Getting the right words in the right way in the right place!! That is the most difficult part of creating a questionnaire. If the wordings are slightly inaccurate, they can confuse the respondent and consequently lead to incorrect interpretation of the question. Incorrect interpretation of the questions eventually results into error in results and research findings. For avoiding these, we have prepared a checklist for you which consists the necessary questions you must ask yourself to develop a comprehensive questionnaire.

Is there a scope for the questions to get misunderstood?

When you draft your questions, always take a critical review of all the questions you prepared for making sure there is not a single ambiguous question that can be misunderstood or causes confusion. If so, see if the language of question can be simplified. This can be done by removing vague terms and replacing them with more specific terms so that the respondent knows very clearly, what exactly he is being asked about.

Does the question make any assumptions?

It is important to look at the question from the perspective of the respondent as well. Sometimes, researchers don’t sit back and consider how a question would appear from the respondent. If you are drafting the question on the basis of any assumption then you must, preferably, filter questions to find out whether the assumption is reliable and authentic.

Have you specified the time frame, if required?

When you have time-related questions that you have asked your respondent, make sure to specify the time frame precisely. For example, if you want to know the respondent's opinion about the change in pollution level, it is better to give a time-frame for which you want to know their response.

Have you personalised the wordings?

Believe it or not, with the slightest of change in the wordings, an impersonal question can be converted into a personal question that may appear very probing to the respondent. Be very careful in such case as personal questions may appear offensive for the respondent. Apart from the personalization issues, try to maintain the consistency throughout the questionnaire.

Is the question too explicit which might offend respondent? 

Questions with strict formal tone directly addressing any sensitive issues may disturb the respondent.Sensitive, touchy and delicate issues must be kept at bay from the respondent to not offend them.