Answered! Public Administration: Research Methodologies What elements of the questions for designing a survey method( page 156)…

• Defining the objective of the research
• Identification of the target population
• Survey method finalization

If the research is a qualitative research, then it is essential to frame the questions around one or two central questions and include about 5 to 7 sub questions that revolve around the theme of the central question.

In a qualitative survey questionnaire, it is also important to have open ended question with an emphasis on exploratory verbs.

In the case of a quantitative research, it is more useful to follow the descriptive inferential model of questions. In this framework, there are a set of questions which are descriptive in nature and which correspond to the independent and dependent variable and other important intervening variables. Inferential questions which may relate variables or compare groups then follow this section. The final section comprises of a group of inferential questions.

Overall in order to ascertain the relevant elements for the questions, it is important to review the following^[1] :-

• Layout and Sequence of questions
• Decide on open versus closed types of questions
• Response types-Single vs. multiple types
• Ranked response vs. rated response
• Question wording is also crucial and take into account: preciseness, brevity, should not be leading or negative questions.

Reference:

1.Burgess, T. F. (2001). Guide to the Design of Questionnaires. A general introduction to the design of questionnaires for survey research, 1-27.