations of Questionnaire are as follows:

• Limited depth: Questionnaires are typically designed to collect quantitative data, which may not provide a complete understanding of the topic being studied. Questionnaires may miss important details and nuances that could be captured through other research methods, such as interviews or observations.
• R esponse bias: Participants may not always answer questions truthfully or accurately, either because they do not remember or because they want to present themselves in a particular way. This can lead to response bias, which can affect the validity and reliability of the data collected.
• Limited flexibility: While questionnaires can be adapted to a wide range of research questions, they may not be suitable for all types of research. For example, they may not be appropriate for studying complex phenomena or for exploring participants’ experiences and perceptions in-depth.
• Limited context: Questionnaires typically do not provide a rich contextual understanding of the topic being studied. They may not capture the broader social, cultural, or historical factors that may influence participants’ responses.
• Limited control : Researchers may not have control over how participants complete the questionnaire, which can lead to variations in response quality or consistency.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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National Research Council (US) Committee to Examine the Methodology for the Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs; Ostriker JP, Kuh CV, editors. Assessing Research-Doctorate Programs: A Methodology Study. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2003.

Assessing Research-Doctorate Programs: A Methodology Study.

• Hardcopy Version at National Academies Press

D Sample Questionnaires

(These questionnaires are subject to further review and revision.)

• Institutional Questionnaire
• Program Questionnaire
• Faculty Questionnaire
• Questionnaire for Admitted-to-Candidacy Doctoral Students
• Questionnaire for Program Graduates

To the institutional coordinator: This questionnaire is intended to collect data about university-provided resources that are available to all doctoral programs. Typically, the ideal respondent will be in the university's office of institutional research. Most of the questions apply to all programs. One, on laboratory space, applies only to the sciences (including some social sciences). In listing programs, please refer to the attached taxonomy and answer for those programs that are present at your institution.

1. For the libraries at your institution: (Please enter the average over the past three years)

a. What is the average size of your professional library staff in total FTEs?______

b. What is the average annual library budget?______

c. What is the average annual budget for acquisition of books?______

d. What is the average annual budget for acquisition of:

print journals______electronic journals______?

e. What is the average annual budget for microprint and electronic databases?______

2. Is health care insurance available to graduate students under an institutional plan?

a. If available, health care insurance is made available to:

❏ Students only ❏ Students and faculty

b. If available, what is the level of institutional support? (Check all that apply)

Institution covers premium costs for:

❏ Teaching assistants ❏ Research assistants

❏ All other full-time graduate students ❏ All graduate students

Institution covers partial premium costs for:

No institutional contribution for:

❏ Teaching assistants ❏ Research assistants ❏ Other graduate students

3. Does the university provide childcare facilities that are available to graduate students?

❏ Yes ❏ No

a. If yes, is the cost subsidized by the institution?

b. If not, does the institution provide a listing of childcare providers to graduate students?

4. Is university-subsidized student housing available to doctoral students?

If so, what is the percentage of the doctoral students who live in university-provided housing? _______

5. Are graduate students are unionized on your campus?

If yes, ❏ Some students ❏ All students

If yes, are teaching assistants unionized? ❏ Yes ❏ No

If yes, ❏ Some teaching assistants ❏ All teaching assistants

If yes, are research assistants unionized? ❏ Yes ❏ No

If yes, ❏ Some research assistants ❏ All research assistants?

6. Which of the following apply to the doctoral program at the institutional level?

a. The institution confers awards to honor graduate students for teaching and/or research.

b. Awards are given to faculty for mentoring or other activities that promote scholarship of doctoral students.

c. The institution provides some form of travel support for doctoral students to attend professional meetings.

d. There is an organized program at the institutional level to help doctoral students improve their teaching skills.

e. The institution provides an office that assists doctoral students in learning about employment opportunities. ❏ Yes ❏ No

7. For the information displayed in the following table, please provide in a file sent by email to ude.san@tolipdr

For the each doctoral program in science (including the social sciences) and engineering at your institution, what is the net assignable square feet (NASF) of research space dedicated to the program (exclude space that is used only for undergraduates)? Please use the same definitions for NASF and research space that are used in the NSF Survey of Scientific and Engineering Research Facilities. See [Taxonomy] for a list of the program fields in the study, and provide the information in the Email file for only those doctoral programs that are offered at your institution.

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Background Information

This information will enable the National Research Council to contact you if there are any questions about the data. It will also permit us to contact faculty for the purpose of administering a questionnaire to elicit reputational ratings and background data and to contact students to obtain information about their perceptions of the practices and offerings of the doctoral program.

Please note that in addition to the web questionnaire, we would like lists of faculty and previous employers to be sent to us via e-mail.

Please indicate the doctoral program to which the following information applies

________________________________________

1. Please provide the name and e-mail address of the program respondent who will serve as the primary contact with the graduate program.

Name:_____________________________________________

Title:______________________________________________

E-mail address:______________________________________

Mailing Address:_____________________________________

__________________________________________________

City______________________State_______Zip Code_______

If this is an interdisciplinary program, please list the departments affiliated with the program.

___________________________________________________

For each individual identified in questions 2 and 3, please provide in a file sent by email to ude.san@tolipdr the information displayed in the table for the question.

2. Program Faculty: For each faculty member or senior research fellow or associate who participates in your doctoral program by directing theses, serving on doctoral committees, or teaching graduate courses, please provide the following information.

3. Faculty Employment History: For each faculty member listed in Question 2 who joined your program within the past five years, please provide the institution, company, or organization where he or she was employed immediately before joining your institution.

4. For the doctoral students in your program, please provide the number of students that fall into each of the following categories.

a. Total number of students:______

b. Status: Full-time______ Part-time______ Unknown______

c. Gender: Male______ Female______ Unknown______

d. Race/Ethnicity (if U.S. citizen or Permanent Residents)

e. Percentage of doctoral students with master's degree

Program Information

5. Does your program have a mission statement?

❏ Yes No ❏

If so, what is the mission statement? (50 words or less)

_______________________________________________

If there are particular areas of research emphasis in your doctoral from the subfields in [Taxonomy]:

______________________ _______________________

6. How many Ph.D.s have been awarded in the program in each of the past five years? (Note: Years span from July 1 to June 30)

2001–02 ____ 2000–01_____ 1999–00_____ 1998–99_____ 1997–98_____

7. For each of the academic years listed in the following table, enter the number of students who entered the program in the year and the number who completed their degrees in 4, 6, or 8, years or are still in the program. (Note: Years span from July 1 to June 30)

7a. Averaged over the past three years, what percent of entering students withdrew from the program before completing two years of study? ______%

7b. Averaged over the past three years, what has been the median time to degree for those who completed the program?_____(Note: the median time is the number of years it takes half of the number of students from the same entering year who are admitted to candidacy to complete their degree.)

8. Is a master's degree required of students prior to admission to your program?

9. What proportion of your full-time first-year doctoral students receive full support throughout their first year (tuition and an adequate living allowance provided as stipend or salary in program related work (TA or RA)? ________

10. How many years of full financial support could students entering your doctoral program expect to receive from your institution or an external source? _________

11. Over the past five years approximately what fraction of the first-year students in your program received financial support either from your institution or from extramural grants or fellowships?

Tuition only _____

Tuition and stipend _____

Stipend only __________

12. What proportion of currently enrolled doctoral students in your program (included in multiple categories if appropriate) are currently supported by:

13. Averaged over the past three years, what are the average and minimum GRE scores for students accepted into the program?

Do you require GRE subject scores for all students entering the program?

14. In each of the last three academic years, how many students did you accept into your doctoral program, and how many enrolled?

15. What percentage of the doctoral students in your program have individually assigned workspaces for their exclusive use?

TAs _____RAs _____ All students _____

16. On average, how many courses per term is each graduate teaching assistant in the program expected to teach or assist a faculty member in teaching?

With sole responsibility ____ As an Assistant to a faculty member ____

17. Which of the following apply to your doctoral program?

a. The program confers awards to honor graduate students for teaching and/or research.

❏Yes ❏ No

c. The program provides some form of travel support for doctoral students to attend professional meetings.

d. There is an organized program to help doctoral students improve their teaching skills.

e. The program provides organized assistance to help doctoral students explore employment opportunities.

18. List up to 5 institutions with which your program normally competes for graduate students:

Institution #1________________________________________

Institution #2________________________________________

Institution #3________________________________________

Institution #4________________________________________

Institution #5________________________________________

19. Does your program collect data about employment outcomes for your graduates?

If yes, do you provide potential applicants with this information?

20. Please list those interdisciplinary centers in which doctoral students from your program participate (conduct research or teach).

_______________________

This questionnaire is part of the National Research Council's Pilot Test of the Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. Your university has volunteered to participate in this pilot test to assist the National Research Council's study of the methodology used to assess doctoral programs. Further information about the methodology study may be found at www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html

You have been selected to receive this questionnaire because you are a member of the faculty who participates in the education of doctoral students at your university. This means that you either teach courses to doctoral students or supervise their dissertations. If this is not the case, please indicate that in question 1.

The assessment of research doctoral programs is conducted approximately every ten years and consists of a reputational survey of doctoral programs and the collection of data about doctoral faculty and students in fifty-seven areas of study. This questionnaire provides information that will assist the study in a number of ways: 1)it will help us construct a pool from which to select raters for the reputational survey; 2)it will provide us enough information about you that we can collect data on grants, citations, and publications from other sources; and 3)it will permit a statistical description of the faculty in the graduate program or programs with which you are affiliated. Your answers will be treated as completely confidential by the National Research Council and will only be released as part of a statistical analysis.

I. Program Identification

a. Do you supervise dissertations, serve on doctoral committees, or teach graduate courses in a doctoral program?

If your answer was “No”, you do not need to complete the rest of the questionnaire.

b. From the pulldown list, please choose the program of your primary affiliation/appointment

___________________________[Pull Down List of Res-Doc Programs]

If you have difficulty locating your program on the list, please refer to the [Taxonomy] list with fields and subfields

c. Please list all programs in which you supervise dissertations, serve on dissertation committees, or teach graduate courses and the average percentage of your time during the past year that you spent in all activities for each program with which you are associated. (Do not list programs where you are an outside reader.)

d. For the articles and books that you have published in the past five years, please list what fields you have published in Table 1 . If you have a single publication that spans multiple fields, please indicate them and their fields in Table 2 .

Table 1 Books and articles in a single field published in the past 3 years

Table 2 books and articles in multiple fields published in the past 3 years.

II. Current Employment

a. Department affiliation:_________________

d. Year first employed at current institution: [If employment was not continuous, please list year of most recent appointment at this institution.] __________________

e. Have you received an extramural grant or contract support in the past year?

f. Subfields of current research interest (refer to [Taxonomy] with subfields):

Subfield # 1: _________________

Subfield #2: __________________

Subfield #3: __________________

g. Do you consider part of your research to be interdisciplinary? ❏ Yes ❏ No If so, what is the area of that research? _____________________

h. Under what names or variants of your name have you published books or articles?

____________________________________________

III. Prior Experience

What was your status prior to your current position?

❏ Student ❏ Postdoc ❏ Faculty. ❏ Other:________________

Previous employer:_______________________________

Address: ______________________________________

City_____________________State/Country_______Zip Code______

Title: __________________________________________________

Employment Sector:

❏ Industry (for profit)

❏ National laboratory

❏ State or local government

❏ Federal government agency

❏ International agency

❏ 4-year college or university

❏ 2-year college

❏ K-12 school

❏ Hospital or clinic

❏ Foundation or nonprofit

❏ Military

❏ Other (specify: __________)

IV. Educational Background

b. Institution that conferred highest degree:

_________________________________________

c. Field of highest degree:

_________________________________[Pulldown List]

Other: ____________________________

d. Year of highest degree:

e. To what extent does the field of your current research, teaching, or professional activities differ from the field of your highest degree?

❏ Very similar ❏ Somewhat similar ❏ Very different

V. Demographic Information

a. Date of birth: __________(mm/dd/yy)

VI. Please provide your preferred e-mail address (where you can be reached if there are questions.)

________________________________________________

Thank you for your time.

This questionnaire is part of the National Research Council's Pilot Test of the Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. Your university has volunteered to participate in this pilot test to assist the National Research Council's study of the methodology used to assess doctoral programs. One innovation we are considering is adding student responses about the educational processes of the program. We believe that students' input is important to improving the quality of the educational experience. Further information about the methodology study may be found at www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html

You have been selected to receive this questionnaire because you are a student who has completed over half of your doctoral program. If this is not the case, please indicate that in question 1.

The assessment of research doctoral programs is conducted approximately every ten years and consists of a reputational survey of doctoral programs and the collection of data about doctoral faculty and students in fifty-four areas of study. This questionnaire will provide information that will assist the study in a number of ways: 1) it will provide a statistical description of students in your program; 2) it will provide information about practices in your program; and 3) it will help future students in the selection of graduate programs.

Your answers will be treated as completely confidential by the National Research Council and will only be released as part of a statistical analysis. Individual answers will not be shared with faculty or administrators of your doctoral program except in aggregated form.

Institution: _______________________________________________

Doctoral Program: _________________________________________

1. Educational Program

A. Year of enrollment in this doctoral program:_________

B. Year you expect to receive your doctorate:__________

C. Did you (or will you) receive a master's degree before this doctorate? ❏ Yes ❏ No

D. Did you (or will you) receive a master's degree in your doctoral field as part of your training?

⇍ Yes ⇍ No

If yes, did you write a master's thesis? ❏ Yes ❏ No

E. During the course of your study for the Ph.D. will you also receive any of the following as part of a joint, concurrent, or combined degree program:

Professional doctorate (e.g., MD, DOS, OD, JD)? ❏ Yes ❏ No

Professional master's (e.g., MBA, MPA, MPH)? ❏ Yes ❏ No

F. During the course of your study for the Ph.D. will you also receive a certificate in another field?

G. What were your career goals at the time you entered graduate school? [check all that apply]

U.S. Employment:

❏ Industry ❏ Government ❏ Nonprofit ❏ University

❏ 2-yr. college ❏ 4-yr. college Other: ______________

Non-U.S. Employment:

❏ 2-yr. college ❏ 4-yr. college Other: _______________

❏ Unknown

H. What are your current career plans? [check all that apply]

I. Of the following sources of support, which have been your primary sources during your doctoral studies? (Check the three largest)

2. Program Characteristics

A. Professional Development

1. During your doctoral program have you received (or will you receive) instruction, practice or professional development training in:

2. In your doctoral program did you have an opportunity to obtain teaching experience? Check the type(s) of teaching experience you have had:

If you have had teaching experience, please answer the following,

B. Program Environment

1. Does your program provide an annual or more frequent assessment of your progress?

2. Do you receive timely feedback on your research?

3. Do you have access to career advice covering a variety of employment sectors?

a. If yes, are you encouraged to use it? ❏ Yes ❏ No

4. Do you have one or more faculty members at your institution that you consider mentors (i.e., individuals from whom you seek advice about your education, career development, and other matters of concern to you as a graduate student)?

5. How would you rate the quality of teaching by faculty in your program?

❏ Excellent ❏ Good ❏ Fair ❏ Poor

6. How would you rate the quality of your research experience?

7. How would you rate the curriculum of your Ph.D. program?

8. How would you rate the overall quality of your program?

9. How would you rate the intellectual liveliness of your program?

10. Considering the overall intellectual environment of your university, how much do you feel you have benefited from it?

❏ A lot ❏ Some ❏ A little ❏ Not at all

C. Infrastructure

1. Does your program give you access to:

2. Does your program provide adequate space for interaction among students?

3. Are the library resources available to you adequate to support your research and education? ❏ Yes ❏ No

D. Research productivity

1. How many research presentations (including poster presentations) have you made at research conferences

2. How many research publications have you authored or co-authored during your doctoral studies (include pieces accepted for publication but not yet published)?

3. Background Information

E. Dependent care responsibilities:

1. Number of children living with you:

Age 6 or under ______ Over age 6 _______

3. Parents or other dependents

G. Marital Status:

Do you have a spouse or partner who lives with you?

• Five-Seven Years Post-Ph.D Questionnaire

This questionnaire is part of the National Research Council's Pilot Test of the Assessment of Research Doctoral Programs. Your university has volunteered to participate in this pilot test to assist the National Research Council's study of the methodology used to assess doctoral programs. One innovation that we are considering is to add student responses to questions about the educational process of the program. Further information about the methodology study may be found at www7.nationalacademies.org/resdoc/index.html

You have been selected to receive this questionnaire because you are a student who has received a Ph.D. from this program five to seven years ago. If this is not the case, please indicate that in question 1.

The assessment of research doctoral programs is conducted approximately every ten years and consists of a reputational survey of doctoral programs and the collection of data about doctoral faculty and students in fifty-four areas of study. This questionnaire provides information that will assist the study in a number of ways: 1) it will help us learn whether a high enough percentage of students respond so that we can add student observations to the larger study; 2) it will provide us enough information about practices in your program that we can compare the practices of graduate programs in your field at different universities; and 3) it will permit a statistical description of the first-year students in the graduate program. Your answers will be treated as completely confidential by the National Research Council and will only be released as part of a statistical analysis. Individual answers will not be shared with faculty or administrators of your former doctoral program except in aggregated form.

a. Name of the program where you received your Ph.D. degree:

__________________________________________

b. Year of enrollment in the above Ph.D. program:___________

c. Year you received your Ph.D.: _________

d. Did you receive a master's degree at this institution before this Ph.D.? ❏ Yes ❏ No

e. Were you enrolled as a full-time student throughout your Ph.D. program? ❏ Yes ❏ No

f. Did you attend graduate school prior to enrollment in the above Ph.D. program?

If so, what degrees or certificates, if any, do you hold?

❏ Certificate ❏ Master's ❏ Doctoral ❏ Professional

g. What was your career goal when you completed your Ph.D.?

h. Have your career goals changed since you received your Ph.D.? ❏ Yes ❏ No

i. During your Ph.D. program, were you supported by funds from outside the institution? ❏ Yes ❏ No

(Check all that apply)

Type: ❏ Fellowship ❏ Training Grant ❏ Research Grant

❏ Your employer ❏ Other(Specify:_________)

j. Did you receive institutional support?

Type: ❏ Teaching Assistantship ❏ Research Assistantship ❏ Fellowship

❏ Tuition scholarship or waiver only ❏ Loan ❏ None ❏ Other(Specify:_)

2. Employment and Career Status

a. First employer or place of postdoctoral study after Ph.D. completion:

Name: __________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________

City___________________State/Country_______Zip Code______

Title: _________________________________________________

b. Employment Sector:

❏ University

❏ 4-year college

❏ Other (specify)

c. If you hold or have held a postdoctoral position or positions, how many_______, and at what institutions, companies or government agencies were they located? List chronologically starting with the most recent.

d. Current employer:

Name: __________________________________________________

Address:_________________________________________________

City______________State/Country__________Zip Code____________

Title:_____________________________________________________

e. Current Employment Sector:

3. Ph.D. Program Characteristics

a. During your Ph.D. education, in which of the following areas was training PROVIDED, which skills or experiences have you USED since graduation, and which area do you wish you had learned MORE about? (check all that apply)

1) Teaching experiemce ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

2) Oral communication; presentation skills ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

3) Writing proposals for funding ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

4) Manuscript preparation ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

5) Experience working in collaborative groups ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

6) Critical analysis ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

7) Locating and applying information ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

8) Experience working with people of varied educational levels ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

9) Experience working with people from diverse backgrounds ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

10) Experience working in teams ❏ Provided ❏ Used ❏ More

b. Research Productivity

1) How many books or edited books have you published or are currently accepted for publication? ___

2) How many articles or book chapters have you published or are currently accepted for publication? ___

3) How many books or articles have you reviewed for publication? ______

4) How many reviews, enumerated in 3), have been or will be published?

5) How many refereed papers have you or a coauthor presented at professional conferences? ___

6) How many awards have you received? (Respond to all categories.)

a) For teaching: _______

b) For research: _______

c) From professional societies: _______

d) From your institution or employer:________

7) How many patents or licenses have you received? ________

8) How many grants have you received from your employer or institution? _____

9) How many grants have you received from extramural funding agencies? _____

4. Background Information

d. Race/Ethnicity (if U.S. citizen)

❏ American Indian or Alaskan Native

❏ Asian

❏ Pacific Islander

❏ Black

❏ White

❏ Hispanic (❏ Mexican American, ❏ Puerto Rican, ❏ Other)

❏ Multiracial

f. Number of Children: Age 6 and unde r______ Over age 6

h. Is English your first language? Yes ❏ No ❏

• Cite this Page National Research Council (US) Committee to Examine the Methodology for the Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs; Ostriker JP, Kuh CV, editors. Assessing Research-Doctorate Programs: A Methodology Study. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2003. D, Sample Questionnaires.
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SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE Greetings!

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Poala Syre C. Juntilla The Investigator ________________________________________________________________

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Questionnaire Design | Methods, Question Types & Examples

Published on 6 May 2022 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on 10 October 2022.

A questionnaire is a list of questions or items used to gather data from respondents about their attitudes, experiences, or opinions. Questionnaires can be used to collect quantitative and/or qualitative information.

Questionnaires are commonly used in market research as well as in the social and health sciences. For example, a company may ask for feedback about a recent customer service experience, or psychology researchers may investigate health risk perceptions using questionnaires.

Table of contents

Questionnaires vs surveys, questionnaire methods, open-ended vs closed-ended questions, question wording, question order, step-by-step guide to design, frequently asked questions about questionnaire design.

A survey is a research method where you collect and analyse data from a group of people. A questionnaire is a specific tool or instrument for collecting the data.

Designing a questionnaire means creating valid and reliable questions that address your research objectives, placing them in a useful order, and selecting an appropriate method for administration.

But designing a questionnaire is only one component of survey research. Survey research also involves defining the population you’re interested in, choosing an appropriate sampling method , administering questionnaires, data cleaning and analysis, and interpretation.

Sampling is important in survey research because you’ll often aim to generalise your results to the population. Gather data from a sample that represents the range of views in the population for externally valid results. There will always be some differences between the population and the sample, but minimising these will help you avoid sampling bias .

Prevent plagiarism, run a free check.

Questionnaires can be self-administered or researcher-administered . Self-administered questionnaires are more common because they are easy to implement and inexpensive, but researcher-administered questionnaires allow deeper insights.

Self-administered questionnaires

Self-administered questionnaires can be delivered online or in paper-and-pen formats, in person or by post. All questions are standardised so that all respondents receive the same questions with identical wording.

Self-administered questionnaires can be:

• Cost-effective
• Easy to administer for small and large groups
• Anonymous and suitable for sensitive topics

But they may also be:

• Unsuitable for people with limited literacy or verbal skills
• Susceptible to a nonreponse bias (most people invited may not complete the questionnaire)
• Biased towards people who volunteer because impersonal survey requests often go ignored

Researcher-administered questionnaires

Researcher-administered questionnaires are interviews that take place by phone, in person, or online between researchers and respondents.

Researcher-administered questionnaires can:

• Help you ensure the respondents are representative of your target audience
• Allow clarifications of ambiguous or unclear questions and answers
• Have high response rates because it’s harder to refuse an interview when personal attention is given to respondents

But researcher-administered questionnaires can be limiting in terms of resources. They are:

• Costly and time-consuming to perform
• More difficult to analyse if you have qualitative responses
• Likely to contain experimenter bias or demand characteristics
• Likely to encourage social desirability bias in responses because of a lack of anonymity

Your questionnaire can include open-ended or closed-ended questions, or a combination of both.

Using closed-ended questions limits your responses, while open-ended questions enable a broad range of answers. You’ll need to balance these considerations with your available time and resources.

Closed-ended questions

Closed-ended, or restricted-choice, questions offer respondents a fixed set of choices to select from. Closed-ended questions are best for collecting data on categorical or quantitative variables.

Categorical variables can be nominal or ordinal. Quantitative variables can be interval or ratio. Understanding the type of variable and level of measurement means you can perform appropriate statistical analyses for generalisable results.

Examples of closed-ended questions for different variables

Nominal variables include categories that can’t be ranked, such as race or ethnicity. This includes binary or dichotomous categories.

It’s best to include categories that cover all possible answers and are mutually exclusive. There should be no overlap between response items.

In binary or dichotomous questions, you’ll give respondents only two options to choose from.

White Black or African American American Indian or Alaska Native Asian Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

Ordinal variables include categories that can be ranked. Consider how wide or narrow a range you’ll include in your response items, and their relevance to your respondents.

Likert-type questions collect ordinal data using rating scales with five or seven points.

When you have four or more Likert-type questions, you can treat the composite data as quantitative data on an interval scale . Intelligence tests, psychological scales, and personality inventories use multiple Likert-type questions to collect interval data.

With interval or ratio data, you can apply strong statistical hypothesis tests to address your research aims.

Pros and cons of closed-ended questions

Well-designed closed-ended questions are easy to understand and can be answered quickly. However, you might still miss important answers that are relevant to respondents. An incomplete set of response items may force some respondents to pick the closest alternative to their true answer. These types of questions may also miss out on valuable detail.

To solve these problems, you can make questions partially closed-ended, and include an open-ended option where respondents can fill in their own answer.

Open-ended questions

Open-ended, or long-form, questions allow respondents to give answers in their own words. Because there are no restrictions on their choices, respondents can answer in ways that researchers may not have otherwise considered. For example, respondents may want to answer ‘multiracial’ for the question on race rather than selecting from a restricted list.

• How do you feel about open science?
• How would you describe your personality?
• In your opinion, what is the biggest obstacle to productivity in remote work?

Open-ended questions have a few downsides.

They require more time and effort from respondents, which may deter them from completing the questionnaire.

For researchers, understanding and summarising responses to these questions can take a lot of time and resources. You’ll need to develop a systematic coding scheme to categorise answers, and you may also need to involve other researchers in data analysis for high reliability .

Question wording can influence your respondents’ answers, especially if the language is unclear, ambiguous, or biased. Good questions need to be understood by all respondents in the same way ( reliable ) and measure exactly what you’re interested in ( valid ).

Use clear language

You should design questions with your target audience in mind. Consider their familiarity with your questionnaire topics and language and tailor your questions to them.

For readability and clarity, avoid jargon or overly complex language. Don’t use double negatives because they can be harder to understand.

Use balanced framing

Respondents often answer in different ways depending on the question framing. Positive frames are interpreted as more neutral than negative frames and may encourage more socially desirable answers.

Use a mix of both positive and negative frames to avoid bias , and ensure that your question wording is balanced wherever possible.

Unbalanced questions focus on only one side of an argument. Respondents may be less likely to oppose the question if it is framed in a particular direction. It’s best practice to provide a counterargument within the question as well.

Avoid leading questions

Leading questions guide respondents towards answering in specific ways, even if that’s not how they truly feel, by explicitly or implicitly providing them with extra information.

It’s best to keep your questions short and specific to your topic of interest.

• The average daily work commute in the US takes 54.2 minutes and costs $29 per day. Since 2020, working from home has saved many employees time and money. Do you favour flexible work-from-home policies even after it’s safe to return to offices?
• Experts agree that a well-balanced diet provides sufficient vitamins and minerals, and multivitamins and supplements are not necessary or effective. Do you agree or disagree that multivitamins are helpful for balanced nutrition?

Keep your questions focused

Ask about only one idea at a time and avoid double-barrelled questions. Double-barrelled questions ask about more than one item at a time, which can confuse respondents.

This question could be difficult to answer for respondents who feel strongly about the right to clean drinking water but not high-speed internet. They might only answer about the topic they feel passionate about or provide a neutral answer instead – but neither of these options capture their true answers.

Instead, you should ask two separate questions to gauge respondents’ opinions.

Strongly Agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly Disagree

Do you agree or disagree that the government should be responsible for providing high-speed internet to everyone?

You can organise the questions logically, with a clear progression from simple to complex. Alternatively, you can randomise the question order between respondents.

Logical flow

Using a logical flow to your question order means starting with simple questions, such as behavioural or opinion questions, and ending with more complex, sensitive, or controversial questions.

The question order that you use can significantly affect the responses by priming them in specific directions. Question order effects, or context effects, occur when earlier questions influence the responses to later questions, reducing the validity of your questionnaire.

While demographic questions are usually unaffected by order effects, questions about opinions and attitudes are more susceptible to them.

• How knowledgeable are you about Joe Biden’s executive orders in his first 100 days?
• Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way Joe Biden is managing the economy?
• Do you approve or disapprove of the way Joe Biden is handling his job as president?

It’s important to minimise order effects because they can be a source of systematic error or bias in your study.

Randomisation

Randomisation involves presenting individual respondents with the same questionnaire but with different question orders.

When you use randomisation, order effects will be minimised in your dataset. But a randomised order may also make it harder for respondents to process your questionnaire. Some questions may need more cognitive effort, while others are easier to answer, so a random order could require more time or mental capacity for respondents to switch between questions.

Follow this step-by-step guide to design your questionnaire.

Step 1: Define your goals and objectives

The first step of designing a questionnaire is determining your aims.

• What topics or experiences are you studying?
• What specifically do you want to find out?
• Is a self-report questionnaire an appropriate tool for investigating this topic?

Once you’ve specified your research aims, you can operationalise your variables of interest into questionnaire items. Operationalising concepts means turning them from abstract ideas into concrete measurements. Every question needs to address a defined need and have a clear purpose.

Step 2: Use questions that are suitable for your sample

Create appropriate questions by taking the perspective of your respondents. Consider their language proficiency and available time and energy when designing your questionnaire.

• Are the respondents familiar with the language and terms used in your questions?
• Would any of the questions insult, confuse, or embarrass them?
• Do the response items for any closed-ended questions capture all possible answers?
• Are the response items mutually exclusive?
• Do the respondents have time to respond to open-ended questions?

Consider all possible options for responses to closed-ended questions. From a respondent’s perspective, a lack of response options reflecting their point of view or true answer may make them feel alienated or excluded. In turn, they’ll become disengaged or inattentive to the rest of the questionnaire.

Step 3: Decide on your questionnaire length and question order

Once you have your questions, make sure that the length and order of your questions are appropriate for your sample.

If respondents are not being incentivised or compensated, keep your questionnaire short and easy to answer. Otherwise, your sample may be biased with only highly motivated respondents completing the questionnaire.

Decide on your question order based on your aims and resources. Use a logical flow if your respondents have limited time or if you cannot randomise questions. Randomising questions helps you avoid bias, but it can take more complex statistical analysis to interpret your data.

Step 4: Pretest your questionnaire

When you have a complete list of questions, you’ll need to pretest it to make sure what you’re asking is always clear and unambiguous. Pretesting helps you catch any errors or points of confusion before performing your study.

Ask friends, classmates, or members of your target audience to complete your questionnaire using the same method you’ll use for your research. Find out if any questions were particularly difficult to answer or if the directions were unclear or inconsistent, and make changes as necessary.

If you have the resources, running a pilot study will help you test the validity and reliability of your questionnaire. A pilot study is a practice run of the full study, and it includes sampling, data collection , and analysis.

You can find out whether your procedures are unfeasible or susceptible to bias and make changes in time, but you can’t test a hypothesis with this type of study because it’s usually statistically underpowered .

A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analysing data from people using questionnaires.

Closed-ended, or restricted-choice, questions offer respondents a fixed set of choices to select from. These questions are easier to answer quickly.

Open-ended or long-form questions allow respondents to answer in their own words. Because there are no restrictions on their choices, respondents can answer in ways that researchers may not have otherwise considered.

A Likert scale is a rating scale that quantitatively assesses opinions, attitudes, or behaviours. It is made up of four or more questions that measure a single attitude or trait when response scores are combined.

To use a Likert scale in a survey , you present participants with Likert-type questions or statements, and a continuum of items, usually with five or seven possible responses, to capture their degree of agreement.

You can organise the questions logically, with a clear progression from simple to complex, or randomly between respondents. A logical flow helps respondents process the questionnaire easier and quicker, but it may lead to bias. Randomisation can minimise the bias from order effects.

Questionnaires can be self-administered or researcher-administered.

Researcher-administered questionnaires are interviews that take place by phone, in person, or online between researchers and respondents. You can gain deeper insights by clarifying questions for respondents or asking follow-up questions.

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• 1. As part of my MBA research thesis at the Iqra University Gulshan Campus Karachi, I am conducting a survey that investigates the attitudes of the customers towards luxury brands in the youth of Pakistan the case of mobile phone.”I will appreciate if you could complete the following table. Any information obtained in connection with this study that can be identified with you will remain confidential. Respondent’s Details: Name: _____________________ Age: ________ Gender: Male / Female Mobile number: ____________ Education: _________________ Strongly Agree (1) Agree (2) Neutral (3) Disagree (4) Strongly Disagree (5) S.R. No. Factors (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)  Social need (Kyung Hoon Kim1, 2010) From brand I learn about fashions and about what to buy to impress others Brand tells me what people with lifestyles similar to mine are buying and using. Brand helps me know which products will or will not reflect the sort of person I am Quite often, my phone is amusing and entertaining. Brand shows the social status. (Soo Jiuan Tan 2007)  Materialism (Hye-Jung Park, 2008) Brand promotes undesirable values in our society. Brand makes people live in a world of fantasy I admire people who own expensive homes, cars, and clothes I don’t place much emphasis on the amount of material objects people own as a sign of success It sometimes bothers me quite a bit that I can’t afford to buy all the things I’d like  Consumer attitude (Soo Jiuan Tan 2007)
• 2. Overall, I consider brand a good thing. My general opinion of brand is unfavorable I like brands. Overall I consider mobile phones a bad thing Overall I consider mobile phones essential thing of life.  Experiential need (Hye-Jung Park, 2008) I am satisfied with my brand. When I use the brand I am pleased with my its result. I feel happy when I purchase my brand. I know about new retail web sites before most other people in my circle do I will visit a new company’s web site even if I have not heard of it before  Fashion trends (Hye-Jung Park, 2008) Before buying the latest brand I never judge it will suit me or not I am affected by the fashion of the celebrity. Style is the most important thing for me. In general, I am the last in my circle of friends to know the names of the latest new fashions If I heard that a new fashion item was available in the store, I would be interested enough to buy it  Need of uniqueness: (Hem,2001) Overall, I enjoy buying the latest products. I like to purchase new products before others do.
• 3. Overall, it is exciting to buy the latest products. Sometimes I take pleasure in thinking about what I saw or heard or read about my mobile phones (Soo Jiuan Tan 2007) Quite often, mobile phones are amusing and entertaining.  Conformity (Soo Jiuan Tan 2007) Brands can never be replaced For me appearance is most important I say positive things about this brand to other people (Hong Youl Ha 2011) I will not buy at other brands if my brand is available I would continue to use my mobile phone if it its prices increase somewhat

28 Questionnaire Examples, Questions, & Templates to Survey Your Clients

Published: May 15, 2023

The adage "the customer is always right" has received some pushback in recent years, but when it comes to conducting surveys , the phrase is worth a deeper look. In the past, representatives were tasked with solving client problems as they happened. Now, they have to be proactive by solving problems before they come up.

Salesforce found that 63% of customers expect companies to anticipate their needs before they ask for help. But how can a customer service team recognize these customer needs in advance and effectively solve them on a day-to-day basis?

A customer questionnaire is a tried-and-true method for collecting survey data to inform your customer service strategy . By hearing directly from the customer, you'll capture first-hand data about how well your service team meets their needs. In this article, you'll get free questionnaire templates and best practices on how to administer them for the most honest responses.

Table of Contents:

Questionnaire Definition

Survey vs. questionnaire, questionnaire templates.

• Questionnaire Examples

Questionnaire Design

Survey question examples.

• Examples of Good Survey Questions

How to Make a Questionnaire

A questionnaire is a research tool used to conduct surveys. It includes specific questions with the goal to understand a topic from the respondents' point of view. Questionnaires typically have closed-ended, open-ended, short-form, and long-form questions.

The questions should always stay as unbiased as possible. For instance, it's unwise to ask for feedback on a specific product or service that’s still in the ideation phase. To complete the questionnaire, the customer would have to imagine how they might experience the product or service rather than sharing their opinion about their actual experience with it.

Ask broad questions about the kinds of qualities and features your customers enjoy in your products or services and incorporate that feedback into new offerings your team is developing.

What makes a good questionnaire?

Define the goal, make it short and simple, use a mix of question types, proofread carefully, keep it consistent.

A good questionnaire should find what you need versus what you want. It should be valuable and give you a chance to understand the respondent’s point of view.

Make the purpose of your questionnaire clear. While it's tempting to ask a range of questions simultaneously, you'll get more valuable results if you stay specific to a set topic.

According to HubSpot research , 47% of those surveyed say their top reason for abandoning a survey is the time it takes to complete.

So, questionnaires should be concise and easy to finish. If you're looking for a respondent’s experience with your business, focus on the most important questions.

5 Free Customer Satisfaction Survey Templates

Easily measure customer satisfaction and begin to improve your customer experience.

• Net Promoter Score
• Customer Effort Score

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5 Customer Survey Templates

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Your questionnaire should include a combination of question types, like open-ended, long-form, or short-ended questions.

Open-ended questions give users a chance to share their own answers. But closed-ended questions are more efficient and easy to quantify, with specific answer choices.

If you're not sure which question types are best, read here for more survey question examples .

While it's important to check spelling and grammar, there are two other things you'll want to check for a great questionnaire.

First, edit for clarity. Jargon, technical terms, and brand-specific language can be confusing for respondents. Next, check for leading questions. These questions can produce biased results that will be less useful to your team.

Consistency makes it easier for respondents to quickly complete your questionnaire. This is because it makes the questions less confusing. It can also reduce bias.

Being consistent is also helpful for analyzing questionnaire data because it makes it easier to compare results. With this in mind, keep response scales, question types, and formatting consistent.

In-Depth Interviews vs. Questionnaire

Questionnaires can be a more feasible and efficient research method than in-depth interviews. They are a lot cheaper to conduct. That’s because in-depth interviews can require you to compensate the interviewees for their time and give accommodations and travel reimbursement.

Questionnaires also save time for both parties. Customers can quickly complete them on their own time, and employees of your company don't have to spend time conducting the interviews. They can capture a larger audience than in-depth interviews, making them much more cost-effective.

It would be impossible for a large company to interview tens of thousands of customers in person. The same company could potentially get feedback from its entire customer base using an online questionnaire.

When considering your current products and services (as well as ideas for new products and services), it's essential to get the feedback of existing and potential customers. They are the ones who have a say in purchasing decisions.

A questionnaire is a tool that’s used to conduct a survey. A survey is the process of gathering, sampling, analyzing, and interpreting data from a group of people.

The confusion between these terms most likely stems from the fact that questionnaires and data analysis were treated as very separate processes before the Internet became popular. Questionnaires used to be completed on paper, and data analysis occurred later as a separate process. Nowadays, these processes are typically combined since online survey tools allow questionnaire responses to be analyzed and aggregated all in one step.

But questionnaires can still be used for reasons other than data analysis. Job applications and medical history forms are examples of questionnaires that have no intention of being statistically analyzed. The key difference between questionnaires and surveys is that they can exist together or separately.

Below are some of the best free questionnaire templates you can download to gather data that informs your next product or service offering.

What makes a good survey question?

Have a goal in mind, draft clear and distinct answers and questions, ask one question at a time, check for bias and sensitivity, include follow-up questions.

To make a good survey question, you have to choose the right type of questions to use. Include concise, clear, and appropriate questions with answer choices that won’t confuse the respondent and will clearly offer data on their experience.

Good survey questions can give a business good data to examine. Here are some more tips to follow as you draft your survey questions.

To make a good survey, consider what you are trying to learn from it. Understanding why you need to do a survey will help you create clear and concise questions that you need to ask to meet your goal. The more your questions focus on one or two objectives, the better your data will be.

You have a goal in mind for your survey. Now you have to write the questions and answers depending on the form you’re using.

For instance, if you’re using ranks or multiple-choice in your survey, be clear. Here are examples of good and poor multiple-choice answers:

Poor Survey Question and Answer Example

California:

• Contains the tallest mountain in the United States.
• Has an eagle on its state flag.
• Is the second-largest state in terms of area.
• Was the location of the Gold Rush of 1849.

Good Survey Question and Answer Example

What is the main reason so many people moved to California in 1849?

• California's land was fertile, plentiful, and inexpensive.
• The discovery of gold in central California.
• The East was preparing for a civil war.
• They wanted to establish religious settlements.

In the poor example, the question may confuse the respondent because it's not clear what is being asked or how the answers relate to the question. The survey didn’t fully explain the question, and the options are also confusing.

In the good example above, the question and answer choices are clear and easy to understand.

Always make sure answers and questions are clear and distinct to create a good experience for the respondent. This will offer your team the best outcomes from your survey.

It's surprisingly easy to combine multiple questions into one. They even have a name — they’re called "double-barreled" questions. But a good survey asks one question at a time.

For example, a survey question could read, "What is your favorite sneaker and clothing apparel brand?" This is bad because you’re asking two questions at once.

By asking two questions simultaneously, you may confuse your respondents and get unclear answers. Instead, each question should focus on getting specific pieces of information.

For example, ask, "What is your favorite sneaker brand?" then, "What is your favorite clothing apparel brand?" By separating the questions, you allow your respondents to give separate and precise answers.

Biased questions can lead a respondent toward a specific response. They can also be vague or unclear. Sensitive questions such as age, religion, or marital status can be helpful for demographics. These questions can also be uncomfortable for people to answer.

There are a few ways to create a positive experience with your survey questions.

First, think about question placement. Sensitive questions that appear in context with other survey questions can help people understand why you are asking. This can make them feel more comfortable responding.

Next, check your survey for leading questions, assumptions, and double-barreled questions. You want to make sure that your survey is neutral and free of bias.

Asking more than one survey question about an area of interest can make a survey easier to understand and complete. It also helps you collect more in-depth insights from your respondents.

1. Free HubSpot Questionnaire Template

HubSpot offers a variety of free customer surveys and questionnaire templates to analyze and measure customer experience. Choose from five templates: net promoter score, customer satisfaction, customer effort, open-ended questions, and long-form customer surveys.

2. Client Questionnaire Template

It's a good idea to gauge your clients' experiences with your business to uncover opportunities to improve your offerings. That will, in turn, better suit their lifestyles. You don't have to wait for an entire year to pass before polling your customer base about their experience either. A simple client questionnaire, like the one below, can be administered as a micro survey several times throughout the year. These types of quick survey questions work well to retarget your existing customers through social media polls and paid interactive ads.

1. How much time do you spend using [product or service]?

• Less than a minute
• About 1 - 2 minutes
• Between 2 and 5 minutes
• More than 5 minutes

2. In the last month, what has been your biggest pain point?

• Finding enough time for important tasks
• Delegating work
• Having enough to do

3. What's your biggest priority right now?

• Finding a faster way to work
• Problem-solving
• Staff development

3. Website Questionnaire Template

Whether you just launched a brand new website or you're gathering data points to inform a redesign, you'll find customer feedback to be essential in both processes. A website questionnaire template will come in handy to collect this information using an unbiased method.

1. How many times have you visited [website] in the past month?

• More than once

2. What is the primary reason for your visit to [website]?

• To make a purchase
• To find more information before making a purchase in-store
• To contact customer service

3. Are you able to find what you're looking for on the website homepage?

4. Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire Template

If you've never surveyed your customers and are looking for a template to get started, this one includes some basic customer satisfaction questions. These will apply to just about any customer your business serves.

1. How likely are you to recommend us to family, friends, or colleagues?

• Extremely unlikely
• Somewhat unlikely
• Somewhat likely
• Extremely likely

2. How satisfied were you with your experience?

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

3. Rank the following items in terms of their priority to your purchasing process.

• Helpful staff
• Quality of product
• Price of product
• Ease of purchase
• Proximity of store
• Online accessibility
• Current need
• Appearance of product

4. Who did you purchase these products for?

• Family member
• On behalf of a business

5. Please rate our staff on the following terms:

• Friendly __ __ __ __ __ Hostile
• Helpful __ __ __ __ __ Useless
• Knowledgeable __ __ __ __ __ Inexperienced
• Professional __ __ __ __ __ Inappropriate

6. Would you purchase from our company again?

7. How can we improve your experience for the future?

________________________________.

5. Customer Effort Score Questionnaire Template

The following template gives an example of a brief customer effort score (CES) questionnaire. This free template works well for new customers to measure their initial reaction to your business.

1. What was the ease of your experience with our company?

• Extremely difficult
• Somewhat difficult
• Somewhat easy
• Extremely easy

2. The company did everything it could to make my process as easy as possible.

• Strongly disagree
• Somewhat disagree
• Somewhat agree
• Strongly agree

3. On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being "extremely quickly" and 10 being "extremely slowly"), how fast were you able to solve your problem?

4. How much effort did you have to put forth while working with our company?

• Much more than expected
• Somewhat more than expected
• As much as expected
• Somewhat less than expected
• Much less than expected

6. Demographic Questionnaire Template

Here's a template for surveying customers to learn more about their demographic background. You could substantiate the analysis of this questionnaire by corroborating the data with other information from your web analytics, internal customer data, and industry data.

1. How would you describe your employment status?

• Employed full-time
• Employed part-time
• Freelance/contract employee
• Self-employed

2. How many employees work at your company?

3. How would you classify your role?

• Individual Contributor

4. How would you classify your industry?

• Technology/software
• Hospitality/dining
• Entertainment

Below, we have curated a list of questionnaire examples that do a great job of gathering valuable qualitative and quantitative data.

4 Questionnaire Examples

1. customer satisfaction questions.

Image Source

Rating Scale

Rating scale questions offer a scale of numbers and ask respondents to rate topics based on the sentiments assigned to that scale. This is effective when assessing customer satisfaction.

Rating scale survey question examples : "Rate your level of satisfaction with the customer service you received today on a scale of 1-10."

Yes or no survey questions are a type of dichotomous question. These are questions that only offer two possible responses. They’re useful because they’re quick to answer and can help with customer segmentation.

Yes or no survey questions example : "Have you ever used HubSpot before?"

Likert Scale

Likert scale questions assess whether a respondent agrees with the statement, as well as the extent to which they agree or disagree.

These questions typically offer five or seven responses, with sentiments ranging from items such as "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." Check out this post to learn more about the Likert scale .

Likert scale survey question examples : “How satisfied are you with the service from [brand]?”

Open-ended questions ask a broader question or offer a chance to elaborate on a response to a close-ended question. They're accompanied by a text box that leaves room for respondents to write freely. This is particularly important when asking customers to expand on an experience or recommendation.

Open-ended survey question examples : "What are your personal goals for using HubSpot? Please describe."

Matrix Table

A matrix table is usually a group of multiple-choice questions grouped in a table. Choices for these survey questions are usually organized in a scale. This makes it easier to understand the relationships between different survey responses.

Matrix table survey question examples : "Rate your level of agreement with the following statements about HubSpot on a scale of 1-5."

Rank Order Scaling

These questions ask respondents to rank a set of terms by order of preference or importance. This is useful for understanding customer priorities.

Rank order scaling examples : "Rank the following factors in order of importance when choosing a new job."

Semantic Differential Scale

This scale features pairs of opposite adjectives that respondents use for rating, usually for a feature or experience. This type of question makes it easier to understand customer attitudes and beliefs.

Semantic differential scale question examples : "Rate your overall impression of this brand as friendly vs. unfriendly, innovative vs. traditional, and boring vs. exciting."

Side-By-Side Matrix

This matrix table format includes two sets of questions horizontally for easy comparison. This format can help with customer gap analysis.

Side-by-side matrix question examples : "Rate your level of satisfaction with HubSpot's customer support compared to its ease of use."

Stapel Scale

The Stapel rating scale offers a single adjective or idea for rating. It uses a numerical scale with a zero point in the middle. This survey question type helps with in-depth analysis.

Stapel scale survey question examples : "Rate your overall experience with this product as +5 (excellent) to -5 (terrible)."

Constant Sum Survey Questions

In this question format, people distribute points to different choices based on the perceived importance of each point. This kind of question is often used in market research and can help your team better understand customer choices .

Constant sum survey question examples : "What is your budget for the following marketing expenses: Paid campaigns, Events, Freelancers, Agencies, Research."

Image Choice

This survey question type shows several images. Then, it asks the respondent to choose the image that best matches their response to the question. These questions are useful for understanding your customers’ design preferences.

Image choice survey questions example : "Which of these three images best represents your brand voice?"

Choice Model

This survey question offers a hypothetical scenario, then the respondent must choose from the presented options. It's a useful type of question when you are refining a product or strategy.

Choice model survey questions example : "Which of these three deals would be most appealing to you?"

Click Map Questions

Click map questions offer an image click on specific areas of the image in response to a question. This question uses data visualization to learn about customer preferences for design and user experience.

Click map question examples : "Click on the section of the website where you would expect to find pricing information."

Data Upload

This survey question example asks the respondent to upload a file or document in response to a question. This type of survey question can help your team collect data and context that might be tough to collect otherwise.

Data upload question examples : "Please upload a screenshot of the error you encountered during your purchase."

Benchmarkable Questions

This question type asks a respondent to compare their answers to a group or benchmark. These questions can be useful if you're trying to compare buyer personas or other customer groups.

Benchmarkable survey questions example : "Compare your company's marketing budget to other companies in your industry."

Good Survey Questions

• What is your favorite product?
• Why did you purchase this product?
• How satisfied are you with [product]?
• Would you recommend [product] to a friend?
• Would you recommend [company name] to a friend?
• If you could change one thing about [product], what would it be?
• Which other options were you considering before [product or company name]?
• Did [product] help you accomplish your goal?
• How would you feel if we did not offer this product, feature, or service?
• What would you miss the most if you couldn't use your favorite product from us?
• What is one word that best describes your experience using our product?
• What's the primary reason for canceling your account?
• How satisfied are you with our customer support?
• Did we answer all of your questions and concerns?
• How can we be more helpful?
• What additional features would you like to see in this product?
• Are we meeting your expectations?
• How satisfied are you with your experience?

1. "What is your favorite product?"

This question is a great starter for your survey. Most companies want to know what their most popular products are, and this question cuts right to the point.

It's important to note that this question gives you the customer's perspective, not empirical evidence. You should compare the results to your inventory to see if your customers' answers match your actual sales. You may be surprised to find your customers' "favorite" product isn't the highest-selling one.

2. "Why did you purchase this product?"

Once you know their favorite product, you need to understand why they like it so much. The qualitative data will help your marketing and sales teams attract and engage customers. They'll know which features to advertise most and can seek out new leads similar to your existing customers.

3. "How satisfied are you with [product]?"

When you have a product that isn't selling, you can ask this question to see why customers are unhappy with it. If the reviews are poor, you'll know that the product needs reworking, and you can send it back to product management for improvement. Or, if these results are positive, they may have something to do with your marketing or sales techniques. You can then gather more info during the questionnaire and restrategize your campaigns based on your findings.

4. "Would you recommend [product] to a friend?"

This is a classic survey question used with most NPS® surveys. It asks the customer if they would recommend your product to one of their peers. This is extremely important because most people trust customer referrals more than traditional advertising. So, if your customers are willing to recommend your products, you'll have an easier time acquiring new leads.

5. "Would you recommend [company name] to a friend?"

Similar to the question above, this one asks the customer to consider your business as a whole and not just your product. This gives you insight into your brand's reputation and shows how customers feel about your company's actions. Even if you have an excellent product, your brand's reputation may be the cause of customer churn . Your marketing team should pay close attention to this question to see how they can improve the customer experience .

6. "If you could change one thing about [product], what would it be?"

This is a good question to ask your most loyal customers or ones that have recently churned. For loyal customers, you want to keep adding value to their experience. Asking how your product can improve helps your development team find flaws and increases your chances of retaining a valuable customer segment.

For customers that have recently churned, this question gives insight into how you can retain future users that are unhappy with your product or service. By giving these customers a space to voice their criticisms, you can either reach out and offer solutions or relay feedback for consideration.

7. "Which other options were you considering before [product or company name]?"

If you're operating in a competitive industry, customers will have more than one choice when considering your brand. And if you sell variations of your product or produce new models periodically, customers may prefer one version over another.

For this question, you should offer answers to choose from in a multiple-selection format. This will limit the types of responses you'll receive and help you get the exact information you need.

8. "Did [product] help you accomplish your goal?"

The purpose of any product or service is to help customers reach a goal. So, you should be direct and ask them if your company steered them toward success. After all, customer success is an excellent retention tool. If customers are succeeding with your product, they're more likely to stay loyal to your brand.

9. "How would you feel if we did not offer this product, feature, or service?"

Thinking about discontinuing a product? This question can help you decide whether or not a specific product, service, or feature will be missed if you were to remove it.

Even if you know that a product or service isn't worth offering, it's important to ask this question anyway because there may be a certain aspect of the product that your customers like. They'll be delighted if you can integrate that feature into a new product or service.

10. "If you couldn't use your favorite product from us, what would you miss the most about it?"

This question pairs well with the one above because it frames the customer's favorite product from a different point of view. Instead of describing why they love a particular product, the customer can explain what they'd be missing if they didn't have it at all. This type of question uncovers "fear of loss," which can be a very different motivating factor than "hope for gain."

11. "What word best describes your experience using our product?"

Your marketing team will love this question. A single word or a short phrase can easily sum up your customers’ emotions when they experience your company, product, or brand. Those emotions can be translated into relatable marketing campaigns that use your customers’ exact language.

If the responses reveal negative emotions, it's likely that your entire customer service team can relate to that pain point. Rather than calling it "a bug in the system," you can describe the problem as a "frustrating roadblock" to keep their experience at the forefront of the solution.

12. "What's the primary reason for canceling your account?"

Finding out why customers are unhappy with your product or service is key to decreasing your churn rate . If you don't understand why people leave your brand, it's hard to make effective changes to prevent future turnover. Or worse, you might alter your product or service in a way that increases your churn rate, causing you to lose customers who were once loyal supporters.

13. "How satisfied are you with our customer support?"

It's worth asking customers how happy they are with your support or service team. After all, an excellent product doesn't always guarantee that customers will stay loyal to your brand. Research shows that one in six customers will leave a brand they love after just one poor service experience.

14. "Did we answer all of your questions and concerns?"

This is a good question to ask after a service experience. It shows how thorough your support team is and whether they're prioritizing speed too much over quality. If customers still have questions and concerns after a service interaction, your support team is focusing too much on closing tickets and not enough on meeting customer needs .

15. "How can we be more helpful?"

Sometimes it's easier to be direct and simply ask customers what else you can do to help them. This shows a genuine interest in your buyers' goals which helps your brand foster meaningful relationships with its customer base. The more you can show that you sincerely care about your customers' problems, the more they'll open up to you and be honest about how you can help them.

16. What additional features would you like to see in this product?

With this question, your team can get inspiration for the company's next product launch. Think of the responses as a wish list from your customers. You can discover what features are most valuable to them and whether they already exist within a competitor's product.

Incorporating every feature suggestion is nearly impossible, but it's a convenient way to build a backlog of ideas that can inspire future product releases.

17. "Are we meeting your expectations?"

This is a really important question to ask because customers won't always tell you when they're unhappy with your service. Not every customer will ask to speak with a manager when they're unhappy with your business. In fact, most will quietly move on to a competitor rather than broadcast their unhappiness to your company. To prevent this type of customer churn, you need to be proactive and ask customers if your brand is meeting their expectations.

18. "How satisfied are you with your experience?"

This question asks the customer to summarize their experience with your business. It gives you a snapshot of how the customer is feeling in that moment and their perception of your brand. Asking this question at the right stage in the customer's journey can tell you a lot about what your company is doing well and where you can stand to improve.

Next, let's dig into some tips for creating your own questionnaire.

Start with templates as a foundation. Know your question types. Keep it brief when possible. Choose a simple visual design. Use a clear research process. Create questions with straightforward, unbiased language. Make sure every question is important. Ask one question at a time. Order your questions logically. Consider your target audience. Test your questionnaire.

1. Use questionnaire templates.

Rather than build a questionnaire from scratch, consider using questionnaire templates to get started. HubSpot's collection of customer-facing questionnaire templates can help you quickly build and send a questionnaire to your clients and analyze the results right on Google Drive.

Vrnda LeValley , customer training manager at HubSpot, recommends starting with an alignment question like, "Does this class meet your expectations?" because it gives more context to any positive or negative scores that follow. She continues, "If it didn't meet expectations, then there will potentially be negative responses across the board (as well as the reverse)."

3. Keep it brief, when possible.

Most questionnaires don't need to be longer than a page. For routine customer satisfaction surveys, it's unnecessary to ask 50 slightly varied questions about a customer's experience when those questions could be combined into 10 solid questions.

The shorter your questionnaire is, the more likely a customer will complete it. Plus a shorter questionnaire means less data for your team to collect and analyze. Based on the feedback, it will be a lot easier for you to get the information you need to make the necessary changes in your organization and products.

4. Choose a simple visual design.

There's no need to make your questionnaire a stunning work of art. As long as it's clear and concise, it will be attractive to customers. When asking questions that are important to furthering your company, it's best to keep things simple. Select a font that’s common and easy to read, like Helvetica or Arial. Use a text size that customers of all abilities can navigate.

A questionnaire is most effective when all the questions are visible on a single screen. The layout is important. If a questionnaire is even remotely difficult to navigate, your response rate could suffer. Make sure that buttons and checkboxes are easy to click and that questions are visible on both computer and mobile screens.

5. Use a clear research process.

Before planning questions for your questionnaire, you'll need to have a definite direction for it. A questionnaire is only effective if the results answer an overarching research question. After all, the research process is an important part of the survey, and a questionnaire is a tool that's used within the process.

In your research process, you should first come up with a research question. What are you trying to find out? What's the point of this questionnaire? Keep this in mind throughout the process.

After coming up with a research question, it's a good idea to have a hypothesis. What do you predict the results will be for your questionnaire? This can be structured in a simple "If … then …" format. A structured experiment — yes, your questionnaire is a type of experiment — will confirm that you're only collecting and analyzing data necessary to answer your research question. Then, you can move forward with your survey .

6. Create questions with straightforward, unbiased language.

When crafting your questions, it's important to structure them to get the point across. You don't want any confusion for your customers because this may influence their answers. Instead, use clear language. Don't use unnecessary jargon, and use simple terms in favor of longer-winded ones.

You may risk the reliability of your data if you try to combine two questions. Rather than asking, "How was your experience shopping with us, and would you recommend us to others?" separate it into two separate questions. Customers will be clear on your question and choose a response most appropriate for each one.

You should always keep the language in your questions unbiased. You never want to sway customers one way or another because this will cause your data to be skewed. Instead of asking, "Some might say that we create the best software products in the world. Would you agree or disagree?" it may be better to ask, "How would you rate our software products on a scale of 1 to 10?" This removes any bias and confirms that all the responses are valid.

7. Ask only the most important questions.

When creating your questionnaire, keep in mind that time is one of the most valuable commodities for customers. Most aren't going to sit through a 50-question survey, especially when they're being asked about products or services they didn't use. Even if they do complete it, most of these will be half-hearted responses from fatigued customers who simply want to be finished with it.

If your questionnaire has five or 55 questions, make sure each has a specific purpose. Individually, they should be aimed at collecting certain pieces of information that reveal new insights into different aspects of your business. If your questions are irrelevant or seem out of place, your customers will be easily derailed by the survey. And, once the customer has lost interest, it'll be difficult to regain their focus.

8. Ask one question at a time.

Since every question has a purpose, ask them one at a time. This lets the customer focus and encourages them to share a thoughtful response. This is particularly important for open-ended questions where customers need to describe an experience or opinion.

By grouping questions together, you risk overwhelming busy customers who don't have time for a long survey. They may think you're asking them too much, or they might see your questionnaire as a daunting task. You want your survey to appear as painless as possible. Keeping your questions separated will make it more user-friendly.

9. Order your questions logically.

A good questionnaire is like a good book. The beginning questions should lay the framework, the middle ones should cut to the core issues, and the final questions should tie up all loose ends. This flow keeps customers engaged throughout the entire survey.

When creating your questionnaire, start with the most basic questions about demographics. You can use this information to segment your customer base and create different buyer personas.

Next, add in your product and services questions. These are the ones that offer insights into common customer roadblocks and where you can improve your business's offerings. Questions like these guide your product development and marketing teams looking for new ways to enhance the customer experience.

Finally, you should conclude your questionnaire with open-ended questions to understand the customer journey. These questions let customers voice their opinions and point out specific experiences they've had with your brand.

10. Consider your target audience.

Whenever you collect customer feedback, you need to keep in mind the goals and needs of your target audience. After all, the participants in this questionnaire are your active customers. Your questions should be geared toward the interests and experiences they've already had with your company.

You can even create multiple surveys that target different buyer personas. For example, if you have a subscription-based pricing model, you can personalize your questionnaire for each type of subscription your company offers.

11. Test your questionnaire.

Once your questionnaire is complete, it's important to test it. If you don't, you may end up asking the wrong questions and collecting irrelevant or inaccurate information. Start by giving your employees the questionnaire to test, then send it to small groups of customers and analyze the results. If you're gathering the data you're looking for, then you should release the questionnaire to all of your customers.

How Questionnaires Can Benefit Your Customer Service Strategy

Whether you have one customer or 1000 customers, their opinions matter when it comes to the success of your business. Their satisfaction with your offerings can reveal how well or how poorly your customer service strategy and business are meeting their needs. A questionnaire is one of the most powerful, cost-effective tools to uncover what your customers think about your business. When analyzed properly, it can inform your product and service launches.

Use the free questionnaire templates, examples, and best practices in this guide to conduct your next customer feedback survey.

Now that you know the slight difference between a survey and a questionnaire, it’s time to put it into practice with your products or services. Remember, a good survey and questionnaire always start with a purpose. But, a great survey and questionnaire give data that you can use to help companies increase the way customers respond to their products or services because of the questions.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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