What Is a Dissertation Questionnaire? Creating Steps, Types, Do’s & Don’ts
Students often find creating a dissertation questionnaire difficult. If you are facing the same issues, you are not alone. Seeing the difficulty of the...
Students often find creating a dissertation questionnaire difficult. If you are facing the same issues, you are not alone. Seeing the difficulty of the students and the limited resources available on this topic, The Academic Papers UK has decided to compile this guide for the students.
In this article, we will provide helpful answers to some important questions, like “What is a dissertation questionnaire? How do you write a dissertation survey? What are its types? What are the do’s and don’ts?” If you are trying to find everything about a dissertation survey/interview, this article is for you.
Now, without further ado, let’s get the details.
What Is a Dissertation Questionnaire?
A dissertation questionnaire is a survey form used to gather data for your dissertation research. It can include either close-ended questions or open-ended questions. In addition, there are two main types of thesis questionnaires: structured questionnaires and unstructured questionnaires.
A questionnaire has three main characteristics:
- First, the questions should be uniform.
- Second, the questionnaire should be exploratory.
- Third, there should be a sequence between all the questions.
How to Design a Dissertation Questionnaire Step-By-Step?
Crafting a questionnaire is challenging yet enjoyable if you approach it with interest and the right strategy. Here is your straightforward 9-step roadmap to writing a questionnaire for your dissertation survey:
Now that you know the exact steps, let’s elaborate on them individually to understand them properly.
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1. Determine the Information Needed
The purpose of creating a questionnaire is to gather information on a specific topic. So, you need to decide what information you are actually looking for. To determine what information is required, you need to analyse what you already know about the specific topic and what you need to know to solve the problem or question—in short, finding the knowledge gap in your area of research.
These three steps are involved in determining the information required:
- Understand the purpose and context of the questionnaire.
- Identify the sources you are looking for
- Recollect the current knowledge and knowledge gaps in the subject area.
After going through all the steps, you should be able to identify the required information. If not, you can ask yourself the following questions.
- Ask yourself the purpose of the research. Do you need a run-through or to conduct in-depth research?
- What sample size will be enough for a comprehensive data collection?
Answering these questions will clarify your requirements and help you complete the first step of your dissertation questionnaire.
2. Specify the Target Respondents
When determining the ideal audience, consider who can provide the most relevant information on the topic. For example, if you are conducting a survey on domestic violence, your ideal respondents can be women of a certain demographic who are facing issues of domestic violence.
You also need to decide whether your survey will be based on the gender, age, demographic, surroundings, or location of your respondents. The questions you asked yourself to decide on the required information can also help you determine the target respondents.
Otherwise, you can also ask the questions presented in the image.
Once you determine the broad demographics of your potential respondents, you can narrow them down by creating a pre-survey or screening questions list. This screener will help you avoid wasting time on irrelevant audiences. I.e. in the earlier discussed example of domestic violence, your target respondents can be the NGOs helping the victims of domestic abuse. So, narrowing down the NGOs according to your objectives will streamline your process of creating a dissertation questionnaire.
3. Choose the Approach(s) to Reach the Respondents
Pre-deciding the approaches to getting answers from your respondents will define the use of tone, phrases, and questions you will ask.
Here are the primary methods to reach the survey respondents:
- Personal Contacts
- In-Person Interviews
- Focus Groups
- Mail/Internet-Based Questionnaires
- Telephone Interviews
The method you choose depends on the sensitivity and confidentiality of the information you are seeking. In-person interviews and focus groups are more suitable choices for a sensitive topic like domestic abuse.
4. Decide Questions Scope
Asking irrelevant questions will not help the cause of crafting a dissertation questionnaire, so you need to determine the relevance of the inquiries to the objectives of the study. Evaluate whether or not you need to ask each question. Also, determine not only the relevance but the depth of the information you require.
For example:
- Do you need information on the education of the women facing domestic violence, or only the percentage will be enough?
- Do you need information on women facing the issue around the globe or in a certain country?
Once you know the required information, it will help you ask the right questions. If you think you can scrutinise the data later, it will drain your time and energy.
5. Decide the Question Wording
Imagine using such wording in your survey that hurts others' sentiments—immoral, right? The choice of words will depend on your target respondent’s understanding and demographics. The researchers need to get the wording right; otherwise, it might cause confusion and wrong interpretations.
Here are some best practices you can follow in choosing the perfect wording for your dissertation questionnaire:
- The question should explain itself: Using more specific or broad terms often leads to clearer and more accurate questions.
- Avoid erroneous assumptions: Assuming something on behalf of the respondent can negatively affect the answers you get. Asking someone, “How are your children?" is an assumption-based question that can hurt sentiments. Instead, ask them if they have any kids first.
- Avoid double-barreled questions: Double-barreled questions contain dual questions in a single go. I.e., “Who do you think is responsible for continued domestic violence? And how satisfied you are with the role the government is playing.” Instead, break them into two distinct questions.
- Try providing the opposing arguments in the questions: Sometimes, the respondents may be reluctant or don’t have time to provide specific answers. Plus, this practice can be beneficial if you require perspective on two things.
- Avoid asking complex questions: Using awkward phrases and excessive clauses. Keeping it as simple as possible can get you better results.
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Once you have selected the wording appropriate for your audience, you need to sequence your dissertation questionnaire in a logical hierarchy. The interview/survey would start with the opening questions, which will set the base for the main questions. If the respondents find the first question difficult to answer, they’re likelier to break off the questionnaire.
After the opening questions, you should move to the connecting questions. These questions will transit the topic slowly toward the difficult inquiries you want answers for while keeping the logical flow. Your questionnaire should naturally move from one question to the other. Any abruption may break the respondent's focus.
While you need to keep the survey flowing, you should also add a variety of questions so the respondents don’t get bored and leave the questionnaire. Adding open-ended questions will require them to use their conscious mind and answer after thinking. This brain activity will increase their interest.
7. Check Questionnaire Length
The questionnaire length has to be moderate, and the level of burden you put on a respondent depends on their cognitive ability and research objectives. The questionnaire length is often referred to as LOI or Length Of Interview.
It also depends on the types and number of questions you included in your survey. More open-ended questions means the survey length will be automatically increased. While designing the dissertation questionnaire, you should mix the close-ended questions with open-ended ones to manage the sense and length of the interview.
8. Pre-test the Questionnaire
Surveys take a lot of effort and time from both the researcher and the respondent. You would definitely want to get it right, without any confusion, and get the best possible data. Testing your dissertation questionnaire with a small group of people can give you peace of mind. Apart from the confidence in your hard work, it also assures that you will meet the study objectives.
By pre-testing the interview, you will have the data in hand, which you can analyse and mould your strategies accordingly. You can evaluate whether or not the method used is the right one. You will also be able to evaluate the wording used and the flow of the questions. This (pre-test) will increase your chances of conducting a successful survey.
9. Develop the Final Questionnaire
Now that you have prepared the survey and pre-tested it on a small group of people, you can move to developing the final questionnaire. After analysing the pre-test results and detecting any issues with the questionnaire, you should be able to refine your interview questions further.
Spot any issues with the word choice, tone, or flow of the questions. Also evaluate the survey results, whether or not you succeeded in getting the desired results and meeting the study objectives. You should also check if you need to change the sequence or grouping of the questions or if your survey is refined enough to go with.
What Are Dissertation Questionnaire Types?
Thesis questionnaires have six different types:
- Structured Questionnaire
- Unstructured Questionnaire
- Open-ended Questionnaire
- Close-ended Questionnaire
- Mixed Questionnaire
- Pictorial Questionnaire
What Are Do’s and Don’ts of Writing Dissertation Questionnaires?
Do’s and don’ts of designing a questionnaire are those things necessary to add or avoid in a survey/interview.
Here are some do’s of writing a dissertation questionnaire:
- The students should keep the target respondents in mind. They should know their age, demographics, location, and education level.
- You should state your research questions in a survey in the form of a series with a certain hierarchy.
- You should follow the natural flow and logical conservation while setting the questions.
- Try to maintain the interest of the respondents throughout the survey.
- Make sure the clarity and understandability for the audience.
- Try to specify the “don’t know” option in all the questions of your dissertation questionnaire to beat the possibility that your respondents may not know the proper answer to every question.
- Try to leave some space on your questionnaire because of the possibility that your respondents may not understand some essential aspects of your question and are willing to provide the answers to your questions in written form (in case of a printed or online survey). Try to gather the data in multiple ways. The questions in your dissertation questionnaire should be interesting so that the respondents will never try to leave any questions and break them off.
Here are Some Don’ts of Writing a Dissertation Questionnaire:
- There is no need to write leading questions. The reason for this is that these leading questions will only provide an idea of one side of the question.
- Avoid using e technical or vague terms. The reason for this is that these technical and vague terms will make it difficult for the respondents to understand the nature of the question.
- Avoid the use of absolutes in the questions of a dissertation questionnaire. The reason is that the use of absolutes in the questions could be more useful to get positive feedback from the respondents.
- The nature of the questions should not be literal. If you add literal questions to your questionnaire, the respondents might prefer to answer ‘No’ rather than ‘Yes.’
- A question should be as short as possible. Long questions will distract the respondents' attention.
- Avoid repeating questions.
- Avoid using double-barreled questions in your questionnaire.
- Avoid adding excessive classification sections in your survey.
- Remember to add an introductory paragraph that provides the respondents with an idea of the main purpose of writing a dissertation questionnaire.
What Should Be the Sample Size of a Dissertation Questionnaire?
The sample size of a questionnaire depends on your study objectives, population size, margin or error you have in the survey, and the confidence level you want to achieve.
The following image demonstrates the calculation of a potential sample size considering all the factors described above.
How Many Questions Should a Dissertation Questionnaire Have?
Respondents do not like to spend too much time answering the survey questions, so you should keep it moderate. You should only ask questions that take a maximum of 10-15 minutes of respondents' time. While the respondent's behaviour changes based on the number of questions, the possibility of gathering accurate data suffers with more questions.
If you want more questions answered, you should add fewer open-ended questions so they don’t feel burdened. To answer the question, you can add approximately 20-25 questions, depending on your topic.
Conclusion
To sum up this guide, formulating a dissertation questionnaire is a nerve-wracking and time-consuming task. It requires a lot of technicalities and best practices to cater. If you are familiar with the step-by-step process, you have a better chance of designing a survey than other students who do not have this understanding.
In this article, we have helped you write your dissertation questionnaire by providing a nine-step path to success. We have also provided some do’s and don’ts of writing a questionnaire and answers to frequently asked questions about the topic. We hope this guide will help you meet your research objectives and ultimately get good grades.
