Whether you are studying social sciences, medicine, IT, or some other field, data collection is the most critical part of your research. One method through which you can collect a credible form of data is a questionnaire. But how do you design a questionnaire?

We all had hundreds of questions while developing a simple questionnaire for our thesis, right? This blog will answer all questions; simple or complex, related to questionnaires and how they can be formed to suit your research. Also, the answer to how you can ensure validity of your formed questionnaire, this blog will provide detailed information.

What Are Questionnaires?

In simple words, questionnaires are widely used tools in research for collecting data, in the form of closed or open-ended questions. The design of a questionnaire is critical to ensure its reliability and validity in academia. In the process of formation of a questionnaire, the items can be developed for some new variables or they can be adapted vs adopted.

Developed Questionnaires

If you are lucky enough to introduce a new novel variable to the field, you are expected to develop its own set of questions to measure the variable. This helps form a developed questionnaire. This is because, for a new variable there is no pre-existing tool to measure it.

In this process, it is very important for the researcher to ensure that the objectives are well-defined to segregate the constructs in the research. Later on, for each construct/variable, there is a need to form items that will help to measure them. This can be done by taking an expert opinion, by reading literature or by conducting focus groups. It will help in giving a set of questions that need to be asked.

Afterwards, a pilot study can be conducted to test the questionnaire items. This pilot style can include a small sample size to test the scales and refine the items of the study. After collecting data from the pilot study, the Cronbach alpha can be used to delete any item that is not reliable or is impacting the internal consistency.

Adapted Questionnaires

While pre-existing questionnaires pose high validity and reliability, they might need some adjustments if applied to a different context, culture, or population. For instance, a questionnaire developed by a beauty industry study might not be directly applicable to a study in the fashion industry. Minor changes in the product feature or name might help build a well-suited questionnaire.

Adopted Questionnaires

In most cases, you can simply copy all the items from past questionnaires to test a new study. If you have already selected a base paper for your research, you can easily use the items of variables formed in that study. However, if your base paper does not have the specific variables, you can research the literature to find relevant scales that have been developed.

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

Not sure how to test whether your questionnaire is valid or not? There are two essential statistical techniques for evaluating questionnaire validity and structure. If you are using SPSS, AMOS, Smart PLS, or any other tool, you will find Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) which will confirm whether your questionnaire is valid or not.

EFA is an initial technique used to uncover the underlying factor structure of a set of questionnaire items. CFA is used to test whether a predefined factor structure fits the observed data. It is conducted after EFA to confirm the theoretical framework.

Both of these tests can be run using tools that Research Whales can help you crack easily. Contact us for more details.