Questionnaires play an essential role in research. They allow us to gather data that can reveal the hidden truth about individuals. However, they are not without limitations.
Questions can be self-administered, with participants answering all questions themselves, or researcher-administered, where the research team interviews a sample of respondents by phone, in-person, or online. Self-administered questionnaires tend to have lower response rates than researcher-administered questionnaires, due in part to the impersonal nature of mailed paper surveys and automated telephone menu systems.
Web-based questionnaires offer a number of advantages, like broader reach over traditional phone or mail-based surveys, and the ability to engage a global audience. However, they do pose several challenges, such as the difficulty of reaching a demographically accurate sample. They can also be affected by issues like screen sizes and platforms for hardware, operating systems, and browser settings.
When designing a survey, it is essential to consider the research goals and objectives. When you’re creating questions, it’s essential to know the target audience. For example, you need to know whether they are able to comprehend and respond to the questions or whether they have time to complete a long questionnaire.
It is also crucial to test new questionnaires prior to their release with qualitative methods such as focus groups and cognitive interviews internet-based.org/internet-polls or pre-testing (often using an opt-in questionnaire) to ensure they are working as intended. The questionnaires are subject to “question-order effects” where the answers to earlier questions may influence the answers to subsequent ones.