5.2 Questionnaire and Schedules

The questionnaire = the instrument of standardized questions — the survey's and the interview's paper (or screen). The questionnaire vs. the schedule (the classic distinction): the questionnaire is self-administered (the respondent reads and answers alone — the mail/ online form), while the schedule is the enumerator's instrument (the questions asked face-to-face and the answers recorded by the researcher — the interview's structured form); the questionnaire's economy and anonymity vs. the schedule's completion-rates and clarification. The design craft (the principles of good questions): The clear, single-barrelled question — one idea per item, the vocabulary the respondent owns; The no-leading rule — the question must not contain its own answer ("Do you agree the courts are slow?" leads); The open vs. closed choice — the open items (the meanings' richness) vs. the closed items (the codes' comparability) — the mix by design; The sequence's logic — the easy and non-threatening first (the funnel: general before specific, neutral before sensitive); The pretest discipline — the pilot catches the ambiguity the designer cannot see; The length's mercy — the respondent's fatigue is the data's enemy; The sensitive questions' craft — the behaviour questions framed non-judgementally, the anonymity's assurance. The question types: the factual, the opinion/attitude, the behaviour, the knowledge questions; the fixed formats (dichotomous, multiple-choice, the Likert scale — U6.5's scaling).