Survey Methods: A Practical Guide to Design a Questionnaire

The primary goal of the course is to develop understanding of

methodology and practical skills necessary in order to design your own

questionnaire.

Course will consist three main parts

 Rules of question construction

 Adjusting questions to research needs (adaptation, adjusting scales,

item selection)

 Question format selection (how to ask your question in order to get

answers that corresponds to your theoretical rationale)

The primary goal of the course is to develop understanding of

methodology and practical skills necessary in order to design your own

questionnaire.

The course will include the following themes:

 Asking questions: the logic and rules

 Psychology of asking question

 Item format selection – pros and cons of different item / scale

formats

 Adjusting question format to properties of theoretical construct

 Adjusting question format to assumed statistical analysis

 Open-ended questions (pros, cons and methods of quantitative

analysis)

 Social desirability (problems and solutions)

 Questionnaire design (question order, form, format, design)

 adjusting questionnaire to data collection strategy

NOTE: In contrast to courses focusing on standardized methods this

course will focus on designing ad hoc tools.

The course will consist of mini lectures and in-class exercises

Students will be required to read assigned literature and fulfil home

assignments.

Project: Students will conduct a supervised research project during the

semester.

Main textbook:

Bradburn, N. M., Sudman, S., & Wansink, B. (2004). Asking questions: the

definitive guide to questionnaire design--for market research, political

polls, and social and health questionnaires. John Wiley & Sons.

Extra reading:

Converse, J. M., & Presser, S. (1986). Survey questions: Handcrafting the

standardized questionnaire. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

Brace, I. (2008). Questionnaire design: How to plan, structure and write

survey material for effective market research. Kogan Page Publishers.

Bethlehem, J. (2009). Applied survey methods: A statistical

perspective (Vol. 558). John Wiley & Sons.

De Leeuw, E. D., & Dillman, D. A. (2008). International handbook of survey

methodology. Taylor & Francis.

Vogel, T., & Wanke, M. (2016). Attitudes and attitude change. Psychology

Press.

NOTE: We are going to work on the specific projects therefore extra

literature might come up due to process.

Students

- Will learn the basics assumptions and logic behind questionnaire

design

- Will develop skills with a range of practical procedures in order to

create questionnaires measurement tools.

- Get acquainted with the statistical computing system SPSS/PASW and

with its use for manipulation and analysis of statistical data.

Student performance will be assessed base on preparation (reading

assigned literature and home assignments), class activities (class

performance, solving tasks assigned in class, in-class activity) and project,

literature quizzes and a research project. The project will be focusing on

generating a research question concerning methodological aspect of the

survey design. Next during the long break between classes 9-11 the data

collection will happen. During the classes 11-13 we will arrange datasets,

analyze and finish the projects.

 Homework (20%)

 Literature quizzes (10%)

 Class activities (20%)

 Project (50%)

Attendance rules

Class participation is mandatory in this course, no more than 2 absences

are allowed