Demystifying Survey Research: Practical Suggestions for Effective Question Design
An article entitled “Demystifying Survey Research: Practical Suggestions for Effective Question Design” was published in the journal Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (2007). The aim of this article is to provide practical suggestions for effective questions when designing written surveys. Sample survey questions used in the article help to illustrate how some basic techniques, such as choosing appropriate question forms and incorporating the use of scales, can be used to improve survey questions.
Since this is a peer reviewed, open-access journal, those interested may access the full-text article online at: http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP/article/view/516/668.
In addition, for those interested in exploring survey research more, I have found the following print resources to be very helpful in this learning process:
Converse, J.M., and S. Presser. Survey Questions: Handcrafting the Standardized Questionnaire. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1986.
Fink, A. How to Ask Survey Questions. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2003.
Fowler, F.J. Improving Survey Questions: Design and Evaluation. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1995.