Clear, neutral questions and non-overlapping answer options make responses easier to compare.
A clear question asks one thing without pushing respondents towards an answer. "Is the park safe and clean?" is double-barrelled: it combines two qualities. Someone may find it clean but unsafe. "Do you agree our excellent park deserves more funding?" is leading: the word "excellent" encourages agreement.
Closed questions ask for a limited response, such as a number, word or short phrase. They are useful when you need to compare answers. Choose the response format to match what you want to find out.
A Likert item asks for a level of agreement, usually from strongly disagree to strongly agree, with a neutral middle where appropriate. A frequency scale asks how often something happened in a stated period. A ranking task asks people to put choices in order. First place shows the highest priority, but not how much more strongly it is preferred.
Answer options should cover realistic responses without overlap. For weekly visits, 0, 1-2, 3-4 and 5 or more are separate groups. The groups 0-2 and 2-4 overlap because both include two visits.
Explain the questionnaire's purpose. Add not-applicable or prefer-not-to-answer options where needed. Then pilot it with people similar to your target group to check that the wording and choices make sense.
Step by step
Link to the variable
Ask only what helps answer the research question.
Remove bias and ambiguity
Use neutral language, one idea and an explicit time period.
Pilot the response options
Check that respondents understand the choices and can find an appropriate answer.
Worked example: Repair a double question
Replace "Is the route safe and convenient?" with two statements: "I feel safe using this route during daylight" and "This route gives me convenient access to the park." Separate answers can show that someone finds the route safe but inconvenient.
Watch out for this
Ranking first means an option is twice as popular as ranking second.
Ranks show order, not equal numerical gaps or ratios. You need another measure to compare the strength of preference.
Check your understanding
Which frequency scale avoids overlap?
- 0 visits; 1-2; 3-4; 5 or more, during the previous seven days
- 0-2 visits; 2-4; 4-6; 6 or more
- Often; quite often; a lot, with no time period