Questionnaire Design

1. Questionnaire Design Data Collection Adapted from K Alpers, C Campese, P McKeown, V Bremer,VPrikazsky

2. What is a questionnaire? • A tool to • collect answers to questions • collect factual data • A series of written questions in a fixed, rational order

3. A well designed questionnaire • Gives accurate and relevant information to your research question • Minimises potential sources of bias As simple and focused as possible

4. How to reduce bias • Structured questionnaire • Ensure high response rate • Training of survey administrators

5. Advantages of questionnaires • Can reach a large number of people • Relatively easy and economic • Relate directly to study question • Provide quantifiable answers • Relatively easy to analyse

6. Disadvantages of questionnaires • Provide only limited insight into a problem • the range of possible responses is limited • the question maybe misleading • Varying response • Unclear question can lead to • misunderstanding • misinterpretation • Do not allow for mistakes • must be right from the beginning • missing data hard to chase

7. Types of Questionnaires • Interviewer-administered • face to face

8. Types of Questionnaires • Interviewer-administered • face to face • telephone

9. Types of Questionnaires • Interviewer-administered • face to face • telephone • Self-administered • by post

10. Types of Questionnaires • Interviewer-administered • face to face • telephone • Self-administered • by post • email/Internet

11. Self-administered questionnaire • Advantages • cheap and easy to administer • preserves confidentiality • completed at respondent's convenience • not influenced by interviewer

12. Self-administered questionnaire • Advantages • cheap and easy to administer • preserves confidentiality • completed at respondent's convenience • not influenced by interviewer • Disadvantages • low response • questions can be misunderstood • no control by interviewer • only literate persons • time delay (post) • e-mail/internet: need computer access/software

13. Interviewer-administered questionnaire • Advantages • participation of illiterate people • clarification of ambiguities • quick answers

14. Interviewer-administered questionnaire • Advantages • participation of illiterate people • clarification of ambiguities • quick answers • Disadvantages • interviewer bias • needs more staff resources • only short questionnaires possible • especially on telephone • difficult for sensitive issues

15. Before starting to design a questionnaire Confirm your research purpose • define objectives • define study questions Risk factors for being stung by jellyfish at PulauRedangOctober 2010 Research proposal Mat Selam, 7 October 2010

16. Study protocol and questionnaire questionnaire Studyprotocol Definition of objectives Design questions The question must answer your objectives The question collects appropriate information for analyses Control and reading List of variables to collect Pilot test Analysis plan

17. Use existing questionnaires • As a guide • Don´t need to re-invent the wheel • Have been tested • BUT: adapt to present situation!

18. Questionnaire needs to be adapted to study population • Know the respondents • occupation • sensitive issues • education • ethnic group • language

19. What makes a well designed questionnaire? • Good appearance (easy for the eye) • Short and simple • Relevant and logical ⇒ High response ⇒ Easier to collect to summarize to analyse

20. Basic Rules • On first page • Return address • Study title • On all pages • Identifyer • Page numbers • Numbered questions • Instructions (in bold or italic)

21. Structure of a questionnaire • Introduction • Identification • Instructions on how to answer • Questions • Conclusion

22. 1 - Introduction • Cover letter/ introduction • Who are you / you work for • Why are you investigating • Where did you obtain the respondent’s name • How and where can you be contacted • Guarantee of confidentiality • Time taken to complete the survey(be honest) ⇒ Usefulness of study should be clear to all respondents

23. Example of introduction • Good morning , My name is Mat SelamAwangJala, I work for …….. You may have been already informed that a survey on risk factors for being stung by a jellyfish will be done this week in PulauRedang. This study has been approved by the national ethical committee. Only anonymous data will be analysed. You have been randomly selected to participate in this study. Your participation is voluntary. The questionnaire will take about 10 minutes to answer.

24. 2 - Identification • Each questionnaire/interviewed person must be identified • Example : I_I I_I_I I_I_I interviewer N° district N° person N° • Demographic data : age, sex … • Identifiers kept separately from names (anonymous) • 007 • 017

25. 3 - Instructions • Give clear instructions about how to answer the questions • Use different fonts (e.g. italics) if necessary • Give instruction which questions can be skipped -> where to jump to

26. Content of questions • Clear focus on research question • avoid sidetracking • avoid unnecessary information

27. Questionorder • Decide on the order of items/questions • easy  difficult • general  particular • factual  abstract • Group questions by topic • Be aware of ordering effects • Don’t put the most important items last • Where to place sensitive questions?

28. Starting questions • “Door-opener” • Simple • Closed format • Relevant to main subject • Non-offending • Neither demographic nor personal questions

29. Format of questions • Adjust to responding audience • professionals vs. public • middle class vs. prisoners • Keep sentences simple and short • Define key words (“fully vaccinated”) • Remember options • “don’t know” • “don’t want to answer”

30. Format of questions 7 - Do you like to go swimming and do you mind to be stung by jellyfish?  Yes  No • Ask for one information at a time • Answer options • Mutually exclusive and exhaustive • Vertical order of answer options

31. Be accurate 8 – What is the jellyfish situation?  Good  Bad Versus 8 - How often did you see jellyfish during the last week?  Once  Twice  Three times or more  Never • Don´t know

32. Be appropriate 9 – Are jellyfishes useless nuisance? Yes No versus 9 - How often have you been stung by jellyfish? Once a day or more Once a week Less than once a week Don´t know

33. Be objective 10 - Do you agree that jellyfish are annoying? Yes No versus 10 - According to you, the presence of jellyfish in PulauRedang is… not at all a public health problem not a major public health problem a potential public health problem an important public health problem  no opinion/don´t know

34. Be simple 11- Did you see more than an average of 33 jellyfish/m2 salt water surface on more than 3 occasions that you went swimming in the morning last week?  Yes  No versus 11- Have you seen jellyfish on more than 3 mornings last week?  Yes  No  Don´t know

35. Two main question formats • Closed format  forced choice Yes  Always  No  Sometimes  Don’t know  Never  • Open format  free text 12 – What did you do to avoid being stung by jellyfish? Please describe :__________________________________________________________________________________

36. Advantages of open questions • not directive • detailed and unexpected answers possible • allow exploration of issues to generate hypotheses • useful for exploring knowledge and attitudes • qualitative research • focus groups

37. Disadvantages of open questions • interviewer bias • time-consuming • coding problems • difficult to analyse • difficult to compare groups

38. Advantages of closed questions • Straightforward response • Simple • Quick • Less discrimination against less verbally expressive people • Easy to code, record, analyse • Easy to compare • Easy to report

39. Disadvantages of closed questions • restricted number of possible answers • Possible loss of additional information Compromise • insert field “others, if yes specify : __________”

40. Examples for closed questions 2 - What is your age in years? ___ years 3 - How long have you stayed at PulauRedang? ___ days 4 - What is your sex (gender)?  Male Female

41. Closed questions: Checklist 14 - Which of the following beaches have you visited during your stay in Trengganu? • BatuBurok • Redang • Penantian • Marang

42. Rating scale 15 – How often did you see jellyfish during the past weeks? Always Sometimes Seldom Never Mornings     Lunchtime     Evenings    

43. Semantic Rating scale Numerical 16 - How severe was your pain after you were stung? (please circle) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Not painful at all Very painful Analogue 17- How severe is your pain (put the tick on the line) 0 10

44. Likert Scale • RensisLikert, 1903-1981 • Psychometric scale • Five (or more) ordered response levels 18 – Jellyfish also have the right to swim in the Mediterranean sea • strongly disagree • disagree • neither agree or disagree • Agree • Strongly agree

45. Problems and pitfalls • Avoid questions that ask two things at once - you won’t know which part people are answering: 19 - Have you seen or been stung by jellyfish? • Ambiguity..... 20 - Do you swim a lot?

46. Problems and pitfalls • Avoid jargon/abbreviations/slang 21- Should jellyfish victims receive a PEP? (post exposure prophylaxis) • Avoid not mutually exclusive options 22 - What is your age ? 16-20  20-25  25-30  35-40

47. Problems and pitfalls • Avoid leading questions 23 - Do you think we should forbid people to go swimming in the mornings? • Avoid making the questionnaire too long • Typographical / spelling errors

48. Coding • Answers can be pre-coded • Quicker and easier data entry • Examples: Male  1 Ill  1 Female  0 Not ill  0 Don’t know  9 Don’t know  9 BatuBurok1 CahayaBulan2 TelukCempedak3 Marang4

49. 5 - Conclusion • Don’t forget to thank the respondents • Tell them when the results will be available and where

50. Example of conclusion In some investigations you might want to add: This is the end of the interview. Thanks for answering this questionnaire. The result of this study will be available on the website epiet.org in six months. Any others questions you wish to ask ? We are still in a very early phase of our investigation. Would you agree to be contacted again in case further questions arise?