A questionnaire template is a reliable tool in order to gather standardized data from large numbers of people. It provides you insight on your audience or customers. Questionnaires are usually used by the government to;
- Find out more information about geographic areas
- The lifestyles of its citizens
- Evaluates which programs get funded
Moreover, to run programs or fund certain initiatives, many government organizations depend on questionnaires. This is the best way to gather data in a statistical form.
The questionnaire contains a very concise, preplanned set of questions deigned in order to obtain certain information to meet a specific requirement for research information about a pertinent topic.
Furthermore, a business or an organization uses a questionnaire in order to find out more about their customers or other stakeholders. This is important to adequate audience research. This information is useful to know your audience better and plan communication with them.
Kinds of surveys that work best:
If you desire to collect unique and powerful information about an audience then a survey can assist you in tailoring your questions and gauging their reactions accordingly. The type of information you want to obtain assist you in determining the type of surveys you should put into motion. There are basically three types of surveys that are used for research purpose.
- Factual surveys: They are used to gather descriptive information like demographic information that is utilized by the government to gather data.
- Attitude surveys: They are often known as opinion polls used to collect and measure people’s attitudes and opinions.
- Explanatory surveys: To test theories and hypothesis and form new theories, this type of survey is used.
Most importantly, the kind of survey or questionnaire you select will be tailored to your project. You should offer multiple-choice questions in order to capture the attitudes of young voters across America. This allows them to emphasize their levels of interest and involvement in certain issues.
Moreover, to make data-driven generalizations regarding attitudes, opinions, and behaviors, the researchers also use questionnaires. You have to be very careful while selecting whom you will be surveying like your customers or donors. In order to be as accurate as possible, these carefully chosen samples should reflect the diversity of your base.
Some useful tips for designing your own questionnaire:
If you are going to design your own questionnaire then you must know some of the basics about survey design. The design of your survey and questionnaire will be based on the type of questions you will be asking your participants. Remember that a neat and clean document design is also essential for practical purposes. A disorganized survey can be difficult to read for both the participants and the researcher.
Researchers usually use two types of questionnaires;
- Closed or restricted form surveys: This kind of survey ask “yes” or “no” answers, or multiple choice-type questions. They are known for being fairly easy to interpret and summarize.
- An open or unrestricted survey: This is the second type of questionnaire that allows respondents to answer freely as they see fit.
Obtaining the answers and responses you require for your research:
There are two while conducting research either you can ask the participants to fill out the surveys themselves, or you can have the researchers interview participants over the phone or face-to-face. In case, if you ask the respondents fill out the questionnaire then you may have to incentivize filling it out and returning it. You can also say them that who returns their form by a certain date will get a chance to receive some rewards.
Postal questionnaires can be used. But, you have to ensure that you can count on the group returning their answers and to the researcher by a particular time and date. Telephone questionnaires, you can set up them to robocall. However, some people find them annoying, so they tend to be ineffective.
There are also some forms of surveys that will be done on the Internet. They also have a link where you have to email that particular survey. With the help of an Excel questionnaire template, you can keep this data tabulated in a structured way.
Another way to conduct surveys and questionnaires is through interview. The interviewer should ask the questions in a structured and formal way. Each participant has to be interviewed one at a time. This type of research is more advantageous because the interviewer can clarify any ambiguous-sounding questions. The interviewer also helps the respondent if he is confused in any way.
Factors that affect the response rate of your questionnaires:
You should keep the following factors in mind as you begin to fill out your survey or questionnaire templates;
- To optimize responses, you should keep it one page or less than ten questions.
- For a right or left-leaning ideology, if you are known as a political organization then the people more likely oppose your ideology and ignore your survey or skew it on purpose.
- Check whether the questions are too complex. If so, then simplify them to eliminate any ambiguities.
- Your questions should be well-stated so that the respondent will find them important. They are more likely to answer your questions if they feel that their opinion is truly needed and important.
- In relation to national and religious holidays, consider the timing of your mailing. Also, never deliver the survey to parents in the middle of summer vacation. This is because they are out of town and it will sit unopened.
- There is no need to overlap with publicly available information like demographic data. This data can be easily found in free government sources such as the census.
How to make a good questionnaire?
A good questionnaire identifies what you require versus what you desire. Consider the following in order to make a good questionnaire;
- Your questionnaire should be valuable. It comes from the respondent’s point of view.
- Make sure it is specific to the topic.
- It must have open-ended, long-form, or short-ended questions.
- It should be precise and simple while giving the respondent’s experience with your business.
What is the difference between in-depth interviews and questionnaire?
In comparison to in-depth interviews, questionnaires are more feasible and effective research method as well as cheaper to conduct. While, in-depth interviews give accommodations and travel reimbursement. Also, they need you to compensate the interviewees for their time.
Furthermore, questionnaires can be completed easily and quickly. Your employees don’t need to spend time conducting the interviews. For a larger company, it is impossible to conduct interview tens of thousands of customers in person. But, by using an online questionnaire, they get the feedback of entire customer. It is important to obtain the feedback of existing and potential customers while considering your current products and services.
What is the difference between survey and questionnaire?
Basically, to conduct a survey a questionnaire is used as a tool. A survey refers to the process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data from a number of people. Before the internet became popular, these terms were treated as very separate processes. The survey occurred as a separate process after the completion of the questionnaire.
Typically, these processes nowadays are combined. The main examples of questionnaires are job applications and medical history forms. They both have no intention of being statistically analyzed. However, questionnaires and surveys can exist together or separately which is the key difference between them.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, a questionnaire template is a powerful tool that helps you in eliciting the feelings, beliefs, perceptions, or attitudes of a group of individuals. It is the best way to gather valuable and previously unknown data. Your questionnaire should have a topic that the recipient will feel is important and has opinions on.
Faqs (Frequently Asked Questions)
The best layout for questionnaire consists of the following components;
1- The cover page
2- The instruction page
3- The proper questionnaire
4- The navigational path
5- Survey length
