Questionnaire Design Insights

The questionnaire design stage is absolutely essential to any successful research study. The goal of the questionnaire is to translate the required information into a set of specific questions that members of our target population can and will answer.

The most important factor in developing a questionnaire is having a true understanding of the research problem and study objectives. This would include having a list of business decisions that are going to be made with the results.

With this as our foundation we use “reverse engineering” to design the questionnaire. By reverse engineering we mean specifying the information that must be presented to answer the key research questions. We also determine what advanced analytical methods will be required during the data analysis phase, since they often require that the data take on certain properties. We stress the importance of not force-fitting a problem into a methodology. Rather, we believe in letting the research objectives drive the study design and subsequent analysis.

Data Analysis Insights

We like to think of data analysis as a two-part process:

  • Step 1 is to examine the cross-tabulations and gain an understanding of the individual variables measured. This involves both the individual characteristics of the variables (i.e., how a response scale might be re-coded for further analysis) as well as how each might help answer the research questions.
  • Step 2 is to put the individual pieces of the puzzle together into comprehensive and valid answers to your research questions.

Advanced analytical methods play a role in Step 2, since we are looking for underlying themes and data patterns in a multivariate sense. We frequently explore the data using several different analytical procedures. Advanced analytical methods often relate to "data reduction" and "data mining." Both help tie the individual data items into bigger picture themes.