Questionnaires play an important role in the data collection methodology, allowing responses to be recorded in a consistent manner to facilitate data analysis.

As a market research company, The Outbox Company really cares about questionnaire design. We always try to send respondents the most concise, easy to understand and coherent questionnaire to get the expected results.

Designing a questionnaire is not easy because you need insight into the theme and the subject you will be surveying. When designing the questionnaire, Outbox sees that we may encounter some problems as follows:

Too many questions about the personal information

Many customer relationship questionnaires begin with many personal questions (full name, title, address, phone number, email, etc.). Existing customers may wonder why you don’t have the information yet.

Not enough options

Some of the questions in the survey lack options for interviewers to choose. As a result, interviewees may feel uncertain about their responses, leading to incorrect response data.

Inconsistent measurement scale

If questionnaire designers use different scales for each question, the consistency of the information will lose. Make sure you use the same measurement scale in your questionnaire.

Ambiguous and highly generalizable questions

These questions will make respondents uncertain. Therefore, they may provide incorrect answers. Besides, if you use acronyms or industry jargon that interviewers may not know or confuse, this will result in data inconsistencies.

Unnecessary questions

The survey which contains many unnecessary questions and does not bring value can be confusing.

Too many open-ended questions

Many respondents will not write down answers to more than just a few open-ended questions. Remember to use from three to four open-ended questions maximum.

Do not test the questionnaire

The process of filtering questions from in-depth interviews will usually make researchers subjective and believe that the questionnaire is ready to be handed to consumers. However, they need to test the questionnaire in a small group before surveying the entire samples.

Long questionnaire

Questionnaires that are too long and too complex will frustrate respondents, leading to skipping questions or refusing to answer the questions.