Worksheet 6 - Answers

Designing a Questionnaire

Outlined below are just some of the possible problems with the Greenwood Public
Library questionnaire. Did you find other problems with this questionnaire? Discuss
as a class.

Introduction:

There is no introduction telling the respondent what the purpose of the survey is and
what will be done with the results. In this type of survey, it is important to receive
accurate results in order to "screen out" those respondents who are not library users.

If you are looking for open and honest results, name and telephone number would not
be asked. People like to know that the information they provide is confidential and
will be kept that way.

Question 1:

This question is open and may be better worded as a closed question in order to be
able to compare the responses of the people questioned. Also, this question does not
address over what period of time (i.e., in the last 12 months, the last month, the last
week, etc.) the library was visited.

Question 2:

The question asks about borrowing books or publications. What if you borrowed both?
What response would you select if you had borrowed five books and publications?
Would you select 1–5 or 5–10? The other issue with this question is the reference
period. Has the borrowing taken place over the last year, the last 10 years or the last
month? Also, the list of choices should be presented vertically.

Question 3:

As a closed question, respondents are only given the option of four answers to choose
from. However, there may be other reasons for going to the library. An "Other"
category with a "please specify" space, or a longer list to choose from, such as social
activity or book signing could also be added. As well, it might prove useful to add an
instruction to this question that states "mark all that apply". This way the respondent
can choose several options instead of one.

Question 4:

The question as asked is fine, but does not go far enough in getting the details. The
library likely needs to know why the respondents’ needs were not satisfied. This
question should include a second part that asks the respondent to describe why his or
her needs were not satisfied.

CC2040 English for Academic Studies (Health Care) – Study Guide

Question 5:

This is a double-barreled question. The first problem is that you are asking the
respondent two different things in one question. The second problem consists of the
response categories provided. There are no instructions as to how to grade the
responses. Do respondents rank the response? If so, what does 1 represnt? Does 5
stand for poor or excellent?

Question 6:

This is an open question, which makes the various possible responses difficult to code
and tabulate. If a list of answers (including a final "Other" choice with a space to
specify the response) were provided, it would be a lot easier for respondents to answer
and data analysers to tabulate the results.

Question 7:

This question asks for a "Yes" or "No" response, however, the respondent may not
know, or may have no opinion regarding any improvements to the library.

Questions 8, 9 and 10:

The first problem with these questions is that Question 9 ("Are you aware of these
proposals?") should come before Question 8 ("Do you approve of disapprove of the
recent proposals...?") since Question 9 is only relevant to Question 8 if the answer is
"Yes".

Also, Question 9 could be improved by instructing respondents to select the

appropriate "Yes" or "No" category.

In Question 8, the respondents are asked whether they approve or disapprove with the
entire set of proposals. What if the respondent was not aware of the proposals? What
if the respondent agreed with some of the proposals and disagreed with others? The
available responses may not give you a true measure of the proposals. The wording of
Question 8 should be changed in order to avoid bias in the response.

The "Go to" part of Question 8 also contains a problem. It sends the respondent to
Question 11, therefore respondents who answered "disapprove" to Question 8 would
not be given the opportunity to respond to Questions 9 or 10. The instruction should
read "(Go to Question 10)".

Question 11:

This question is worded in a way that presents the reader with a double negative.
Because it is not entirely clear what the question is asking, some respondents could
interpret it in different ways. A simple solution would be to reword it to say: "Are you
in favour of the library extending the hours of operation?" Include a list of responses
such as "__Yes __No __ Don't care".

CC2040 English for Academic Studies (Health Care) – Study Guide

Question 12:

This particular question is a sensitive one and one respondent's may not feel inclined
to answer or answer truthfully. It may be best to delete this question. If, however, the
level of education isrelevant to the information being collected and needs to be asked,
then a closed question would allow for better quantitative analysis.

Adopted from:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/edu/power-pouvoir/ch2/answers-reponses/5214903-eng.htm

CC2040 English for Academic Studies (Health Care) – Study Guide