[afro-nets] Help Needed with Questionnaire Development (2)

[Billy Futter <B.Futter@ru.ac.za>]

Help Needed with Questionnaire Development (2)
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Hi,

An important point to consider is why you have included a ques-
tion in the questionnaire. Too often, unnecessary data is col-
lected - this taxes the concentration of the person being inter-
viewed and the wits of the researcher when trying to make sense
of the information.

One way of dealing with this problem is to write down all the
assumptions that you have made about the respondents, in par-
ticular the variables you have listed. It is unlikely that you
will be able to test all your assumptions. Select those that are
the most important and that can be validly and reliably as-
sessed.

When trying to make sense of the data, check the untested as-
sumptions - they may provide you with good reasons not to make
unsupported generalizations.

One more NB point - don't provide an option for a yes/no answer
unless these are the only two options - i.e. there is nothing in
between.

Cheers

Billy Futter
Associate Professor
Faculty of Pharmacy
Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Tel. +27-46-603-8494
Fax: +27-46-636-1205
mailto:B.Futter@ru.ac.za