
Unit 4: Research design
Question order
Once you’ve got your list of questions, you need to think about the order in which they appear. Here are some general principles:
- Put the most important items in first half of questionnaire: Many people don’t complete questionnaires. This will ensure you get the most significant data from nonfinishers.
- Don’t start with awkward or embarrassing questions: respondents may just give up.
- Start with easy and non-threatening questions: This encourages respondents to continue with the questionnaire.
- Go from the general to the particular.
- Go from factual to abstract questions.
- Go from closed to open questions.
- Leave demographic and personal questions until last.
SMILE - Research design - Questionnaire design by Student Services, University of Bath modified by Marion Kelt, Glasgow Caledonian University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.