Writing questions

Planning is an essential aspect of designing a questionnaire. Planning will ensure your survey yields information that is both reliable and relevant to the task. Getting the questions right is the key to a good questionnaire and collecting useful information.

Questions included in the survey must be relevant. A few well worded questions are a lot more useful than a long list of poorly-worded questions.

Here are some tips on writing questions:

• Questions must be easy to understand. If people don't understand your questions, you'll find that they will not give the answers you want.
• Think carefully about the wording of each question. This will ensure the respondents interpret the questions the way you intend.
• Always test your questions on a friend or family member first. This will help identify questions that are poorly written.
• Think carefully about the layout of the questionnaire. You must make sure it is easy to complete.