Introduction
According to Babbie (2009), surveys originate from ancient times in Egypt. Egyptian rulers used surveys during the time of Christ through census. Today, survey research helps to collect information for survey report.
Survey, in business research, helps the business person know his target market, understand and meet the customers’ needs. Surveys also help in getting feedback from the customers concerning the products or services that a business entity offers. According to Babbie (2009), research helps to explore topics, describe situations and explain an occurrence or situation.
How to construct a questionnaire
Questionnaires help in finding useful information that could help in a research project. They help in collecting data and bringing out varied points of view. Babbie (2009), states that the layout and format that one chooses to use in a questionnaire are of immense importance in relation to the information he wants to get and analyse in the business research.
A questionnaire should not make the respondent miss or misinterpret the question since this will lead to a wrong response. The wording used in a questionnaire should be able to encourage quick understanding and correct response. Difficult questionnaires could be thrown aware or ignored by the respondent. The questions in a questionnaire should be well spread out to ensure that they appear in an organized manner.
Organization helps the respondent to have an easy way of answering questions and giving a proper response to the questions. This information will also help the researcher create a well organized methodology that will help others understand the research well.
According to Babbie (2009), the questions should not be clustered. The use of abbreviations and incorporation of several questions in a single line is not advisable in a questionnaire. This is because some respondents might misinterpret the abbreviation and give a wrong answer to the question.
Combining several questions to form one long question will make the respondent demoralized. This is because; people prefer answering many short questions to few long questions. This move could make the respondent give up on answering the questions or give wrong answers. Long questions are difficult for the respondent to understand. The processing of these clustered questions during data analysis is also a tough task for the interviewer.
The way the researcher phrases his questions in the questionnaire could impact positively or negatively to the research project. A questionnaire that has well organized questions, for instance, will make it easy for the respondent to give correct answers. A questionnaire with complicated phrases is difficult for the respondent to understand.
The questionnaire, therefore, should include direct, well-structured questions that help to get facts and not confuse the respondent. Straight-forward questions help the respondents to give correct answers that will make it easy for the researcher to analyse and process.
According to Babbie (2009), response options should also be well outlined in the questionnaire. The researcher could choose to have open-ended questions (for instance questions that require the respondent to write down the answer in a sentence form) and close ended-questions (in this case the respondent picks an answer from the choices given).
Close ended questions are always a guideline for the interviewer to support his research project. In some cases, the choices given could be; yes, no or maybe. The questions, in this case, are always direct and the information given matches the hypothesis that the researcher has included in his research.
Close-ended questions use boxes to give the choices that bring out required answers. One can approximate the sizes of the boxes that are to be incorporated by the use of brackets. One can then go ahead to create the boxes using Microsoft word processor. A researcher could use the response options to make the respondent choose answers that support his research argument. This could be done by phrasing the questions in a manner that the respondent chooses the answers that the researcher wants.
According to Babbie (2009), the sequence of questions is a vital consideration in writing a questionnaire. The questions should be arranged from the simplest to the difficult one. This arrangement helps the respondent to be attentive in answering the questions. This is because the respondent finds it easy to answer subsequent questions after getting the first one correct. This will encourage him to finish the remaining questions.
Difficult questions, at the beginning of the questionnaire, could make the respondent abandon the questionnaire. The questions in the questionnaire should also be properly arranged. There should be a systematic flow of questions to ensure collection of correct information. The first question should be related to the second. This arrangement helps the respondent use the first question to answer the next.
The questionnaire should start by an introduction statement. In the introduction, the researcher appreciates the willingness by the respondent to help in the research by answering the questionnaire. The researcher further states that the questionnaire helps to answer the business research topic presented. This helps in the initiating of the respondent into the questionnaire and makes them feel appreciated.
Demographic questions help the researcher understand the respondent even without knowing his name. These questions help the researcher to know how the responses given differ among the various categories of people. This approach helps in making the questionnaire less harsh and chaotic.
They also help prepare the respondent for the rest of the questions. Demographic questions could range from the age of the respondent, ethnic orientation, profession or academic level. In most cases, the respondent does not give his name, and if he does, it is confidential and hence the name could be changed or omitted when compiling the research report.
Different theories can be used to determine a research topic. The use of theories helps the researcher to create a guideline that he will use to carry out the research. The theories also help in making the research authentic and credible since it involves referring to other researches done by previous authors.
Special instructions and guidelines should be laid out in a questionnaire. The questions should also be constructed in a way that they support the research project. A good questionnaire, therefore, according to Goddard and Melville (2001) is complete; short, outlines only relevant questions, objective, incorporates closed questions and gives clear instruction.
Research Methodology
According to Goddard & Melville (2001) there are various sources of information that could be used in a research. These sources include textbooks, company reports, the internet, articles in journals, conference proceeding, newspapers and magazines.
Literary studies could also be used. For instance, a researcher could choose to employ preliminary literary study in order to be abreast with the issues in the study. This is a preparation for the main research. A full literary study, however, is the main research and not part of the preparation.
There are several barriers that a researcher could face during his survey. A researcher finds it difficult to communicate with people of a different language. For instance, when one needs information from a native community, he has to write the questions in a language that they will understand.
This could involve interpretation of the questions from the original language to a native language to suit the respondent. Inaccessibility of certain research areas could also make it difficult for the researcher to get the information he needs. These areas could also be without telephones or internet hindering the use of alternative data collections methods.
In many cases, the outcome of a survey, for instance a business survey, could make the company understand the customers well and, therefore, address their needs. This move often leads to improved customer relation and increased sales and profits.
The information from a survey should be in line with the research topic. From the research hypothesis outlined, the researcher should create a questionnaire that will help him collect only relevant information.
This information should help the researcher strengthen his argument in the research and show that what he is presenting is correct. In business research for instance, one will have to get relevant business information that will support his argument. The information collected, therefore, should be valid and help bring out the clear picture that the researcher intends.
Survey is the best form of data collection since it ensures flexibility in the gathering of information. In this case, the interviewer chooses the questions that he asks. Surveys also ensure the collection of diverse information that could be used to obtain sensitive information. A survey could be done via e-mail or interpersonal level making it fast and effective.
A proper survey to validate my research is not accessible at the moment. Some of the challenges that are present in developing a survey include the challenge of preserving the privacy of the respondent. In some cases, this action is impossible since some researches require revealing the source of information. Revealing the source most times makes the research authentic and credible but at the same time revealing the source is an infringement of the respondents’ privacy.
According to Marsden and Wright (2010) there is another challenge that is involved in research especially when collecting information from a different culture. In relation to Cross-national research, a researcher should understand the culture, structure, and language of different nations. This could prove difficult for a researcher.
Another challenge is deception according to Padgett (1998) who states that a lot of information collected in a research is full of deception. It is, therefore, difficult to determine what is true and what is not in a research hence the findings could be false. Some respondents would require a bribe in order to give the information they have hence affected the ethics of research.
According to Padgett (1998), the researcher could also face threats to his life especially when the research topic is controversial. For instance, research concerning issue that tough on business rivalry, could make the business tycoons threaten the life of the researcher or even do everything to stop the research from being a success.
Conclusion
It is therefore important for the researcher to consider these different issues when creating a questionnaire and carrying out a survey. This will help in creating a survey project that could be used by researchers years to come.
Reference List
Babbie, E. (2009). The Basics of Social Research. (5th Ed.) Wadsworth Cengage Learning. New York. USA.
Goddard, W., & Melville S. (2001) Research Methodology: An introduction. (2nd ed.). Juta & Co. Ltd. South Africa.
Marsden, P., & Wright, J. (2010). Handbook of Survey Research. Emerald Group Publishing. UK.
Padgett, D. (1998). Qualitative Methods in Social Work Research.Sage Publications. USA.